From: James Edward Gray II <james@...>
Date: 2006-04-28T00:35:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Q about the FasterCSV

On Apr 27, 2006, at 10:28 AM, Dave Burt wrote:

> Let's choose option 1. Ruby lets you modify classes from libraries.
> Let's call this "lenient_and_still_a_little_bit_faster_csv.rb":
>
> require 'faster_csv'
> class FasterCSV
>   # Pre-compiles parsers and stores them by name for access during
>   # reads, just like the official FasterCSV version, BUT the central
>   # parser allows arbitrary whitespace before and after the column
>   # separator.
>   def init_parsers( options )
>     # prebuild Regexps for faster parsing
>     @parsers    = {
>       :leading_fields =>
>         /\A#{Regexp.escape(@col_sep)}+/,      # for empty leading  
> fields

You should modify the above line too.  It takes both to correctly  
parse some lines:

/\A\s*#{Regexp.escape(@col_sep)}+/

>       :csv_row        =>
>         ### The Primary Parser ###
>         / \G(?:^|#{Regexp.escape(@col_sep)})     # anchor the match
>           \s*                          # <----- # ignore some  
> whitespace
>           (?: "((?>[^"]*)(?>""[^"]*)*)"          # find quoted fields
>               |                                  # ... or ...
>               ([^"#{Regexp.escape(@col_sep)}]*)  # unquoted fields
>               )/x,
>         ### End Primary Parser ###
>       :line_end       =>
>         /#{Regexp.escape(@row_sep)}\Z/           # safer than chomp!()
>     }
>   end
> end
>
> All that code except for the line consisting entirely of "\s*" was  
> taken
> from FasterCSV 0.2.0, and I should have asked Gray Productions for
> permission to republish it, but I don't think Mr. Gray will mind this
> particular use of his excellent work.

Looks good to me.  Just don't hold your breath waiting on the  
patch...  ;)

James Edward Gray II