Use Scala parser combinator to parse CSV files

Question

I\'m trying to write a CSV parser using Scala parser combinators. The grammar is based on RFC4180. I came up with the following code. It almost works, but I cannot get it to

Answer 1

What you missed is whitespace. I threw in a couple bonus improvements.

import scala.util.parsing.combinator._

object CSV extends RegexParsers {
  override protected val whiteSpace = """[ \t]""".r

  def COMMA   = ","
  def DQUOTE  = "\""
  def DQUOTE2 = "\"\"" ^^ { case _ => "\"" }
  def CR      = "\r"
  def LF      = "\n"
  def CRLF    = "\r\n"
  def TXT     = "[^\",\r\n]".r

  def file: Parser[List[List[String]]] = repsep(record, CRLF) <~ opt(CRLF)
  def record: Parser[List[String]] = rep1sep(field, COMMA)
  def field: Parser[String] = (escaped|nonescaped)
  def escaped: Parser[String] = (DQUOTE~>((TXT|COMMA|CR|LF|DQUOTE2)*)<~DQUOTE) ^^ { case ls => ls.mkString("")}
  def nonescaped: Parser[String] = (TXT*) ^^ { case ls => ls.mkString("") }

  def parse(s: String) = parseAll(file, s) match {
    case Success(res, _) => res
    case _ => List[List[String]]()
  }
}

Answer 2

With Scala Parser Combinators library out of the Scala standard library starting from 2.11 there is no good reason not to use the much more performant Parboiled2 library. Here is a version of the CSV parser in Parboiled2's DSL:

/*  based on comments in https://github.com/sirthias/parboiled2/issues/61 */
import org.parboiled2._
case class Parboiled2CsvParser(input: ParserInput, delimeter: String) extends Parser {
  def DQUOTE = '"'
  def DELIMITER_TOKEN = rule(capture(delimeter))
  def DQUOTE2 = rule("\"\"" ~ push("\""))
  def CRLF = rule(capture("\r\n" | "\n"))
  def NON_CAPTURING_CRLF = rule("\r\n" | "\n")

  val delims = s"$delimeter\r\n" + DQUOTE
  def TXT = rule(capture(!anyOf(delims) ~ ANY))
  val WHITESPACE = CharPredicate(" \t")
  def SPACES: Rule0 = rule(oneOrMore(WHITESPACE))

  def escaped = rule(optional(SPACES) ~
    DQUOTE ~ (zeroOrMore(DELIMITER_TOKEN | TXT | CRLF | DQUOTE2) ~ DQUOTE ~
    optional(SPACES)) ~> (_.mkString("")))
  def nonEscaped = rule(zeroOrMore(TXT | capture(DQUOTE)) ~> (_.mkString("")))

  def field = rule(escaped | nonEscaped)
  def row: Rule1[Seq[String]] = rule(oneOrMore(field).separatedBy(delimeter))
  def file = rule(zeroOrMore(row).separatedBy(NON_CAPTURING_CRLF))

  def parsed() : Try[Seq[Seq[String]]] = file.run()
}

Answer 3

The default whitespace for RegexParsers parsers is \s+, which includes new lines. So CR, LF and CRLF never get a chance to be processed, as it is automatically skipped by the parser.