Reading CSV File in PHP | PHP Tutorial For Beginners

This tutorial shows you how to read a CSV file using PHP and store the data into a database. CSV is a file format that stores comma-separated values. We read the CSV file line by line and insert each row into the database.

We must be aware of importing data into a database. Data used for importing is normally in the form of a text file. Sometimes these files are called comma-separated value files, which will normally have a .csv extension.

Step 1 — Create the CSV File

Create a CSV file with your data. In this example the CSV file contains the following columns:

Name,Address,Phone
ABC,XYZ,12345

Step 2 — Create `upload.php`

Create a PHP file named upload.php and paste the following code into it:

<?php
/*--- Database connection ---*/
$hostname_conn = "localhost";
$database_conn = "upload";
$username_conn = "root";
$password_conn = "";

$conn = mysql_pconnect($hostname_conn, $username_conn, $password_conn);
mysql_select_db($database_conn, $conn) or die("could not select db");

if (isset($_FILES['userfile']['name'])) {
    $ext = strrchr($_FILES['userfile']['name'], ".");

    if ($ext == ".csv") {

        // Store file in temporary folder.
        move_uploaded_file($_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'],
            "files/" . $_FILES['userfile']['name']);

        // Read content of the file.
        $file = file("files/" . $_FILES['userfile']['name']);

        foreach ($file as $key => $line) {

            // Reading from the second line (skip header row).
            if ($key >= 1) {
                $var = explode(",", $line);

                // Store content into database.
                $query = "INSERT INTO mytable VALUES('"
                    . $var[0] . "','" . $var[1] . "'," . $var[2] . ")";
                mysql_query($query) or die();
            }
        }

    } else {
        $error = "File must be in CSV format. You uploaded a "
               . $ext . " file.";
    }
}
?>

<html>
<head>
  <title>Upload CSV File</title>
</head>
<body>
  <h3>Upload CSV File</h3>
  <?php if (!empty($error)) echo "<p style='color:red'>$error</p>"; ?>
  <form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <p>
      <input type="file" name="userfile" id="userfile" size="45">
    </p>
    <p>
      <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Upload">
    </p>
  </form>
</body>
</html>

How It Works

The form submits the file via enctype="multipart/form-data".
PHP checks the extension — only .csv files are accepted.
The uploaded file is moved to a files/ directory.
file() reads the CSV into an array, one line per element.
The loop skips the header row ($key >= 1) and uses explode(",",$line) to split each row by comma before inserting into the database.

Hope this tutorial is useful for you. Keep following PHP Tutorial for Beginners for more help.

Reading CSV File in PHP | PHP Tutorial For Beginners

Step 1 — Create the CSV File

Step 2 — Create upload.php

How It Works

Step 2 — Create `upload.php`