title: PHP: Formatting irregular CSV files into HTML tables
body: <p>My client receives a set of CSV text files periodically, where the elements in each row follow a consistent order and format, but the commas that separate them are inconsistent. Sometimes one comma will separate two elements and other times it will be two or four commas, etc ... </p>
  
  <p>The PHP application I am writing attempts to do the following things: </p>
  
  <pre><code>PSEUDO-CODE: 
  1. Upload csv.txt file from client's local directory.
  2. Create new HTML table. 
  3. Insert the first three fields FROM csv.txt into HTML table row.
  4. Iterate STEP 2 while the FIRST field equals the First field below it.
  5. If they do not equal, CLOSE HTML table.
  6. Check to see if FIRST field is NOT NULL, IF TRUE, GOTO step 2, Else close HTML table.  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have no trouble with steps 1 and 2. Step 3 is where it gets tricky since the fields in the csv.txt files are not always separated by the same number of commas. They are, however, always in the same relative order and format. I am also having issues with step 4. I don't know how to check if the beginning field in a row matches the beginning field in the row below it. Steps 5 should be relatively simple. For step 6, I need to find an eqivalent of a "GOTO" function in PHP. </p>
  
  <p>Please let me know if any part of the question is unclear. I appreciate your help. </p>
  
  <p>Thank you in advance! </p>