Example of how to convert a csv file to a table of ranked headers for each row

ranker.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import csv, json
from collections import defaultdict
r = csv.reader(open("data.csv"))
headers = r.next()
countries = headers[1:]
out_rows = []
for row in r:
    area = row[0]
    out_row = [area]
    values = map(int,row[1:])
    d = defaultdict(list)
    for v,c in zip(values,countries):
        d[v].append(c)
    for v in reversed(sorted(d)):
        if v > 0:
            if len(d[v]) > 1:
                out_row.append('[%s]' % (','.join(d[v])))
            else:
                out_row.append(d[v][0])
    if len(out_row) < 6:
        out_row.extend([''] * (6-len(out_row)))
    out_rows.append(out_row)

with open("ranked.json","w") as json_file:
    json.dump(out_rows,json_file)

nice! and you actually did it in 18, because the close isn't needed when using "with open()"

ah right... thanks! updated/adjusted now based on NICAR-L conversation...