[FIXED] How to import into pandas a file that is using a comma as delimiter but one of its columns has commas?

Issue

I have a text file that is separated by commas, but several columns have commas inside them so it creates columns where they are not needed. I have tried eliminating all the commas, then using regex to find only the numbers and add a comma (not worked) using the following solution (Put comma after a pattern in python regex).

Excel has the same problem, and other text editors as well.

0111,Cultivo de cereales y otros cultivos n.c.p.,011,Cultivos en general; cultivo de productos de mercado; hortic,01,AGRICULTURA, GANADERIA, CAZA Y ACTIVIDADES DE SERVICIOS CONE,01,**AGRICULTURA, GANADERIA, CAZA Y SILVICULTURA**  

If you can see in the ** text, Python will not create one column but 3.

Another solution would be to place " " marks, but I have not found a solution that creates.

Solution

Your data source is buggy. It should put quotes " " around such values, then pandas would be able to parse it. Without that, there is now no reliable logical way to tell the data apart now because the meaning of a comma now became ambiguous.

A heuristic solution could be to assume that any comma followed by a space should be removed while the others should be retained, you could try that, but there can still be cases in which it may fail.

data.replace(", ", " ")

Answered By - CherryDT

Answer Checked By - Willingham (PHPFixing Volunteer)