Python CSV export issue: Preserving commas for Airtable upload

Other Questions Airtable
1

I’m having trouble exporting a Python table to CSV for Airtable. The file looks fine in Excel, but Airtable messes up entries with commas. For instance:

name|surname|instruments|
john,smith,"violin,piano,guitar"| <-- PROBLEM
anna|brown|drums

It should look like this:

name  | surname | instruments
------+---------+--------------------
john  | smith   | violin, piano, guitar
anna  | brown   | drums

Here’s my current export code:

with open('music_data.csv', 'w', newline='') as f:
    writer = csv.writer(f, delimiter='|', quotechar='"')
    for i in range(len(names)):
        writer.writerow([names[i], surnames[i], instruments[i]])

Some instrument entries have commas. How can I fix this for Airtable? Any ideas?

2

I’ve encountered this issue before when working with Airtable imports. The problem lies in the delimiter you’re using. Airtable expects CSV files to use commas as delimiters, not pipes. Here’s how you can modify your export code to make it Airtable-friendly:

with open('music_data.csv', 'w', newline='') as f:
    writer = csv.writer(f, quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)
    writer.writerow(['name', 'surname', 'instruments'])
    for i in range(len(names)):
        writer.writerow([names[i], surnames[i], instruments[i]])

This approach uses commas as delimiters and quotes all fields. It ensures that commas within the ‘instruments’ field are preserved and interpreted correctly by Airtable. Remember to remove the pipe delimiters from your data if they’re present. This should resolve your import issues.

3

I’ve dealt with similar CSV export challenges, especially when working with Airtable. One approach that’s worked well for me is using the pandas library. It handles quoting and escaping automatically, which can save you a lot of headaches. Here’s a snippet that might help:

import pandas as pd

data = {'name': names, 'surname': surnames, 'instruments': instruments}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)
df.to_csv('music_data.csv', index=False, quoting=1)

This method ensures that fields with commas are properly quoted, while keeping the CSV format that Airtable expects. It’s been a lifesaver for me when dealing with complex data exports. Just make sure you have pandas installed (pip install pandas) before running this code.

If you’re dealing with a large dataset, pandas can also be more efficient than writing row by row. Give it a try and see if it resolves your Airtable import issues.

4

yo, i had a similar issue. try usin the csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL instead of QUOTE_ALL. it’ll only quote fields with special chars like commas. should work better with airtable:

writer = csv.writer(f, quoting=csv.QUOTE_MINIMAL)

this way, you keep the commas in instruments but don’t over-quote everything else. goodluck!