A faster CSV parser in 5KB (min) (MIT Licensed)
uDSV is a fast JS library for parsing well-formed CSV strings, either from memory or incrementally from disk or network. It is mostly RFC 4180 compliant, with support for quoted values containing commas, escaped quotes, and line breaksΒΉ. The aim of this project is to handle the 99.5% use-case without adding complexity and performance trade-offs to support the remaining 0.5%.
ΒΉ Line breaks (\n,\r,\r\n) within quoted values must match the row separator.
What does uDSV pack into 5KB?
string, number, boolean, date, json'', 'null', 'NaN'Of course, most of these are table stakes for CSV parsers :)
Is it Lightning Fastβ’ or Blazing Fastβ’?
No, those are too slow! uDSV has Ludicrous Speedβ’; it's faster than the parsers you recognize and faster than those you've never heard of.
Most CSV parsers have one happy/fast path -- the one without quoted values, without value typing, and only when using the default settings & output format. Once you're off that path, you can generally throw any self-promoting benchmarks in the trash. In contrast, uDSV remains fast with any datasets and all options; its happy path is every path.
On a Ryzen 7 ThinkPad, Linux v6.14.7, and NodeJS v24.1.0, a diverse set of benchmarks show a 2x-5x performance boost relative to the popular, proven-fast, Papa Parse.
Parsing to arrays of strings
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β customers-100000.csv (17 MB, 12 cols x 100K rows) (parsing to strings) β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ€ β Name β Rows/s β Throughput (MiB/s) β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ€ β csv-simple-parser β 2.21M β βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 366 β β uDSV β 2M β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 330 β β but-csv β 1.15M β βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 190 β β PapaParse β 1.13M β βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 186 β β ACsv β 1.12M β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 185 β β tiddlycsv β 1.11M β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 183 β β d3-dsv β 939K β ββββββββββββββββββββββββ 155 β β csv-rex β 884K β ββββββββββββββββββββββ 146 β β achilles-csv-parser β 856K β ββββββββββββββββββββββ 141 β β csv42 β 807K β βββββββββββββββββββββ 133 β β arquero β 541K β ββββββββββββββ 89.4 β β node-csvtojson β 478K β ββββββββββββ 78.9 β β comma-separated-values β 469K β ββββββββββββ 77.4 β β CSVtoJSON β 447K β ββββββββββββ 73.8 β β SheetJS β 411K β βββββββββββ 67.8 β β @vanillaes/csv β 396K β ββββββββββ 65.4 β β csv-parser (neat-csv) β 278K β βββββββ 45.9 β β dekkai β 211K β ββββββ 34.8 β β @gregoranders/csv β 198K β βββββ 32.6 β β csv-js β 193K β βββββ 31.9 β β csv-parse/sync β 153K β ββββ 25.3 β β jquery-csv β 153K β ββββ 25.3 β β @fast-csv/parse β 106K β βββ 17.6 β β utils-dsv-base-parse β 68.9K β ββ 11.4 β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ΄βββββββββ΄ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
Parsing to arrays with types
Note: date in the Types column means the lib created 100,000 Date objects; not all libs do.
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β customers-100000.csv (17 MB, 12 cols x 100K rows) (parsing with types) β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββ¬βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββββββββββββββ€ β Name β Rows/s β Throughput (MiB/s) β Types β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββββββββββββββ€ β uDSV β 967K β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 160 β date,number,string β β csv42 β 712K β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ 118 β number,string β β csv-simple-parser β 697K β βββββββββββββββββββββββββ 115 β date,number,string β β csv-rex β 629K β βββββββββββββββββββββββ 104 β number,string β β achilles-csv-parser β 560K β ββββββββββββββββββββ 92.6 β number,string β β comma-separated-values β 471K β βββββββββββββββββ 77.7 β number,string β β arquero β 459K β βββββββββββββββββ 75.9 β date,number,string β β PapaParse β 454K β ββββββββββββββββ 75 β number,string β β CSVtoJSON β 425K β βββββββββββββββ 70.1 β number,string β β d3-dsv β 380K β ββββββββββββββ 62.8 β date,number,string β β @vanillaes/csv β 302K β βββββββββββ 49.9 β NaN,number,string β β csv-parser (neat-csv) β 260K β ββββββββββ 43 β number,string β β csv-js β 229K β βββββββββ 37.9 β number,string β β dekkai β 213K β ββββββββ 35.1 β number,string β β csv-parse/sync β 101K β ββββ 16.7 β date,number,string β β SheetJS β 70.8K β βββ 11.7 β number,string β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ΄βββββββββ΄βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ΄βββββββββββββββββββββ
Parsing quote-heavy CSV to arrays with types
Note: object in the Types column means the lib called JSON.parse() 34,000 times; not all libs do.
βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ β uszips.csv (6 MB, 18 cols x 34K rows) (parsing with types) β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬βββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ¬ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ€ β Name β Rows/s β Throughput (MiB/s) β Types β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌβββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββββββββββΌββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ€ β uDSV β 537K β ββββββββββββββββββββ 96 β boolean,null,number,object,string β β csv-simple-parser β 445K β βββββββββββββββββ 79.6 β boolean,null,number,object,string β β achilles-csv-parser β 420K β ββββββββββββββββ 75.1 β boolean,null,number,object,string β β CSVtoJSON β 270K β βββββββββββ 48.2 β number,string β β d3-dsv β 266K β ββββββββββ 47.6 β null,number,string β β comma-separated-values β 261K β ββββββββββ 46.6 β number,string β β csv-rex β 255K β ββββββββββ 45.6 β boolean,null,number,object,string β β dekkai β 248K β ββββββββββ 44.3 β NaN,number,string β β arquero β 245K β ββββββββββ 43.8 β null,number,string β β csv42 β 235K β βββββββββ 42 β number,object,string β β csv-js β 232K β βββββββββ 41.4 β boolean,number,string β β csv-parser (neat-csv) β 191K β ββββββββ 34.2 β boolean,null,number,object,string β β PapaParse β 176K β βββββββ 31.4 β boolean,null,number,string β β @vanillaes/csv β 170K β βββββββ 30.4 β NaN,number,string β β SheetJS β 102K β ββββ 18.3 β boolean,number,string β β csv-parse/sync β 92.2K β ββββ 16.5 β number,string β ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ΄βββββββββ΄ββββββββββββββββββββββββββ΄ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
For way too many synthetic and real-world benchmarks, head over to /bench...and don't forget your coffee!
npm i udsv
or
<script src="./dist/uDSV.iife.min.js"></script>
A 150 LoC uDSV.d.ts TypeScript def.
import { inferSchema, initParser } from 'udsv';
let csvStr = 'a,b,c\n1,2,3\n4,5,6';
let schema = inferSchema(csvStr);
let parser = initParser(schema);
// native format (fastest)
let stringArrs = parser.stringArrs(csvStr); // [ ['1','2','3'], ['4','5','6'] ]
// typed formats (internally converted from native)
let typedArrs = parser.typedArrs(csvStr); // [ [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6] ]
let typedObjs = parser.typedObjs(csvStr); // [ {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}, {a: 4, b: 5, c: 6} ]
let typedCols = parser.typedCols(csvStr); // [ [1, 4], [2, 5], [3, 6] ]
let stringObjs = parser.stringObjs(csvStr); // [ {a: '1', b: '2', c: '3'}, {a: '4', b: '5', c: '6'} ]
let stringCols = parser.stringCols(csvStr); // [ ['1', '4'], ['2', '5'], ['3', '6'] ]
Sometimes you may need to render the unmodified string values (like in an editable grid), but want to sort/filter using the typed values (e.g. number or date columns).
uDSV's .typed*() methods additionally accept the untyped string-tuples array returned by parser.stringArrs(csvStr):
let schema = inferSchema(csvStr);
let parser = initParser(schema);
// raw parsed strings for rendering
let stringArrs = parser.stringArrs(csvStr);
// typed values for sorting/filtering
let typedObjs = parser.typedObjs(stringArrs);
Need a custom or user-defined parser for a specific column? No problem!
