====== Option +row_sep+ Specifies the row separator, a \String or the \Symbol :auto (see below), to be used for both parsing and generating. Default value: CSV::DEFAULT_OPTIONS.fetch(:row_sep) # => :auto --- When +row_sep+ is a \String, that \String becomes the row separator. The String will be transcoded into the data's Encoding before use. Using "\n": row_sep = "\n" str = CSV.generate(row_sep: row_sep) do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0\nbar,1\nbaz,2\n" ary = CSV.parse(str) ary # => [["foo", "0"], ["bar", "1"], ["baz", "2"]] Using | (pipe): row_sep = '|' str = CSV.generate(row_sep: row_sep) do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0|bar,1|baz,2|" ary = CSV.parse(str, row_sep: row_sep) ary # => [["foo", "0"], ["bar", "1"], ["baz", "2"]] Using -- (two hyphens): row_sep = '--' str = CSV.generate(row_sep: row_sep) do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0--bar,1--baz,2--" ary = CSV.parse(str, row_sep: row_sep) ary # => [["foo", "0"], ["bar", "1"], ["baz", "2"]] Using '' (empty string): row_sep = '' str = CSV.generate(row_sep: row_sep) do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0bar,1baz,2" ary = CSV.parse(str, row_sep: row_sep) ary # => [["foo", "0bar", "1baz", "2"]] --- When +row_sep+ is the \Symbol +:auto+ (the default), generating uses "\n" as the row separator: str = CSV.generate do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0\nbar,1\nbaz,2\n" Parsing, on the other hand, invokes auto-discovery of the row separator. Auto-discovery reads ahead in the data looking for the next \r\n, +\n+, or +\r+ sequence. The sequence will be selected even if it occurs in a quoted field, assuming that you would have the same line endings there. Example: str = CSV.generate do |csv| csv << [:foo, 0] csv << [:bar, 1] csv << [:baz, 2] end str # => "foo,0\nbar,1\nbaz,2\n" ary = CSV.parse(str) ary # => [["foo", "0"], ["bar", "1"], ["baz", "2"]] The default $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR ($/) is used if any of the following is true: * None of those sequences is found. * Data is +ARGF+, +STDIN+, +STDOUT+, or +STDERR+. * The stream is only available for output. Obviously, discovery takes a little time. Set manually if speed is important. Also note that IO objects should be opened in binary mode on Windows if this feature will be used as the line-ending translation can cause problems with resetting the document position to where it was before the read ahead. --- Raises an exception if the given value is not String-convertible: row_sep = BasicObject.new # Raises NoMethodError (undefined method `to_s' for #) CSV.generate(ary, row_sep: row_sep) # Raises NoMethodError (undefined method `to_s' for #) CSV.parse(str, row_sep: row_sep)