Replacing text in one CSV column using FasterCSV - ruby

Question

Being relatively new to Ruby, I am trying to figure out how to do the following using FasterCSV:
Open a CSV file, pick a column by its header, in this column only replace all occurrences of string x with y, write out the new file to STDOUT.
The following code almost works:
filename = ARGV[0]
csv = FCSV.read(filename, :headers => true, :header_converters => :symbol, :return_headers => true, :encoding => 'u')
mycol = csv[:mycol]
# construct a mycol_new by iterating over mycol and doing some string replacement
puts csv[:mycol][0] # produces "MyCol" as expected
puts mycol_new[0] # produces "MyCol" as expected
csv[:mycol] = mycol_new
puts csv[:mycol][0] # produces "mycol" while "MyCol" is expected
csv.each do |r|
puts r.to_csv(:force_quotes => true)
end
The only problem is that there is a header conversion where I do not expect it. If the header of the chosen column is "MyCol" before the substitution of the columns in the csv table it is "mycol" afterwards (see comments in the code). Why does this happen? And how to avoid it? Thanks.

Answer 1

There's a couple of things you can change in the initialization line that will help. Change:
csv = FCSV.read(filename, :headers => true, :return_headers => true, :encoding => 'u')
to:
csv = FCSV.read(filename, :headers => true, :encoding => 'u')
I'm using CSV, which is FasterCSV only it's part of Ruby 1.9. This will create a CSV file in the current directory called "temp.csv" with a modified 'FName' field:
require 'csv'
data = "ID,FName,LName\n1,mickey,mouse\n2,minnie,mouse\n3,donald,duck\n"
# read and parse the data
csv_in = CSV.new(data, :headers => true)
# open the temp file
CSV.open('./temp.csv', 'w') do |csv_out|
# output the headers embedded in the object, then rewind to the start of the list
csv_out << csv_in.first.headers
csv_in.rewind
# loop over the rows
csv_in.each do |row|
# munge the first name
if (row['FName']['mi'])
row['FName'] = row['FName'][1 .. -1] << '-' << row['FName'][0] << 'ay'
end
# output the record
csv_out << row.fields
end
end
The output looks like:
ID,FName,LName
1,ickey-may,mouse
2,innie-may,mouse
3,donald,duck

Answer 2

It is possible to manipulate the desired column directly in the FasterCSV object instead of creating a new column and then trying to replace the old one with the new one.
csv = FCSV.read(filename, :headers => true, :header_converters => :symbol, :return_headers => true, :encoding => 'u')
mycol = csv[:my_col]
mycol.each do |row|
row.gsub!(/\s*;\s*/,"///") unless row.nil? # or any other substitution
csv.each do |r|
puts r.to_csv(:force_quotes => true)
end