Python script to convert DBF database file to CSV

README.md

Python script to convert DBF database file to CSV

• First download dbfpy: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dbfpy/files/latest/download?source=files
• Then install: sudo python setup.py install

To convert DBF file to CSV:

./dbf2csv database.dbf

dbf2csv.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys

filename = sys.argv[1]
if filename.endswith('.dbf'):
    print "Converting %s to csv" % filename
    csv_fn = filename[:-4]+ ".csv"
    with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
        in_db = dbf.Dbf(filename)
        out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)
        names = []
        for field in in_db.header.fields:
            names.append(field.name)
        out_csv.writerow(names)
        for rec in in_db:
            out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)
        in_db.close()
        print "Done..."
else:
  print "Filename does not end with .dbf"

If you need to filter columns you can use this script
Try this:

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys
import json
from argparse import ArgumentParser

description = 'Arguments of DBF to CSV converter'
parser = ArgumentParser(description=description)
parser.add_argument('-f', '--file', dest='file', required='true',
                    help="Examples: -i file.dbf")

parser.add_argument('-c', '--colunms', dest='colunms',
                    type=str, nargs='*',
                    help="Examples: -c item1 item2 item3")

opts = parser.parse_args()

if opts.file.endswith('.dbf') or opts.file.endswith('.DBF'):
    print "Converting %s to csv" % opts.file
    csv_fn = opts.file[:-4]+ ".csv"
    with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
        in_db = dbf.Dbf(opts.file)
        out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)
        names = []
        colunmsKeySave = {}
        for keyF, field in enumerate(in_db.header.fields):            
            if opts.colunms:
                for ig in opts.colunms:
                    if ig == field.name:
                        names.append(field.name)
                        colunmsKeySave[keyF] = field.name
            else:
                names.append(field.name)
        out_csv.writerow(names)

        for rec in in_db:
            if opts.colunms:
                values = []
                for keyf, field in enumerate(rec.fieldData):
                    if keyf in colunmsKeySave:
                        values.append(field)
                out_csv.writerow(values)
            else:
                out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)

        in_db.close()
        print "Done..."
else:
  print "Filename does not end with .dbf"

This library worked for me: https://github.com/akadan47/dbf2csv
For Python 3: akadan47/dbf2csv#1

It uses the underlying dbfread library (https://github.com/olemb/dbfread) instead of dbfpy (http://dbfpy.sourceforge.net/)

If you need to filter columns you can use this script
Try this:

Plese tell what to write in the line of

description = 'Arguments of DBF to CSV converter'
parser = ArgumentParser(description=description)
parser.add_argument('-f', '--file', dest='file', required='true',
help="Examples: -i file.dbf")

parser.add_argument('-c', '--colunms', dest='colunms',
type=str, nargs='*',
help="Examples: -c item1 item2 item3")

I have DBF file with 9500 lines and and A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,,R,S,T,U,W,X,Y,Z,AA,AB.... AQ columnes.

And i have to convert the last 130 lines with all columnes
Any idea.
Thank you

when I tried this code:

from dbfpy import dbf
path = "a/path/to/dbf/file/"
in_db = dbf.Dbf(path)

immediately I got this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbfpy/dbf.py", line 128, in __init__
    self.stream = file(f, ("r+b", "rb")[bool(readOnly)])
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'a/path/to/dbf/file.DBF'

Somehow it works with some of my .DBF files, but not all... Is there something wrong with my files? or limitation with dbf.Dbf() function?

I am running this on Python 3 and it throws the error on dbf. NameError: name 'Dbf' is not defined.
Any suggestions on how to proceed with this?

Nice dude ;)

when I tried this code:

from dbfpy import dbf
path = "a/path/to/dbf/file/"
in_db = dbf.Dbf(path)

immediately I got this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbfpy/dbf.py", line 128, in __init__
    self.stream = file(f, ("r+b", "rb")[bool(readOnly)])
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'a/path/to/dbf/file.DBF'

Somehow it works with some of my .DBF files, but not all... Is there something wrong with my files? or limitation with dbf.Dbf() function?

Scan the directory for all DBF files. File extension case-insensitive. And commented code that writes the header

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys

csv_fn = "all.csv"
with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
  for file_name in os.listdir('.'):
    if file_name.lower().endswith('.dbf'):
      print ("Converting %s to csv" % file_name)
      in_db = dbf.Dbf(file_name)
      out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)

      #names = [] # no header
      #for field in in_db.header.fields:
      #names.append(field.name)

      for rec in in_db:
          out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)
      in_db.close()
      print ("Done...")
    else:
      print ("Filename does not end with .dbf")

my dbf contain UTF8 and/or chinese words. currently the data became monster words ( e.g. ∂◊¬◊´H¶´ ). how can i fix it ?