Python script to convert DBF database file to CSV

README.md

Python script to convert DBF database file to CSV

• First download dbfpy: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dbfpy/files/latest/download?source=files
• Then install: sudo python setup.py install

To convert DBF file to CSV:

./dbf2csv database.dbf

dbf2csv.py

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys

filename = sys.argv[1]
if filename.endswith('.dbf'):
    print "Converting %s to csv" % filename
    csv_fn = filename[:-4]+ ".csv"
    with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
        in_db = dbf.Dbf(filename)
        out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)
        names = []
        for field in in_db.header.fields:
            names.append(field.name)
        out_csv.writerow(names)
        for rec in in_db:
            out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)
        in_db.close()
        print "Done..."
else:
  print "Filename does not end with .dbf"

when I tried this code:

from dbfpy import dbf
path = "a/path/to/dbf/file/"
in_db = dbf.Dbf(path)

immediately I got this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbfpy/dbf.py", line 128, in __init__
    self.stream = file(f, ("r+b", "rb")[bool(readOnly)])
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'a/path/to/dbf/file.DBF'

Somehow it works with some of my .DBF files, but not all... Is there something wrong with my files? or limitation with dbf.Dbf() function?

Scan the directory for all DBF files. File extension case-insensitive. And commented code that writes the header

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys

csv_fn = "all.csv"
with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
  for file_name in os.listdir('.'):
    if file_name.lower().endswith('.dbf'):
      print ("Converting %s to csv" % file_name)
      in_db = dbf.Dbf(file_name)
      out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)

      #names = [] # no header
      #for field in in_db.header.fields:
      #names.append(field.name)

      for rec in in_db:
          out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)
      in_db.close()
      print ("Done...")
    else:
      print ("Filename does not end with .dbf")

my dbf contain UTF8 and/or chinese words. currently the data became monster words ( e.g. ∂◊¬◊´H¶´ ). how can i fix it ?

I use Python 3.12.4 on MacOS 14.5
setup.py here complains:
` self.initialize_options()
File "build/bdist.macosx-14.0-arm64/egg/dbfpy/dbfnew.py", line 155
print "*** created tst.dbf: ***"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)?

File "build/bdist.macosx-14.0-arm64/egg/dbfpy/dbf.py", line 280
print repr(_rec)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)?
`

@traut21 next time first thing you should do - paste output to translater.
Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)? means you use old fashion print "*** created tst.dbf: ***" without parentheses, and if you'll seat near me, i'll use big boring book about algorithms to kick your head (this said with friendly voice:)
Happy learning =)

Thanks for your "friendly voice". So I will have to learn python before I can use this github script, right? No hint whether my Python version is too new, too old or is not properly supported on MacOS.

These parts of the python software were not written by myself, but were created by the setup.py. So I see, it's my fault that the setup does not create what I need. Instead of fixing the first bug messages and then wait for the next problems I'll have a look for another dbf converter first.

@traut21 the script is quite old and was originally written for Python 2.7.

To make it compatible with Python 3, you'll need to call the print statements as a function. Simply add parentheses around the print statements, and that should do the trick!

Here's the updated version of the script:

#!/usr/bin/python

import csv
from dbfpy import dbf
import os
import sys

filename = sys.argv[1]
if filename.endswith('.dbf'):
    print(f"Converting {filename} to csv")
    csv_fn = filename[:-4]+ ".csv"
    with open(csv_fn,'wb') as csvfile:
        in_db = dbf.Dbf(filename)
        out_csv = csv.writer(csvfile)
        names = []
        for field in in_db.header.fields:
            names.append(field.name)
        out_csv.writerow(names)
        for rec in in_db:
            out_csv.writerow(rec.fieldData)
        in_db.close()
        print("Done...")
else:
  print("Filename does not end with .dbf")

thanks, now I know that this script had been written for P 2.7

Your script tells me
print repr(_rec) ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Last release of dbfpy was in 2015, most certainly it wasn't updated to py3.

If this is only a one time use just install python 2.7.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. Yes, it's a one time use where the dbf has too many lines for LibreOffice