Buddhi,
This example does not make sense because an empty header is illegal.
You won't be able to parse the output generated by this code with the
same CSVFormat.
Assuming we are not setting headers to an empty array with:
CSVFormat.DEFAULT.builder().setQuoteMode(QuoteMode.MINIMAL).build();
Then, you will be able to parse the generated records.
It does not matter that the output "looks odd" because you've asked
for the MINIMAL format.
If you change the code to produce larger output, then it is no longer minimal.
Gary
On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 10:38 AM Buddhi De Silva <gbids...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello Commons-Dev team,
>
> I was trying samples with the 'setQuoteMode()' method in the 'CSVFormat'
> class.
> When I have a sting list as follows to be formatted,
>
> @Test
> public void test_empty_columns() throws IOException {
> CSVFormat csvFormat = CSVFormat.DEFAULT.builder()
> .setHeader()
> .setQuoteMode(QuoteMode.MINIMAL)
> .build();
>
> CSVPrinter printer = new CSVPrinter(System.out, csvFormat);
>
> List<String[]> tempStrList = new ArrayList<>();
> tempStrList.add(new String[] { "", "col2", "", "col4" });
> tempStrList.add(new String[] { "col1", "col2", "", "" });
>
> for (String[] temp1 : tempStrList) {
> printer.printRecord(temp1);
> }
> printer.close();
> }
>
> Above will print the following...
>
> "",col2,,col4
> col1,col2,,
>
> If you have noticed properly, you will realize that in line 1, column 1 it
> is printing empty quotes ("") but not printing anything for line 1 column 3.
> This output looks a bit odd.
>
> When I was looking for the reason for the above behavior, I came across the
> following comment added for the method 'printWithQuotes()' in class
> 'CSVFormat'.
>
> case MINIMAL:
> if (len <= 0) {
> // Always quote an empty token that is the first
> // on the line, as it may be the only thing on the
> // line. If it were not quoted in that case,
> // an empty line has no tokens.
> if (newRecord) {
> quote = true;
> }
> }
> // other operations...
>
> However, I think we can optimize this behavior by introducing the total
> length of values passed to the print method.
> Please check the draft PR I have created (this PR is just to provide the
> idea before actual refactoring):
> https://github.com/apache/commons-csv/pull/351
> If we apply changes as suggested in above PR, then we might be able to
> produce more accurate output which will not print empty quotes for empty
> first column.
>
> Appreciate your feedback on this.
>
> Thank You.
> Buddhi De Silva.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org
