How to convert CSV to JSON in Node.js

Check node.js csvtojson module which can be used as a library, command line tools, or web server plugin. https://www.npmjs.org/package/csvtojson. the source code can be found at: https://github.com/Keyang/node-csvtojson

It supports any size csv data / field type / nested json / streaming / customising parser etc. A bunch of features.

Here are some example code.

Use it as a library in your nodejs application:

//Converter Class
var Converter=require("csvtojson").core.Converter;

var fs=require("fs"); 
//CSV File Path or CSV String or Readable Stream Object
var csvFileName="./myCSVFile";

//new converter instance
var csvConverter=new Converter();

//end_parsed will be emitted once parsing finished
csvConverter.on("end_parsed",function(jsonObj){

    console.log(jsonObj); //here is your result json object

});

//read from file
fs.createReadStream(csvFileName).pipe(csvConverter);

Use it as a command line tool:

sh# npm install -g csvtojson
sh# csvtojson ./yourCsvFile.csv

Or start a local web server

sh# csvtojson startserver [port]

For advanced usage: sh# csvtojson --help You can find more details from the github page above.

You can try to use underscore.js

First convert the lines in arrays using the toArray function :

var letters = _.toArray(a,b,c,d);
var numbers = _.toArray(1,2,3,4);

Then object the arrays together using the object function :

var json = _.object(letters, numbers);

By then, the json var should contain something like :

{"a": 1,"b": 2,"c": 3,"d": 4}

Here is a solution that does not require a separate module. However, it is very crude, and does not implement much error handling. It could also use more tests, but it will get you going. If you are parsing very large files, you may want to seek an alternative. Also, see this solution from Ben Nadel.

Node Module Code, csv2json.js:

/*
 * Convert a CSV String to JSON
 */
exports.convert = function(csvString) {
    var json = [];
    var csvArray = csvString.split("\n");

    // Remove the column names from csvArray into csvColumns.
    // Also replace single quote with double quote (JSON needs double).
    var csvColumns = JSON
            .parse("[" + csvArray.shift().replace(/'/g, '"') + "]");

    csvArray.forEach(function(csvRowString) {

        var csvRow = csvRowString.split(",");

        // Here we work on a single row.
        // Create an object with all of the csvColumns as keys.
        jsonRow = new Object();
        for ( var colNum = 0; colNum < csvRow.length; colNum++) {
            // Remove beginning and ending quotes since stringify will add them.
            var colData = csvRow[colNum].replace(/^['"]|['"]$/g, "");
            jsonRow[csvColumns[colNum]] = colData;
        }
        json.push(jsonRow);
    });

    return JSON.stringify(json);
};

Jasmine Test, csv2jsonSpec.js:

var csv2json = require('csv2json.js');

var CSV_STRING = "'col1','col2','col3'\n'1','2','3'\n'4','5','6'";
var JSON_STRING = '[{"col1":"1","col2":"2","col3":"3"},{"col1":"4","col2":"5","col3":"6"}]';

/* jasmine specs for csv2json */
describe('csv2json', function() {

    it('should convert a csv string to a json string.', function() {
        expect(csv2json.convert(CSV_STRING)).toEqual(
                JSON_STRING);
    });
});

I haven't tried csv package https://npmjs.org/package/csv but according to documentation it looks quality implementation http://www.adaltas.com/projects/node-csv/

I started with node-csvtojson, but it brought too many dependencies for my linking.

Building on your question and the answer by brnd, I used node-csv and underscore.js.

var attribs;
var json:
csv()
    .from.string(csvString)
    .transform(function(row) {
        if (!attribs) {
            attribs = row;
            return null;
        }
        return row;
     })
    .to.array(function(rows) {
        json = _.map(rows, function(row) {
            return _.object(attribs, row);
        });
     });

Me and my buddy created a web service to handle this kind of thing.

Check out Modifly.co for instructions on how to transform CSV to JSON with a single RESTful call.

Had to do something similar, hope this helps.

// Node packages for file system
var fs = require('fs');
var path = require('path');


var filePath = path.join(__dirname, 'PATH_TO_CSV');
// Read CSV
var f = fs.readFileSync(filePath, {encoding: 'utf-8'}, 
    function(err){console.log(err);});

// Split on row
f = f.split("\n");

// Get first row for column headers
headers = f.shift().split(",");

var json = [];    
f.forEach(function(d){
    // Loop through each row
    tmp = {}
    row = d.split(",")
    for(var i = 0; i < headers.length; i++){
        tmp[headers[i]] = row[i];
    }
    // Add object to list
    json.push(tmp);
});

var outPath = path.join(__dirname, 'PATH_TO_JSON');
// Convert object to string, write json to file
fs.writeFileSync(outPath, JSON.stringify(json), 'utf8', 
    function(err){console.log(err);});