How to convert a CSV file to XML with Go

The conversion of a CSV file to XML format can be necessary in many situations, such as data integration between applications or data transformation for processing in different systems. In this article, we will see how to create a Go program to convert a CSV file to XML.

Let's assume we have a CSV file called data.csv with the following content:

name,age,city
Alice,30,New York
Bob,25,San Francisco
Charlie,35,Los Angeles

Now let's create the main code:

package main

import (
	"encoding/csv"
	"encoding/xml"
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

type Record struct {
	Name string `xml:"name"`
	Age  string `xml:"age"`
	City string `xml:"city"`
}

type Records struct {
	XMLName xml.Name `xml:"records"`
	Record  []Record `xml:"record"`
}

func main() {
	// Open the CSV file
	csvFile, err := os.Open("data.csv")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error opening the CSV file:", err)
		return
	}
	defer csvFile.Close()

	// Read the CSV file
	reader := csv.NewReader(csvFile)
	records, err := reader.ReadAll()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error reading the CSV file:", err)
		return
	}

	// Check if there are rows
	if len(records) < 2 {
		fmt.Println("The CSV file contains no data.")
		return
	}

	// Extract data from the CSV and build the XML structures
	var data Records
	headers := records[0] // Headers

	for _, row := range records[1:] {
		record := Record{
			Name: row[0],
			Age:  row[1],
			City: row[2],
		}
		data.Record = append(data.Record, record)
	}

	// Write the XML file
	xmlFile, err := os.Create("data.xml")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error creating the XML file:", err)
		return
	}
	defer xmlFile.Close()

	encoder := xml.NewEncoder(xmlFile)
	encoder.Indent("", "  ")
	err = encoder.Encode(data)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error writing the XML file:", err)
		return
	}

	fmt.Println("Conversion completed! XML file generated: data.xml")
}

Here is how the data.xml file looks:

<records>
  <record>
    <name>Alice</name>
    <age>30</age>
    <city>New York</city>
  </record>
  <record>
    <name>Bob</name>
    <age>25</age>
    <city>San Francisco</city>
  </record>
  <record>
    <name>Charlie</name>
    <age>35</age>
    <city>Los Angeles</city>
  </record>
</records>

Conclusion

In this guide, we have seen how to convert a CSV file to XML using Go. This approach is highly scalable and can be adapted to various needs. If your CSV file has a different structure, you can simply update the Go structure definitions to suit your case.