---
language: en
layout: page
title: "Writing data to a destination"
date: 2013-01-27T18:19:43.154Z
comments: false
sharing: false
footer: false
navigation: csv
github: https://github.com/wdavidw/node-csv-parser
---


The `csv().to` property provides functions to read from a CSV instance and
to write to an external destination. The destination may be a stream, a file
or a callback. 

You may call the `to` function or one of its sub function. For example, 
here are two identical ways to write to a file:

```javascript

csv.from(data).to('/tmp/data.csv');
csv.from(data).to.path('/tmp/data.csv');
```


<a name="to"></a>
`to(mixed)`
-----------

Write from any sort of destination. It should be considered as a convenient function 
which will discover the nature of the destination where to write the CSV data.   

If is an function, then the csv will be provided as the first argument 
of the callback. If it is a string, then it is expected to be a 
file path. If it is an instance of stream, it consider the object to be an  
output stream. 

Here's some examples on how to use this function:

```javascript

csv()
.from('"1","2","3","4","5"')
.to(function(data){ console.log(data) })

csv()
.from('"1","2","3","4","5"')
.to('./path/to/file.csv')

csv()
.from('"1","2","3","4","5"')
.to(fs.createWriteStream('./path/to/file.csv'))
```



<a name="to.options"></a>
`to.options([options])`
-----------------------

Update and retrieve options relative to the output. Return the options 
as an object if no argument is provided.

*   `delimiter`   Set the field delimiter, one character only, defaults to `options.from.delimiter` which is a comma.
*   `quote`       Defaults to the quote read option.
*   `quoted`      Boolean, default to false, quote all the fields even if not required.
*   `escape`      Defaults to the escape read option.
*   `columns`     List of fields, applied when `transform` returns an object, order matters, see the transform and the columns sections below.
*   `header`      Display the column names on the first line if the columns option is provided.
*   `lineBreaks`  String used to delimit record rows or a special value; special values are 'auto', 'unix', 'mac', 'windows', 'unicode'; defaults to 'auto' (discovered in source or 'unix' if no source is specified).
*   `flags`       Defaults to 'w', 'w' to create or overwrite an file, 'a' to append to a file. Applied when using the `toPath` method.
*   `newColumns`  If the `columns` option is not specified (which means columns will be taken from the reader options, will automatically append new columns if they are added during <a name="transform"></a>
`transform()`.
*   `end`         Prevent calling `end` on the destination, so that destination is no longer writable.
*   `eof`         Add a linebreak on the last line, default to false, expect a charactere or use '\n' if value is set to "true"

The end options is similar to passing `{end: false}` option in <a name="stream.pipe"></a>
`stream.pipe()`. According to the Node.js documentation:
> By default end() is called on the destination when the source stream emits end, so that destination is no longer writable. Pass { end: false } as options to keep the destination stream open. 


<a name="to.string"></a>
`to.string(callback, [options])`
------------------------------

Provide the output string to a callback.

```javascript

csv()
.from( '"1","2","3"\n"a","b","c"' )
.to.string( function(data, count){} )

```

Callback is called with 2 arguments:
*   data      Entire CSV as a string
*   count     Number of stringified records


<a name="to.stream"></a>
`to.stream(stream, [options])`
------------------------------

Write to a stream. Take a writable stream as first argument and  
optionally an object of options as a second argument.


<a name="to.path"></a>
`to.path(path, [options])`
--------------------------

Write to a path. Take a file path as first argument and optionally an object of 
options as a second argument. The `close` event is sent after the file is written. 
Relying on the `end` event is incorrect because it is sent when parsing is done 
but before the file is written.


<a name="to.array"></a>
`to.array(path, [options])`
--------------------------

Provide the output string to a callback.

```javascript

csv()
.from( '"1","2","3"\n"a","b","c"' )
.to.array( function(data, count){} )

```

Callback is called with 2 arguments:
*   data      Entire CSV as an array of records
*   count     Number of stringified records