Converting CSV file into PDF dynamically

Question

I have a simple CSV file that looks similar to:

pens, 23
bottles, 5
spoons, 6
chairs, 5
books, 12

I want to convert this into a PDF document. I have no clue on how could I do this. I have installed mactex. It will be helpful, if you help me in getting started with this.

The problem that I am trying to solve is pdf generation. So the input will be a CSV file with around million entries and I want to generate a PDF document.

Answer 1

Here are a few more options using csvsimple.

You can use \csvautotabular to let csvsimple build a table for you:

\csvautotabular[
  table head={%
  \hline
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \hline}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

or, if you load the booktabs package then you can use \csvautobooktabular to get a prettier table:

\csvautobooktabular[
  table head={%
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

or you can build your own using csvsimple's CSV processor:

\begin{tabular}{lc}
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule
    \csvreader[late after line=\\]{pens_and_bottles.csv}{}%
      {\csvcoli & \csvcolii}
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}

If you are using a rather large CSV file this will take more than one page, then you can load the longtable package then use \csvautobooklongtable (or build your own longtable, as in the previous example):

\csvautobooklongtable[
  table head={%
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule},
  table foot={\\\bottomrule}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

Example with the four options:

\RequirePackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{pens_and_bottles.csv}
pens, 23
bottles, 5
spoons, 6
chairs, 5
books, 12
\end{filecontents*}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{csvsimple}
\usepackage{longtable}
\begin{document}

\csvautotabular[
  table head={%
  \hline
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \hline}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

\bigskip

\csvautobooktabular[
  table head={%
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

\bigskip

\begin{tabular}{lc}
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule
    \csvreader[late after line=\\]{pens_and_bottles.csv}{}%
      {\csvcoli & \csvcolii}
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\bigskip

\csvautobooklongtable[
  table head={%
  \toprule
    \bfseries Thing & \bfseries Amount \\
  \midrule},
  table foot={\\\bottomrule}]%
  {pens_and_bottles.csv}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Here an example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{csvsimple}
\usepackage{caption}

% this code is only to create myfile.csv, you don't need it:
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{myfile.csv}
pens, 23
bottles, 5
spoons, 6
chairs, 5
books, 12
\end{filecontents*}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[htb]\centering
    \caption{A caption}
    \csvreader[
    tabular=lr,
    table head={\toprule
    My objects & My number\\
    \midrule},
    table foot=\bottomrule,
    no head,
    ]{myfile.csv}{}{\csvcoli & \csvcolii}
\end{table}
\end{document}