Profile a brand new CSV file before you trust a single row in it

Someone hands you a CSV file you've never opened, and you have no idea what's actually inside it.

Beginner to intermediateRead 4 minDoing: twenty minutes6 steps

What you'll have at the end

A script that prints the row count, column names, and a few sample values from any CSV

Before you start

You need

A CSV file you didn't create yourself and haven't inspected yet, plus a working Python setup where you can run a short script against it.

Not covered

This does not fix or clean any row it finds broken, missing, or mixed, it only shows you what's actually there so you know what still needs handling.

Leans on

Keep a script running when one row in the file is bad

once profiling turns up a row like the one this recipe sets aside, this is where you make the rest of the run survive it.

Checked 25 Aug 2026