python: list of dictionaries to csv example

gistfile1.pytb

def write_csv(outputRowDictionaries, outputFile, fieldNames=None, defaultFieldValue='', removeDuplicates=False, sortField=None):
	dictionaryList = []
	if removeDuplicates:
		for row in outputRowDictionaries:
			if row not in dictionaryList:
				dictionaryList.append(row)
	else:
		dictionaryList = outputRowDictionaries


	if sortField:
		dictionaryList = sorted(dictionaryList, key=lambda k: k[sortField]) 

	with open(outputFile, 'wb') as output_csv:
		if not fieldNames:
			fieldNames = [f.encode('utf-8') for f in dictionaryList[0].keys()]
			fieldNames.sort()

		csvWriter = csv.DictWriter(output_csv, delimiter=',', fieldnames=fieldNames)
		headers = {}
		for field_name in fieldNames:
			headers[field_name] = field_name  
		csvWriter.writerow(headers)

		for m in dictionaryList:
			row = {}
			for k, v in m.items():
				if type(v) in [types.StringType, types.UnicodeType]:
					row[k.encode('utf-8')] =  v.encode('utf-8')
				else:
					row[k] = v

			for f in fieldNames:
				if not row.get(f):
					row[f] = defaultFieldValue

			csvWriter.writerow(row)