unpack is a good answer as long as it's a Fixed Width format file and nothing else seems to work quite right since its not quite actual CSV. You might also want to try Parse::FixedLength, it might go something like this:
use Parse::FixedLength: # Set field names and lengths # (you might want to have more meaningful names) :-) my $parser = Parse::FixedLength->new([ field1=>8, field2=>10, ...etc. ]); my @names = @{$parser->names}; while (<>) { my $data = $parser->parse($data); # Strip leading and trailing quotes and spaces? s/^'?\s+|\s+'?,$//g for values %$data; # Output real csv, e.g. s/"/""/g for values %$data; print join(",", map qq("$_"), @$data{@names}),"\n"; }

In reply to Re: parsing CSV file with embedded commas (fortunately, fixed-width) - is unpack the solution? by runrig
in thread parsing CSV file with embedded commas (fortunately, fixed-width) - is unpack the solution? by amelinda

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.