Tablizer

Convert CSV to PHP Array Online

Paste a CSV table below, edit it if you need to, and get PHP Array back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

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The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What CSV is

CSV is a text file where each line is a row and commas separate the fields. There is no type system, no formatting and no second sheet. Every value is text until something downstream decides otherwise.

Almost every database, analytics tool and spreadsheet can read and write it, which is why exports default to it.

What PHP Array is

A PHP array literal: an outer array of rows, each an associative array keyed by column name.

PHP applications that need a lookup table in code rather than in a database.

What changes when you convert CSV to PHP Array

Reading CSV means deciding three things the file does not state: which character separates fields, how quotes work, and what encoding the bytes are in. Tablizer sniffs the delimiter from the first few lines, handles quoted fields containing commas and newlines, and reads the file as UTF-8.

Values are single-quoted with backslashes and quotes escaped, so the output can be pasted into a file as is.

What carries over from CSV to PHP Array

CSV records 2 things about a table that PHP has no way to hold.

PHP wants a type for each column, and CSV does not record one, so each column is typed from what its values look like. A column of digits that should stay text - a zip code, a phone number, a leading-zero id - is the usual thing to check afterwards.

PHP has no header row. The column names are repeated as keys on every record instead, which is why the result is bigger on disk than the table it came from.

CSV can be read one record at a time. PHP has to be complete before it means anything, so the whole table is held in memory while it is written and a file that gets cut off part way through is not partly usable - it is unusable.

The identifier 007 comes out of the PHP Array as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a PHP Array file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are left as a plain quote character in the PHP Array.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

CSV in
id,name,role,started,hours
007,Halima Yusuf,"Analyst, data",2024-03-15,38.5
012,"Jonah ""Jo"" Pryce",Engineer,2025-11-02,
104,Wei Chen,Manager,2023-06-30,40
PHP Array out
$staff = [
  ['id' => '007', 'name' => 'Halima Yusuf', 'role' => 'Analyst, data', 'started' => '2024-03-15', 'hours' => '38.5'],
  ['id' => '012', 'name' => 'Jonah "Jo" Pryce', 'role' => 'Engineer', 'started' => '2025-11-02', 'hours' => ''],
  ['id' => '104', 'name' => 'Wei Chen', 'role' => 'Manager', 'started' => '2023-06-30', 'hours' => '40'],
];

Questions

How do I convert CSV to PHP Array?

Paste your CSV into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the PHP Array from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

Why does my CSV open with all the data in one column?

The file uses a delimiter your spreadsheet did not expect. Exports from European locales often use semicolons because the comma is the decimal separator there. Change the delimiter in the export options and the columns split correctly.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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