CSV files with Node and PapaParse: The Complete Guide

In this article we are going to learn how to handle CSV files on the backend with NodeJs and papaparse.

We are going to do this with the help of real life examples, so that you have an understand of how to work with CSVs

Prerequisites and setting up the development environment
Basic CSV file parsing with PapaParse with example
Handling large CSV files with Streams
Uploading CSV files to the server and sending parsed data back with Express and NodeJs
Error handling and data validation
Loading parsed data into arrays or Objects
Transforming data: adding, deleting or updating the records
Working with Remote CSV files
Using the unparse() method to re-export the data
Conclusion

Prerequisites

To learn how to parse CSV files with Papaparse in NodeJs we assume you have the following knowledge and prerequisites

Basic Knowledge of JavaScript
Node Js installed on your machine

and that's it. That is all you need to know to get along with this tutorial

Setting up the development env

you already have the node installed on your computer. Now create a new directory called csv-papaparse-node and set up a new project with

npm init

now open the project in your text editor. I am using VSCode, you can use anything you want

then install the papaparse like so

npm install papaparse --save

Now that we have installed the papaparse, we are going to parse a simple csv in the basic example below

Basic CSV file parsing with PapaParse with example

In this section we are going to parse a simple CSV that is already in the local folder inside the server.

Note: In the sections after this we will look at how to create an expressjs server and send CSVs to the server parse them and send them back to the client.

Now, we need the sample CSV that we are going to parse. In the root folder create a csv file with the following contents

id,name,email
1,John,john@example.com
2,Jim,jim@example.com

Now let us take it step by step.

*Step 1: * Create index.js file

In the root folder create a new file and name it index.js we are going to write the code to parse the csv in this file

Step 2: Importing the required Node modules

we are going to need the fs module and the papaparse module so import them in your file

const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');

Step 2: Reading the file

Now read the file with the help of the fs module

const csvFile = fs.readFileSync('sample.csv', 'utf8');

Step 3: parse the data

Now parse the data using the papaparse module

const parsedData = Papa.parse(csvFile, {
  header: true,
  dynamicTyping: true,
});

Step 4: log the data to the console

Lastly log the data to the console so that you can verify that the file has been parsed

console.log(parsedData.data);

The complete index.js file looks like this

const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');

const csvFile = fs.readFileSync('sample.csv', 'utf8');

const parsedData = Papa.parse(csvFile, {
  header: true,
  dynamicTyping: true,
});

console.log(parsedData.data);

Running the file to parse the data

to run the code type the below command in your terminal

node index.js

and you can see the parsed data in your console like

[
  { id: 1, name: 'John', email: 'john@example.com' },
  { id: 2, name: 'Jim', email: 'jim@example.com' },
  { id: null }
]

Handling large files with Streams

While handling large CSV files many problems can arise like application running out of memory or application crashing that might lead to loss of work

Streams are a NodeJs feature that allow you to read and write the files in chunks, thus minimizing memory usage and optimizing the processing of files

Now, using the above example to illustrate the point, open the index.js file and edit the papaparse code to use streams like


Papa.parse(csvFile, {
  header: true,
  step: function(result) {
    // Process each row of the csv as it is parsed
    console.log("data for each row:", result.data);
  },
  complete: function() {
    console.log("Data Parsing complete.");
  }
});

The complete index.js code looks like

const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');

const csvFile = fs.readFileSync('sample1.csv', 'utf8');

//old code
// const parsedData = Papa.parse(csvFile, {
//   header: true,
//   dynamicTyping: true,
// });

Papa.parse(csvFile, {
    header: true,
    step: function(result) {
      // Process each row as it is parsed
      console.log("Row data:", result.data);
    },
    complete: function() {
      console.log("Parsing complete.");
    }
  });

// console.log(parsedData.data);

you can run the code with the following code

node index.js

This updated code with streams can now handle even large csv files. You can try this by downloading a large csv file from the internet

Uploading CSV files to the server and sending parsed data back with Express and NodeJs

In many real world scenarios we need to send the CSV to the server and need the parsed data back from the server.

In this section we are going to achieve this. To do this we are going to build a express js server and use Postman to send and receive the data back from the server.

Step 1: Installing required dependencies and importing them

Let us install the express server and the multer package to handle multipart form data

npm install express multer

then import the dependencies like

const express = require('express');
const multer = require('multer');
const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');

const app = express();
const upload = multer({ dest: 'uploads/' });

Here we have specified the destination folder as well where the files will be stored

Step 2 Creating routes

Now let us create a POST route where we will send the csv to be parsed, we are naming the csv csvFile

app.post('/upload', upload.single('csvfile'), (req, res) => {
  // File processing logic here
});

Step 3 Adding the file Parse logic to the POST route

Now we will add the parse logic to the POST endpoint to parse the incoming csv file

app.post('/upload', upload.single('csvfile'), (req, res) => {
  const filePath = req.file.path;

  const readStream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
  let parsedData = [];

  Papa.parse(readStream, {
    header: true,
    step: function(result) {
      parsedData.push(result.data);
    },
    complete: function() {
      res.json(parsedData);
    }
  });
});

Step 4: Adding the code to start the server

write this code at the end of index.js to start the server.

const PORT = 3000;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`);
});

The complete code looks like this:

const express = require ('express');
const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');
const multer = require('multer');


const app = express();
const upload = multer({ dest: 'uploads/' });

app.post('/upload', upload.single('csvFile'), (req, res) => {
    const filePath = req.file.path;

    const readStream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
    let parsedData = [];

    Papa.parse(readStream, {
      header: true,
      step: function(result) {
        parsedData.push(result.data);
      },
      complete: function() {
        res.json(parsedData);
      }
    });
  });


const PORT = 3000;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`);
});

Step 5 Running the code

to run the code simply open the terminal and type the below code

node index.js

you will see the : server running on port 3000 on your console.

