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javacsvsupercsv

Read Specific line using SuperCSV

Is it possible to read a specific line using SuperCsv?

Suppose a .csv file contains 100 lines and i want to read line number 11.

Solution

  • CSV files usually contain variable-length records, which means it is impossible to "jump" to a specified record. The only solution is to sequentially read CSV records from the beginning of the file, while keeping a count, until you reach the needed record.

    I have not found any special API in SuperCsv for doing this skipping of lines, so I guess you will have to manually call CsvListReader#read() method 11 times to get the line you want.

    I don't know if other CSV reading libraries will have a "jump-to-line" feature, and even if they do, it is unlikely to perform any better than manually skipping to the required line, for the reason given in the first paragraph.