csvcompact.py

import csv

def clean_cells(row):
    row_out = []
    for cell in row:
        cell = cell.strip().strip(' ').strip('-').strip()
        if cell == '*': cell = ''
        if cell == 'N/A': cell = ''
        row_out.append(str(cell))

    return row_out

reader = csv.reader(open('project.csv', 'rb'))
writer = csv.writer(open('output.csv', 'wb'), delimiter=',', quotechar='"', quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONNUMERIC)

# fetch out header row
reader.next()

row = []
last_row = []
last_id = 0
for row in reader:
    row = clean_cells(row);
    if row[0] != last_id and row[0] != '':
        if last_id != 0:
            writer.writerow(last_row)
            print '# just writerow #' + last_row[1]
        last_row = row
    else:
        for i, cell in enumerate(row):
            if cell:
                last_row[i] += '|' + cell
                print '# T_T #' + last_row[1]

    last_id = last_row[0]

exit()