# Parsing csv file which has some field/column containing separator as values
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [September 17, 2016, 9:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768 "2016-09-17T09:01:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Immortal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Immortal)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 9:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768/1 "2016-09-17T09:01:05Z")
I have following type of entries in csv file:
16 , 5 , 53 , Logging/LoggingError , 2, error while opening file "a,b,c,d": , 10.10.4.219 , serviceA
I am trying to parse it using csv pluging as follows:
csv {
```
columns => ["time","split",event","event_name","level","error_msg","ip","service"]
separator => ","
```
}
Now problem is i have used ","(comma) as separator but in my error\_msg column there are some "," present so logstash is parsing the values thinking as separator. In actual log file there are different error\_msg with different number of ","(commas).
So please help me how i can solve this problem!!
Thanks in advance 🙂
---
### Author:  [@nellicus](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nellicus)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768/2 "2016-09-17T12:25:04Z")
> [@Immortal](#):
>
> in my error\_msg column there are some "," present
can you show the _actual_ raw event as it is in the log file you're trying to parse?
perhaps [mutate=\>gsub](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-mutate.html#plugins-filters-mutate-gsub) could help by tidying up the event before sending it to csv filter....
---
### Author:  [@bhatch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bhatch)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768/3 "2016-09-19T23:02:20Z")
That line of data isn't properly formatted for a csv.
You have an unescaped comma and unescaped double quote in the text. So if you use a text qualifier, it will fail because of the unescaped double quote. If you don't use a text qualifier, it will fail on the unescaped comma. There is no real solution without changing the data.
Ideally that line should look like:
`16 , 5 , 53 , "Logging/LoggingError" , 2, "error while opening file ""a,b,c,d"":" , "10.10.4.219" , "serviceA"`
By doubling up the double quotes you are telling the CSV parser to escape it. But if you can't change that source data you may be out of luck.
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### Author:  [@Immortal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Immortal)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768/4 "2016-09-20T06:02:59Z")
Thank u all for suggestions.
I used mutate =\>gsub to replace the ","(comma) present inside the column with ""(blank).
Now its parsing correctly for single event using:
input {
stdin {
type =\> "application1"}
}
But for reading complete file the fields are distributed across multiline .....
So how can i use multiline pattern for a csv file.
I could not find anything for multiline csv files!!!
Please suggest some solution for multiline csv file
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/parsing-csv-file-which-has-some-field-column-containing-separator-as-values/60768/5 "2017-07-06T04:37:53Z")