1. Introduction

CSV (Comma Separated Values) is a simple file format used to store tabular data. In this post, we will create a Java program to read a CSV string and convert it into an ArrayList of Strings representing the rows of the CSV.

2. Program Steps

1. Define a main method to serve as the entry point of the program.

2. Create a CSV string that we want to convert to an ArrayList.

3. Use the split method to split the CSV string by lines and then by commas to extract the individual data elements.

4. Add each row (as a List of Strings) to the ArrayList.

5. Print the ArrayList to the console.

3. Code Program

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class CSVToArrayList {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Step 2: Create a CSV string
        String csvString = "Name,Age,Location\\nJohn,30,New York\\nJane,25,Los Angeles\\nMike,35,Chicago";

        // Step 3: Split the CSV string by lines and then by commas
        String[] lines = csvString.split("\\\\n");
        List<List<String>> arrayList = new ArrayList<>();

        for (String line : lines) {
            String[] values = line.split(",");
            arrayList.add(Arrays.asList(values));
        }

        // Step 5: Print the ArrayList
        System.out.println(arrayList);
    }
}

Output:

[[Name, Age, Location], [John, 30, New York], [Jane, 25, Los Angeles], [Mike, 35, Chicago]]

4. Step By Step Explanation

– Step 1: The main method is defined as the entry point of the program.

– Step 2: A CSV string csvString is created, representing the rows and columns of the CSV file.

– Step 3: The CSV string is split by lines using split("\\\\n") and then each line is split by commas to get the individual data elements. Each row is then added to the arrayList as a List of Strings.

– Step 5: Finally, the arrayList is printed to the console, showing the conversion of the CSV string into an ArrayList of Strings representing the rows.

This Java program effectively demonstrates how to convert a CSV formatted string into an ArrayList, where each element of the ArrayList is a List of Strings representing a row of the CSV.