issue with csv module (subject module name spelling correction, too)

[Martin A. Brown]

Good afternoon Fillmore,

>>>> import csv
>>>> s = '"Please preserve my doublequotes"\ttext1\ttext2'
>>>> reader = csv.reader([s], delimiter='\t')

> How do I instruct the reader to preserve my doublequotes?

Change the quoting used by the dialect on the csv reader instance:

  reader = csv.reader([s], delimiter='\t', quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE)

You can use the same technique for the writer.

If you cannot create your particular (required) variant of csv by 
tuning the available parameters in the csv module's dialect control, 
I'd be a touch surprised, but, it is possible that your other csv
readers and writers are more finicky.

Did you see the parameters that are available to you for tuning how 
the csv module turns your csv data into records?

  https://docs.python.org/3/library/csv.html#dialects-and-formatting-parameters

Judging from your example, you definitely want to use 
quoting=csv.QUOTE_NONE, because you don't want the module to do much 
more than split('\t').

Good luck,

-Martin

-- 
Martin A. Brown
http://linux-ip.net/