csv-excel-merger

Files (4)

• SKILL.md
• merge_strategies.md · references/
• output_template.md · references/
• profile_inputs.py · scripts/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# CSV/Excel Merger

Combine tabular files into one clean output without silently losing, duplicating, or corrupting rows.

## Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

```
- [ ] 1. Profile inputs
- [ ] 2. Choose append vs join
- [ ] 3. Map columns and normalize keys
- [ ] 4. Merge and resolve conflicts
- [ ] 5. Verify row math
- [ ] 6. Write output and report
```

1. **Profile inputs.** Run the bundled profiler first; it reports encoding, delimiter, rows, headers, candidate keys, and header overlap without changing anything:

   ```bash
   python scripts/profile_inputs.py file1.csv file2.xlsx
   ```

   Excel files are profiled per sheet. Confirm with the user which sheets count if a workbook has more than one.

2. **Choose the operation.** This is the decision that most often goes wrong:
   - **Append (stack)** - same kind of records from different sources or periods (Jan + Feb exports, three lead lists). Use `pd.concat`, then dedupe.
   - **Join (enrich)** - different facts about the same entities (contacts + their deal values). Use `pd.merge` on a key.
   - Unsure? If the files share most columns, append. If they share only an ID column, join.

3. **Map columns and normalize keys.** Build an explicit `{original: unified}` rename map per file (see [references/merge_strategies.md](references/merge_strategies.md) for common variants) and show it to the user when any match is fuzzy. Normalize key columns before dedupe or join: strip whitespace, lowercase emails, strip non-digits from phones, unify date formats. Without this, `A@x.com ` and `a@x.com` survive as two people.

4. **Merge.** Read every file with `dtype=str` so IDs, ZIP codes, and phone numbers keep leading zeros, then convert specific columns afterward.

   ```python
   import pandas as pd

   frames = []
   for path, rename in [("jan.csv", {"E-mail": "email"}), ("feb.xlsx", {"Email Address": "email"})]:
       df = (pd.read_excel(path, dtype=str) if path.endswith((".xlsx", ".xls"))
             else pd.read_csv(path, dtype=str, encoding="utf-8-sig",  # use the profiler's encoding
                           keep_default_na=False))
       df = df.rename(columns=rename)
       df["email"] = df["email"].str.strip().str.lower()
       df["source_file"] = path          # lineage for every row
       frames.append(df)

   combined = pd.concat(frames, ignore_index=True, sort=False)
   # Blank keys are not duplicates of each other: set them aside before deduping.
   has_key = combined["email"].fillna("") != ""
   # Later files win: list the most recent source last, then keep="last".
   deduped = combined[has_key].drop_duplicates(subset=["email"], keep="last")
   no_key = combined[~has_key]
   merged = pd.concat([deduped, no_key], ignore_index=True)
   ```

   For a join, make pandas enforce the relationship you expect so a duplicate key raises instead of multiplying rows:

   ```python
   out = pd.merge(contacts, deals, on="email", how="left",
                  validate="one_to_one", indicator=True)
   unmatched = out[out["_merge"] == "left_only"]
   ```

   Conflict strategies (keep first/last/most complete, combine fields, flag for review) are in [references/merge_strategies.md](references/merge_strategies.md).

5. **Verify before reporting.** Never hand back a merge without checking it:

   ```python
   rows_in = sum(len(f) for f in frames)
   assert len(merged) > 0, "merge produced an empty frame"
   assert len(merged) <= rows_in, "more rows out than in: check the join keys"
   assert deduped["email"].is_unique, "duplicate keys remain after dedupe"
   print(f"in={rows_in} out={len(merged)} removed={rows_in - len(merged)} blank_keys={len(no_key)}")
   print(merged["source_file"].value_counts())
   ```

   Spot-check three removed duplicates by hand against the source files; the asserts prove the math, not that the right row won.

6. **Write output and report.** Use the layout in [references/output_template.md](references/output_template.md).
   - CSV for Excel users: `to_csv(path, index=False, encoding="utf-8-sig")` (the BOM makes Excel read accents correctly).
   - Excel: `to_excel(path, index=False)` with openpyxl installed. A sheet holds at most 1,048,576 rows; split or use CSV/Parquet beyond that.
   - Also write `conflicts_review.csv` or `unmatched.csv` when those sets are non-empty.

## pandas version notes

Current pandas is 3.x (Python 3.11+). Differences that affect merges:
- Text columns default to the `str` dtype, not `object`. Check `pd.api.types.is_string_dtype(col)` instead of `dtype == object`.
- Copy-on-Write is always on. Chained assignment such as `df[col][mask] = x` never updates `df` (pandas only warns); use `df.loc[mask, col] = x`.
- Parsed datetimes default to microsecond resolution. Call `.dt.as_unit("ns")` before casting to integers if something downstream expects nanoseconds.
- `pd.read_excel(..., engine="calamine")` (needs `python-calamine`) reads large workbooks much faster than openpyxl.

The code in this skill also runs on pandas 2.2.

## Failure modes to check for

- **Row explosion on join** - duplicate keys on both sides multiply rows. `validate=` catches it.
- **Leading zeros lost** - reading without `dtype=str` turns `01234` into `1234`.
- **Excel-mangled values** - long IDs already shown as `1.23E+15` or dates already reformatted in the source file cannot be recovered by pandas; flag them.
- **Header rows not on line 1** - exports with a title block need `skiprows=` or `header=`.
- **Mixed encodings** - one file in cp1252 among UTF-8 files shows up as `é` artifacts. The profiler reports the encoding per file.
- **Silent column drops** - a column present in only one file becomes mostly empty after append. Keep it and report its completeness; never drop data without saying so.
- **Large files** (over a few hundred MB) - read with `chunksize=` or use Polars/DuckDB, and dedupe with a key set instead of loading everything into memory.

From OneWave-AI/claude-skills, MIT.

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