The CSV module has a DictReader method that will read each line into a dictionary with the keys being named by the column names found on the first line. If the file doesn't have the first line, it appears you can provide the fieldnames as a keyword argument to DictReader instead (haven't used this feature).
<---test file---> "name","address","city","state","zip","telephone" "James R. Smith","1234 Vista Lane","Atlanta","GA","30301","4045551212" "Bill G. Jones","555 Peachtree Lane","Atlanta","GA","30316","4045552323" "Elanor Allen","7435 Cobb Drive","Atlanta","GA","30332","4045551212" <---------------> import csv fp=open(r'c:\test.txt','r') inputfile=csv.DictReader(fp) for record in inputfile: print record fp.close() {'city': 'Atlanta', 'name': 'James R. Smith', 'zip': '30301', 'telephone': '4045551212', 'state': 'GA', 'address': '1234 Vista Lane'} {'city': 'Atlanta', 'name': 'Bill G. Jones', 'zip': '30316', 'telephone': '4045552323', 'state': 'GA', 'address': '555 Peachtree Lane'} {'city': 'Atlanta', 'name': 'Elanor Allen', 'zip': '30332', 'telephone': '4045551212', 'state': 'GA', 'address': '7435 Cobb Drive'} Larry Bates Michael March wrote: > I have seen a few recipes out there that allow for access to DB-API > columns by their name instead of column number.. I was wondering if > anyone knew of any code snippets that allow for the same thing with the > CSV module? > > thanks! > > <march> > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list