writing reading from a csv or txt file

[mtcplumb at googlemail.com]

Hi I have 3 csv files with a list of 5 items in each.
rainfall in mm, duration time,time of day,wind speed, date.
I am trying to compare the files. cutting out items in list list. ie:- 
first file (rainfall2012.csv)rainfall, duration,time of day,wind speed,date.
first file (rainfall2013.csv)rainfall, duration,time of day,wind speed,date.
I would like to pick out maybe rainfalls and duration's and measure against say years. 
I would like to very the items from the rows. 
could you please advise me where i can find such information. or book, textbook.