The default separation character is a comma, the default quotation character is a double quote (").

If the quotation character appears inside a field, it ought to be escaped with the escape character, which by default is also a double quote.

Separation characters can only appear inside a field if the complete field is quoted. In that case, the separation character should not be escaped.

For the two lines of CSV that you posted, I see no problem at all for the default values when using binary => 1 (except of course for the funny typo).

Ah i see, in other words if a field is to include a comma or carriage return that field should be double quoted, i will have a look at the export options and see if i can have some of the fields quoted

BINGO! :)


Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn

For parsing comma separated values, I think that Text::ParseWords could serve you well? Instead of split(/,/,$_) below, you might need parse_csv($_)? parse_csv should produce a list that you can use like I did below (assign multiple values on the left of the "=" sign).

Your question about a different export character is insightful and very smart! If you have control over that, then get the report with say ^ delimited fields instead of ", then all these problems about quotes within quotes, etc. just go away! Just split on /^/ instead of /"//,/! I think that is the most simple and best idea yet! If you can get that, then just follow the example below (of course without my mistakes!-sorry I messed the row order up somehow..but you will figure it out...)

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

while (<DATA>)
{
   my ($num,$date,$category,$os,$subcat,$action,$desc,$assignto,
       $status,$extra) = split(/,/,$_);
   $num       ||= ""; print "NUM:      $num\n";
   $date      ||= ""; print "DATE:     $date\n";
   $category  ||= ""; print "CATEGORY: $category\n";
   $subcat    ||= ""; print "SUBCAT:   $subcat\n";
   $os        ||= ""; print "OS:       $os\n";
   $desc      ||= ""; print "DESCR:    $desc\n";
   $action    ||= ""; print "ACTION:   $action\n";
   $assignto  ||= ""; print "ASSIGNTO: $assignto\n";
   $status    ||= ""; print "STATUS:   $status\n";
   $extra     ||= ""; print "Extra:    $extra\n";
   print "\n";
}
__DATA__
456,05-Dec-2002,80,Software,print,,he can't print hes getting error ms
+g: 'LPTTS FOR EC-2-1,paper jam,1,C
457,05-Dec-2002,22,Software,switchb.,,when internal call to ext 444 it
+ goes to switchboard2 - when internal call to 0 it goes to switchboar
+d1 -- both should go to switchboard 1,call texchnitian - fixed ,35,C

Prints:
NUM:      456
DATE:     05-Dec-2002
CATEGORY: 80
SUBCAT:   print
OS:       Software
DESCR:    he can't print hes getting error msg: 'LPTTS FOR EC-2-1
ACTION:   
ASSIGNTO: paper jam
STATUS:   1
Extra:    C


NUM:      457
DATE:     05-Dec-2002
CATEGORY: 22
SUBCAT:   switchb.
OS:       Software
DESCR:    when internal call to ext 444 it goes to switchboard2 - when
+ internal call to 0 it goes to switchboard1 -- both should go to swit
+chboard 1
ACTION:   
ASSIGNTO: call texchnitian - fixed 
STATUS:   35
Extra:    C
[download]

Please don't promote the use of <INFILE> when dealing with embedded newlines and such. The OP correctly uses Text::CSV_XS to deal with those. split () is NOT an option here. You code will break on the first newline that is part of a field.


Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn

From problem statement, the 2 lines given don't have embedded new lines. Didn't realize that was part of the requirement. As you point out, that certainly changes things if that is true!