DBF to CSV Converter

A robust Python script to convert DBF (dBASE) files to CSV format with proper handling of German characters and special formatting requirements.

🚀 Quick Start

Option 1: Web Interface (Recommended)

pip install flask werkzeug dbfread
python web_ui.py
# Open http://localhost:5000 in your browser

Option 2: Command Line

pip install dbfread
python dbf2csv.py your_file.dbf

Features

🌐 Web Interface

• Drag & drop upload - Easy file selection with visual feedback
• Real-time preview - See your data structure before conversion
• Smart options - Automatic encoding detection with manual override
• Progress tracking - Visual progress bar during conversion
• One-click download - Instant CSV file download

🖥️ Command Line

• Multiple encoding support - Automatically detects and handles various character encodings (cp1252, iso-8859-1, cp850, etc.)
• German character support - Properly converts German umlauts (ä, ö, ü, ß) and special characters
• Configurable delimiters - Choose between semicolon (;) or comma (,) delimiters
• Data cleaning - Removes line breaks and problematic characters from memo fields
• Progress tracking - Shows conversion progress for large files
• Error handling - Comprehensive error handling with clear error messages

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• dbfread library

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/r4inX/dbf-to-csv-converter/dbf-to-csv-converter.git
cd dbf-to-csv-converter

2. Install required dependencies:

pip install dbfread

Usage

Basic Usage

Convert a DBF file to CSV with default settings (semicolon delimiter):

python dbf2csv.py input_file.dbf

Advanced Usage

# Custom output file
python dbf2csv.py input_file.dbf -o output_file.csv

# Use comma delimiter (Excel-friendly)
python dbf2csv.py input_file.dbf -d ","

# Custom encoding
python dbf2csv.py input_file.dbf -e "utf-8"

# Combine options
python dbf2csv.py input_file.dbf -o addresses.csv -d "," -e "utf-8"

# Get help
python dbf2csv.py --help

Command Line Options

Option	Description	Default
input_file	Path to input DBF file	Required
-o, --output	Output CSV file path	input_file.csv
-d, --delimiter	CSV field delimiter	; (semicolon)
-e, --encoding	Output file encoding	utf-8
-h, --help	Show help message	-

Example Usage

Basic Conversion

python dbf2csv.py your_table.dbf

Expected Output:

Converting 'your_table.dbf' to 'your_table.csv'
Processed 1000 records...
Processed 2000 records...
Conversion completed successfully! Processed 2350 records.

Sample Output Format

The converter produces clean, properly formatted CSV files:

"ID";"NAME";"ADDRESS";"CITY";"POSTAL_CODE"
"1";"Max Müller";"Hauptstraße 123";"München";"80331"
"2";"Anna Schöne";"Goethestraße 45";"Köln";"50674"
"3";"Klaus Größer";"Bahnhofstraße 78";"Düsseldorf";"40210"

Notice how German characters (ü, ö, ß) are properly preserved in the output.

Utility Scripts

check_csv.py

Verify that German characters are properly encoded in the converted CSV files:

python check_csv.py output_file.csv

This script will scan the CSV file and display any German text found, helping you verify the encoding worked correctly.

test_encoding.py

Test different character encodings on a DBF file to determine the best encoding:

python test_encoding.py input_file.dbf

Character Encoding

The script automatically tries multiple encoding methods in this order:

1. cp1252 - Windows German codepage (most common)
2. iso-8859-1 - Latin-1 (includes German characters)
3. cp850 - DOS German codepage
4. cp437 - Original IBM PC codepage
5. utf-8 - Fallback encoding

This ensures maximum compatibility with DBF files created by different systems.

Error Handling

The script includes comprehensive error handling for:

• File not found - Clear error when input file doesn't exist
• Invalid file type - Validates that input is actually a DBF file
• Permission errors - Handles read/write permission issues
• Encoding errors - Tries multiple encodings automatically
• Data corruption - Cleans problematic characters and formatting

Data Cleaning Features

• Line break removal - Converts \n, \r, \t to spaces
• Whitespace normalization - Removes excessive spaces
• Control character removal - Removes \x00, \x1a characters
• NULL value handling - Converts None values to empty strings
• Quote protection - All fields are properly quoted to prevent CSV parsing issues

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Q: German characters appear corrupted in PowerShell A: This is a PowerShell display issue. The actual CSV file contains correctly encoded characters. Open the file in Excel, Notepad++, or VS Code to verify.

Q: Some fields contain unexpected characters A: Run the test_encoding.py script to determine if a different encoding would work better for your specific DBF file.

Q: CSV import fails in Excel A: Try using comma delimiter (-d ",") for better Excel compatibility.

Q: Large files take too long A: The script shows progress every 1000 records. For very large files, this is normal behavior.

Performance

• Small files (< 1000 records): Near-instant conversion
• Medium files (1000-10000 records): 1-5 seconds
• Large files (> 10000 records): Progress indicator shows every 1000 records

Acknowledgments

• Built with the excellent dbfread library
• Inspired by the need for reliable German character handling in legacy database conversions
• Thanks to the open-source community for DBF format documentation

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Project Stats

Support

• Documentation: You're reading it!
• Bug Reports: Create an issue
• Feature Requests: Start a discussion
• Show Support: Give this repo a star if it helped you!

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Made with ❤️ for the open-source community

If this tool helped you, please consider giving it a star ⭐ on GitHub!