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"

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 ?