How to Set UTF-8 Encoding in Java When Working with CSV Files?

How can I set UTF-8 encoding when working with CSV files in Java?

String fileName = "data.csv";
try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(fileName), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
    String line;
    while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
        // Process the line
    }
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Setting UTF-8 encoding while handling CSV files in Java is crucial to avoid encoding issues, particularly when dealing with international characters. You can achieve this using the InputStreamReader for reading files and OutputStreamWriter for writing files, both set to use UTF-8 encoding.

// Writing a CSV file with UTF-8 encoding
String fileName = "output.csv";
try (BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(fileName), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
    bw.write("Column1, Column2, Column3\n");
    bw.write("Value1, Value2, Value3\n");
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Causes

• Improper handling of character encoding can lead to data corruption when reading/writing CSV files.
• Default encoding may not be UTF-8, leading to unreadable characters.

Solutions

• Use `InputStreamReader` and `OutputStreamWriter` with `StandardCharsets.UTF_8` when reading from or writing to files.
• Utilize libraries like Apache Commons CSV or OpenCSV which support UTF-8 natively.

Mistake: Not specifying UTF-8 charset when reading/writing files.

Solution: Always use `StandardCharsets.UTF_8` in `InputStreamReader` and `OutputStreamWriter`.

Mistake: Ignoring exceptions which might indicate file issues.

Solution: Implement proper exception handling to catch and resolve file read/write issues.