Testing with data

In this section we are going to test with postman whether the code is properly parsing the csv and sending the data to the client or not.

Step 1: Open the Postman app

Open the postman app and create a POST request to send to this url

http://localhost:3000/upload

Step 2 Select the body tag

Now, select the body tag and set the content type to multipart/form-data and then set the key to csvFile then set the value to the file that you are going to send to the server.

this looks something like

Now press the send button this will send the csv file to our local server and the server will return the parsed data back to the postman app

You can also check the files being stored in the /uploads directory.

We have covered all the basic here. Now, let us look at some of the advanced topics below.

Error Handling and Data Validation in NodeJs with PapaParse

Error handling and data validation is an integral part of any software development.

In handling csvs many things can go wrong and this could lead to server crashes and other things

Here in this section we are going to learn a few basic error handling mechanisms and data validation that is a must for any software

Step 1 Check if file exists

It is important to check if the client is sending the file or not before parsing it or even attempting to read it

if (!fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
  return res.status(400).json({ error: "File not found" });
}

Step 2 Handling error in stream

Add an error event listner inside a read stream to catch any errors which might arise while reading the file

readStream.on('error', (err) => {
  return res.status(500).json({ error: "Error reading the file" });
});

Step 3 Checking the file for parsing error

In this section we are looking if the file can be parsed or not. Sometime the file is corrupted or has some other error and cannot be parsed

We can check for this type of error using the below code

the completed code looks like this

Papa.parse(readStream, {
  // ...
  error: function(error) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: "CSV Parsing Error" });
  }
});

the complete code looks like

const express = require ('express');
const fs = require('fs');
const Papa = require('papaparse');
const multer = require('multer');


const app = express();
const upload = multer({ dest: 'uploads/' });

app.post('/upload', upload.single('csvFile'), (req, res) => {
    const filePath = req.file.path;

    if (!fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: "File not found" });
      }

    const readStream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
    readStream.on('error', (err) => {
        return res.status(500).json({ error: "Error reading the file" });
      });

    let parsedData = [];

    Papa.parse(readStream, {
      header: true,
      step: function(result) {
        parsedData.push(result.data);
      },
      complete: function() {
        res.json(parsedData);
      },
      error: function(error){
        return res.status(400).json({error: "CSV parsing error has occured"})
      }
    });
  });


// console.log(parsedData.data);

const PORT = 3000;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`);
});

Step 4 Validating data in PapaParse (optional)

In this section we are going to validate the data within the step function

If our data fails to meet the criteria

Papa.parse(readStream, {
  header: true,
  step: function(result, parser) {
    // Perform validation, for example, check if an 'email' field exists and is valid
    if (!result.data.email || !validateEmail(result.data.email)) {
      parser.abort();
      return res.status(400).json({ error: "Invalid email in CSV" });
    }
    parsedData.push(result.data);
  },
  // ...
});

This is specific to the data that you are looking to parse. Like for example if we are looking for an email address in the csv data we can do the data validation like above

Data validation depends upon the data that you are looking to validate.

Transforming Parsed Data: Adding, Deleting and Updating data in Arrays and Objects

Adding Records to array

you can easily pushed parsed data into an Array by using the JavaScript built in method of push

parsedDataArray.push(result.data);

Adding Records to Object

add a new key value pair to the Object like

step: function(result) {
  // Assume 'id' is a unique field in your data
  const id = result.data.id;
  parsedDataObject[id] = result.data;
}

Returning the parsed data back to client

you can return the parsedData to the client like

complete: function() {
    res.json(parsedData);
},

Thus you can return the data back to the client.

Working with Remote CSV files

In this section we are going to learn how to work with files that are situated on another remote server. That server could be in the cloud or another server or anywhere it is accessible through an api

Step 1 Fetching the remote file

We are going to use the Axios HTTP client to make requests to fetch the remote CSV file

We are also going to stream the files in case some files are large and needed to be streamed

const axios = require('axios');
const response = await axios.get(remoteFileURL, { responseType: 'stream' });

Step 2 Piping the stream

you can easily pipe the Axios res stream directly to Papaparse

const readStream = res.data;

Step 3 Parsing the CSV and storing the data

In this section we are going to parse the data.

let parsedDataArray = [];

Papa.parse(readStream, {
  header: true,
  step: function(result) {
    parsedData.push(result.data);
  },
  complete: function() {
    res.send(parsedData)
  }
});

Here what the complete code looks like

const axios = require('axios');
const Papa = require('papaparse');

app.get('/fetch-remote-csv', async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const remoteFileURL = 'https://coolwebsite.com/data.csv';
    const response = await axios.get(remoteFileURL, { responseType: 'stream' });

    let parsedDataArray = [];

    Papa.parse(response.data, {
      header: true,
      step: function(result) {
        parsedDataArray.push(result.data);
      },
      complete: function() {
        res.json(parsedDataArray);
      }
    });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('An error occurred:', error);
    res.status(500).json({ error: 'Could not fetch and parse remote CSV file' });
  }
});

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Conclusion

In this article we learned about how to parse csvs using NodeJs and PapaParse.

I hope you liked the article and thank you for reading

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