Python - save csv file with tab separated words in separate cell

Question

I have this input file:

one\tone
two\ttwo
three\tthree

With a tab between each word.

I am trying to save it in a csv file where each word ends up in its own cell. This is my code:

import csv

input = open('input.txt').read()
lines = input.split('\n')

with open('output.csv', 'w') as f:
   writer = csv.writer(f)   
   for line in lines:
     writer.writerow([line])

However, both words end up in the same cell:

How do I change the code so that each word ends up in its own cell?

Answer 1

Try this:

import csv

input = open('input.txt').read()
lines = input.split('\n')

with open('output.csv', 'w') as f:
   writer = csv.writer(f)   
   for line in lines:
     writer.writerow(line.split('\t'))

Answer 2

You need to split the input lines into a list, so that csv.writer() will put them into seperate columns. Try:

with open('output.csv', 'w') as f:
   writer = csv.writer(f)   
   for line in lines:
       writer.writerow(line.split('\t'))

Answer 3

The writerow method in the CSV writer library takes a list of columns.

Currently, you are providing your whole string the value of the first column

 writer.writerow([line])

Instead, try splitting the string by \\t , thus creating a list of each individual word and provide that to the library instead.

writer.writerow(line.split("\t"))