array_to_csv

Simple convenience library for converting an array of hashes to CSV

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'array_to_csv'

gem 'array_to_csv', :require => 'array_to_csv/core_ext'

if you want the to_csv method to be added to the Array class.

Then execute:

$ bundle install

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install array_to_csv

If you require array_to_csv/core_ext,

require 'array_to_csv/core_ext'

(or require it from within your Gemfile) you can call to_csv directly on an array.

puts [
  {:first_name => 'Rob', :last_name => 'Bobber'},
  {:first_name => 'Bob', :age => 103}
].to_csv

This outputs:

first_name,last_name,age
Rob,Bobber,
Rob,,103

Which would look something like this in your favourite spreadsheet editor

first_name	last_name	age
Rob	Bobber
Bob		103

When no arguments are given to to_csv, the CSV data is returned as a string.

You can pass in a file path, and the CSV data will be written directly to file, instead of being returned as a string.

[
  {:first_name => 'Rob', :last_name => 'Bobber'},
  {:first_name => 'Bob', :age => 103}
].to_csv("/tmp/people.csv")

You can also pass in a File object as the first argument, or any other IO/IO-like object (anything that implements #write(string) and #close).

If you don't want to being reopening core classes, you can convert an array to CSV like this:

data = [
  {:first_name => 'Rob', :last_name => 'Bobber'},
  {:first_name => 'Bob', :age => 103}
]
puts ArrayToCsv.new(data).to_csv

Which produces the same output as above

first_name,last_name,age
Rob,Bobber,
Rob,,103

The interface for ArrayToCsv#to_csv is the same as that for Array#to_csv.

You can pass in a file path, File, or IO/IO-like object.