Read or Import CSV to an Array in PHP Code Example

Import CSV to an array using PHP's fgetcsv function. The array is associative so you can access values by the column heading.

The file you want to import CSV to an array object must have column headings as the first row since these are used to create the associative array elements.

Import CSV to Array with PHP

<?php

function ImportCSV2Array($filename)
{
    $row = 0;
    $col = 0;
    
    $handle = @fopen($filename, "r");
    if ($handle) 
    {
        while (($row = fgetcsv($handle, 4096)) !== false) 
        {
            if (empty($fields)) 
            {
                $fields = $row;
                continue;
            }
            
            foreach ($row as $k=>$value) 
            {
                $results[$col][$fields[$k]] = $value;
            }
            $col++;
            unset($row);
        }
        if (!feof($handle)) 
        {
            echo "Error: unexpected fgets() failn";
        }
        fclose($handle);
    }
    
    return $results;
}

Example Usage

<?php

// Import CSV to an Array
$filename = "test.csv";
$csvArray = ImportCSV2Array($filename)

foreach ($csvArray as $row)
{
    echo $row['column1'];
    echo $row['column2'];
    echo $row['column3'];
}

What is Happening?

This function takes each line of the CSV import file and runs it through PHP's fgetcsv function. This function is similar to fgets except that fgetcsv parses the line it reads for fields in CSV format and returns an array containing the fields read. The array is an indexed array, with the first item at 0, the second at 1 and so on.

To get the associative array, the first row of data is used as the column headings, and then a loop runs over each item in the array from fgetcsv and inserts it against the column heading.

The method of using associative arrays is far better than an indexed array, as it can often be confusing, cause errors trying to remember what piece of data is at any given numerical index, and code maintenance is often a minefield. If a new column is added to the data, you have to update all the indexes where that array is used. With an associative array, you access data via a name, so it does not matter what order the data is read in or how many columns are inserted, that name will remain constant.