How to Upload a CSV file into a MySQL Database Using PHP

Are you wondering how you can upload a CSV file into a MySQL database using PHP? Well if you are, you are in the right place!

In our example, we are going to be using Bootstrap and mysqli for the database connection. See below the full script needed in order to complete this action:

<div id="primary" class="content-area">
	<main id="main" class="site-main" role="main">

    <div class="container">

      <div class="section">

        <?php

        $db = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'databasename');

        if($db->connect_errno > 0){
            die('Unable to connect to database [' . $db->connect_error . ']');
        } 


          // File Upload

          if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
             
                   
              // Import the uploaded file to the database

              $handle = fopen($_FILES['filename']['tmp_name'], "r");

               while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ",")) !== FALSE) {

                  $sql = "INSERT INTO `tablename` (`field1`, `field2`, `field3`, `field4`, `field5`, `field6`, `field7`) VALUES ($data[0], '$data[1]', '$data[2]', '$data[3]', '$data[4]', '$data[5]', $data[6]);";

                  if(!$result = $db->query($sql)){
                      die('There was an error running the query [' . $db->error . ']');
                  }
              }

              fclose($handle);

              echo "Import Completed Successfully"; 
              mysqli_close($db);
          }

          else {
                
             echo "<center>";
              echo "<div class='col-md-12'>";

              echo "<h1>Upload Vouchers CSV File. </h1><br />\n"; 
              echo "<form enctype='multipart/form-data' action='/voucher-import/' method='post'>"; 
              echo "File name to import:<br /><br />\n";
              echo '<input type="file" class="filestyle" name="filename" data-iconName="glyphicon-inbox" required><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p></p>';
              echo "<input class='btn'  type='submit' name='submit' value='Import'><p></p></form>";
          }
             echo "</div>";
             echo "</center>";
          ?>
          </div>

      </div>


	</main><!-- #main -->
</div><!-- #primary -->

In the example provided above, we are inserting a CSV file with 7 columns where all rows within the CSV are looped and inserted into the database.

The main things that will need editing are first the database connection, so you will need to replace the following line:

$db = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'databasename');

The other part that will need changing is INSERT statement shown below:

$sql = "INSERT INTO `tablename` (`field1`, `field2`, `field3`, `field4`, `field5`, `field6`, `field7`) VALUES ($data[0], '$data[1]', '$data[2]', '$data[3]', '$data[4]', '$data[5]', $data[6]);";

So firstly, you would change the tablename to match the table you would like to insert the data to. If you have less/more columns, you will have to remove/add fields and values to match how many columns you have in your database.

If you are inserting NULL values, you can replace the $data[x] value with NULL. Let’s say your first column is an ID (auto-increment), you can simply replace $data[0] with NULL.

Do remember, for this to work, you will need to upload CSV files that are comma-separated.

And just like that, you now have an awesome CSV upload script!

If this has helped you out, leave a comment below. If for some reason you cannot get this to work, get in touch, we always love helping people!