Import csv - unparseable record

[Kirk P.]

I'm importing 450,000 records from a .csv file, and the import stops at
record 44,000 and says the record is unparseable in the import error table.

I'm looking at the record, and I really can't tell what's different about it
to make it unparseable. So what exactly is an unparseable record, and is
there anything I can do to prevent these types of records?

 

[Klatuu]

Check the spreadsheet to see if there are any commas in any of the cells in
that row. Since a csv file uses the comma as field separators, a comma in
the data can cause this sort of thing.

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Kirk,

At a guess there's a text value in a field in record 44,000 that
contains un-escaped quotation marks.

In a regular CSV file, a text value that contains a comma must be
"qualified" by being enclosed in quotes. Otherwise a program reading
the file will encounter the comma start a new field. (Qualifying
quotes are optional where the field doesn't contain a comma).

But once a text value is enclosed in quotes, quotes in the actual text
value also need special treatment. In Microsoft products, quotes in
text values in CSV files need to be doubles.

So, if your field contains
Joseph Bloggs, jr
it has to be qualified
"Joseph Bloggs, jr"
and if it also contains quotes they must be doubled, so
Joseph "Jojo" Bloggs, jr
becomes
"Joseph ""Jojo"" Bloggs, jr"

(In Unix CSV files, quotes are escaped \" rather than doubled "".)