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---
layout: default
title: Basic Usage
redirect_from: /basic-usage/
---
# Basic usage
<p class="message-info"><strong>Tips:</strong> Even though you can use the following methods with the <code>League\Csv\Writer</code> object. It is recommended to do so with the <code>League\Csv\Reader</code> class to avoid losing the file cursor position and getting unexpected results when inserting new data.</p>
Once your CSV object is [instantiated](/8.0/instantiation) and [configured](/8.0/properties/), you can start interacting with the data using a number of methods available to you.
## Iterating over the CSV rows
The CSV object implements PHP's `IteratorAggregate` interface
```php
public AbstractCsv::getIterator(void): Iterator
```
You can iterate over your CSV object to extract each CSV row using the `foreach` construct.
```php
use League\Csv\Reader;
$reader = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/my/file.csv', 'r');
foreach ($reader as $index => $row) {
//do something meaningful here with $row !!
//$row is an array where each item represent a CSV data cell
//$index is the CSV row index
}
```
<p class="message-notice">You can do more complex iterations <a href="/8.0/reading/">using the query methods</a> available on the <code>League\Csv\Reader</code> class only.</p>
## Outputting the CSV
### __toString
Returns the string representation of the CSV document
```php
public AbstractCsv::__toString(void): string
```
Use the `echo` construct on the instantiated object or use the `__toString` method to show the CSV full content.
#### Example
```php
use League\Csv\Reader;
$reader = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/my/file.csv', 'r');
echo $reader;
// or
echo $reader->__toString();
```
### output
If you only wish to make your CSV downloadable by forcing a file download just use the `output` method to force the use of the output buffer on the CSV content.
```php
public AbstractCsv::output(string $filename = null): int
```
- The method returns the number of characters read from the handle and passed through to the output.
- The output method can take an optional argument `$filename`. When present you
can even remove more headers.
#### Example 1 - default usage
```php
use League\Csv\Reader;
header('Content-Type: text/csv; charset=UTF-8');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="name-for-your-file.csv"');
$reader = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/my/file.csv', 'r');
$reader->output();
die;
```
#### Example 2 - using the $filename argument
```php
use League\Csv\Reader;
$reader = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/my/file.csv', 'r');
$reader->output("name-for-your-file.csv");
die;
```
#### Example 3 - using a Response object (Symfony, Laravel, PSR-7 etc)
To avoid breaking the flow of your application, you should create a Response object when applicable in your framework. The actual implementation will differ per framework, but you should generally not output headers directly.
In some cases you can also use a Streaming Response for larger files.
```php
use League\Csv\Reader;
$reader = Reader::createFromPath('/path/to/my/file.csv', 'r');
return new Response((string) $reader, 200, [
'Content-Type' => 'text/csv; charset=UTF-8',
'Content-Disposition' => 'attachment; filename="name-for-your-file.csv"',
]);
```
#### Notes
The output methods **can only be affected by:**
- the [library stream filtering mechanism](/8.0/filtering/)
- the [BOM property](/8.0/bom/)
No other method or property have effect on them.
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