const csvStr = `a,b,c\n1,2,a-b-c\n4,5,d-e`;
let schema = inferSchema(csvStr);
schema.cols[2].parse = str => str.split('-');
let parser = initParser(schema);
let rows = parser.typedObjs(csvStr);
/*
[
{a: 1, b: 2, c: ['a', 'b', 'c']},
{a: 4, b: 5, c: ['d', 'e', ]},
]
*/
Nested/deep objects can be re-constructed from column naming via .typedDeep():
// deep/nested objects (from column naming)
let csvStr2 = `
_type,name,description,location.city,location.street,location.geo[0],location.geo[1],speed,heading,size[0],size[1],size[2]
item,Item 0,Item 0 description in text,Rotterdam,Main street,51.9280712,4.4207888,5.4,128.3,3.4,5.1,0.9
`.trim();
let schema2 = inferSchema(csvStr2);
let parser2 = initParser(schema2);
let typedDeep = parser2.typedDeep(csvStr2);
/*
[
{
_type: 'item',
name: 'Item 0',
description: 'Item 0 description in text',
location: {
city: 'Rotterdam',
street: 'Main street',
geo: [ 51.9280712, 4.4207888 ]
},
speed: 5.4,
heading: 128.3,
size: [ 3.4, 5.1, 0.9 ],
}
]
*/
CSP Note:
uDSV uses dynamically-generated functions (via new Function()) for its .typed*() methods.
These functions are lazy-generated and use JSON.stringify() code-injection guards, so the risk should be minimal.
Nevertheless, if you have strict CSP headers without unsafe-eval, you won't be able to take advantage of the typed methods and will have to do the type conversion from the string tuples yourself.
uDSV has no inherent knowledge of streams.
Instead, it exposes a generic incremental parsing API to which you can pass sequential chunks.
These chunks can come from various sources, such as a Web Stream or Node stream via fetch() or fs, a WebSocket, etc.
Here's what it looks like with Node's fs.createReadStream():
let stream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
let parser = null;
let result = null;
stream.on('data', (chunk) => {
// convert from Buffer
let strChunk = chunk.toString();
// on first chunk, infer schema and init parser
parser ??= initParser(inferSchema(strChunk));
// incremental parse to string arrays
parser.chunk(strChunk, parser.stringArrs);
});
stream.on('end', () => {
result = parser.end();
});
...and Web streams in Node, or Fetch's Response.body:
let stream = fs.createReadStream(filePath);
let webStream = Stream.Readable.toWeb(stream);
let textStream = webStream.pipeThrough(new TextDecoderStream());
let parser = null;
for await (const strChunk of textStream) {
parser ??= initParser(inferSchema(strChunk));
parser.chunk(strChunk, parser.stringArrs);
}
let result = parser.end();
The above examples show accumulating parsers -- they will buffer the full result into memory.
This may not be something you need (or want), for example with huge datasets where you're looking to get the sum of a single column, or want to filter only a small subset of rows.
To bypass this auto-accumulation behavior, simply pass your own handler as the third argument to parser.chunk():
// ...same as above
let sum = 0;
// sums fourth column
let reducer = (row) => {
sum += row[3];
};
for await (const strChunk of textStream) {
parser ??= initParser(inferSchema(strChunk));
parser.chunk(strChunk, parser.typedArrs, reducer); // typedArrs + reducer
}
parser.end();
Building on the non-accumulating example, Node's Transform stream will be something like:
import { Transform } from "stream";
class ParseCSVTransform extends Transform {
#parser = null;
#push = null;
constructor() {
super({ objectMode: true });
this.#push = parsed => {
this.push(parsed);
};
}
_transform(chunk, encoding, callback) {
let strChunk = chunk.toString();
this.#parser ??= initParser(inferSchema(strChunk));
this.#parser.chunk(strChunk, this.#parser.typedArrs, this.#push);
callback();
}
_flush(callback) {
this.#parser.end();
callback();
}
}
FAQs
A small, fast CSV parser
The npm package udsv receives a total of 3,313 weekly downloads. As such, udsv popularity was classified as popular.
We found that udsv demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago.Β It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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