Basic and quoted fields
Input
split_csv_row('"Smith, John",30,Engineer')
Output
['Smith, John', '30', 'Engineer']
The first field is quoted and contains a comma; quotes are removed. Other fields are unquoted and trimmed.
Full lesson preview
Split CSV Row Into Fields
Parse a single CSV row into its constituent fields handling quoted fields and escaped quotes.
Python practice15 minLoops & IterationIntermediateLast updated March 15, 2026
Problem statement
CSV rows contain fields separated by commas. Fields may be enclosed in double quotes to include commas or leading/trailing spaces. Inside a quoted field, a double quote is represented by two consecutive double quotes. Implement split_csv_row(row) that returns a list of field strings following these rules:
- Fields are separated by commas unless inside double quotes.
- If a field is quoted, remove the surrounding quotes and unescape doubled quotes ("" -> ").
- Trim leading and trailing spaces for unquoted fields, but preserve spaces inside quoted fields.
- Empty fields (between consecutive commas) are allowed and should be returned as empty strings.
Do not use Python's csv module; implement parsing using loops and string operations.
Task
Write a function that splits a CSV row string into a list of field strings, handling quoted fields (with commas inside) and double-quote escaping.
Examples
Input format
A single argument: row (string) representing one CSV row.
Output format
A list of strings representing the parsed fields.
Constraints
Row length <= 1000 characters. Do not use the csv module. Assume fields use double quotes for quoting and double-quote escaping.
Samples
Sample 1
Input
split_csv_row('a,b,c')
Output
['a', 'b', 'c']
Simple comma-separated fields.