Find & replace data in a CSV using Python on Zapier

Question

I'm new to python, zapier and pretty much everything, so forgive me if this is easy or impossible...

I'm trying to import multiple csv's into zapier for an automated workflow, however they contain dot points that aren't formatted using UTF-8, which is all zapier can read.

It consistently errors - "utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0x95 in position 829: invalid start byte"

After talking to zapier support, they've suggested using python to possibly find an replace these dot points with asterisk or dash, then import this corrected csv into my zapier workflow.

This is what i have written so far as a Python action in Zapier (just trying to read the csv to start with) with no luck:

import csv 
with open(input_data['file'], 'r') as file:
reader = csv.reader(file)
for row in reader:
print(row)

Is this possible?

Thanks!

Zapier trying to import CSV with bullet points

My current python code (not working) in an attempt to find & replace bullet points in the CSV's

Answer 1

This is possible, but it's a little tricky. Zapier is confusing when it comes to files. On your computer, files are a series of bytes. But in Zapier, a file is usually a url that points to the actual file. This is great for cross-app compatibility, but tricky to work with in code.

You're trying to open to open a url as a file in Python, which isn't working. Instead, make a request for that file, then read it as a series of bytes. Try this:

import csv
import io

file_data = requests.get(input_data['file'])
reader = csv.reader(file_data.content.decode('utf-8').splitlines(), delimiter=',')

result = io.StringIO() # a string interface to write
writer = csv.writer(result)
for row in reader:
    # some modifications here
    # row = row.replace(...)
    writer.writerow(row)

return [{'data': result.getvalue()}]

The result there is because you want to write out a string that you can then re-package as a CSV in your virtual filesystem of choice (gDrive, Dropbox, etc).

---

You can also test this locally instead of in the Zapier editor (I find that's a bit easier to iterate with). Simply get the file url from the code step (it'll be something like https://zapier.com/engine/... and make a local python file with:

input_data = {'file': 'https://zapier.com/engine/...'}

...

You'll also need to pip install requests if you don't have it.