python - pandas to_csv output quoting issue

Question

I'm having trouble getting the pandas dataframe.to_csv(...) output quoting strings right.

import pandas as pd

text = 'this is "out text"'
df = pd.DataFrame(index=['1'],columns=['1','2'])
df.loc['1','1']=123
df.loc['1','2']=text
df.to_csv('foo.txt',index=False,header=False)

The output is:

123,"this is ""out text"""

But I would like:

123,this is "out text"

Does anyone know how to get this right?

Answer 1

You could pass quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE, for example:

>>> df.to_csv('foo.txt',index=False,header=False)
>>> !cat foo.txt
123,"this is ""out text"""
>>> import csv
>>> df.to_csv('foo.txt',index=False,header=False, quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE)
>>> !cat foo.txt
123,this is "out text"

but in my experience it's better to quote more, rather than less.