How to ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python?

Sometimes, we want to ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python.

In this article, we’ll look at how to ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python.

How to ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python?

To ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python, we call next to skip the header row.

For instance, we write

import csv

with open('all16.csv', 'r', newline='') as file:
    has_header = csv.Sniffer().has_header(file.read(1024))
    file.seek(0)
    reader = csv.reader(file)
    if has_header:
        next(reader)
    column = 1
    data = (float(row[column]) for row in reader)
    least_value = min(data)

to write

has_header = csv.Sniffer().has_header(file.read(1024))

to see if the csv file has a header row with csv.Sniffer.

Then we have

file.seek(0)

to rewind the file to the beginning.

Next, we run next(reader) if has_header is True to skip the header row if it exists.

Conclusion

To ignore the first line of data when processing CSV data with Python, we call next to skip the header row.