You can now specify empty formatting for IfcCSV via CLI

src/ifccsv/ifccsv.py

@@ -247,10 +247,11 @@ class IfcCsv:
         if not self.results:
             return
         if sort:
+
             def natural_sort(value):
                 if isinstance(value, str):
                     convert = lambda text: int(text) if text.isdigit() else text.lower()
-                    return [convert(c) for c in re.split('([0-9]+)', value)]
+                    return [convert(c) for c in re.split("([0-9]+)", value)]
                 return value
 
             # Sort least important keys first, then more important keys.
@@ -370,7 +371,9 @@ class IfcCsv:
                 results.update([p.Name for p in element.Quantities])
         return ["{}.{}".format(pset_qto_name, n) for n in results]
 
-    def Import(self, ifc_file, table, attributes=None, delimiter=",", null="-", empty="", bool_true="YES", bool_false="NO"):
+    def Import(
+        self, ifc_file, table, attributes=None, delimiter=",", null="-", empty="", bool_true="YES", bool_false="NO"
+    ):
         ext = table.split(".")[-1].lower()
 
         if ext == "csv":
@@ -380,7 +383,9 @@ class IfcCsv:
         elif ext == "xlsx":
             self.import_xlsx(ifc_file, table, attributes, null, empty, bool_true, bool_false)
 
-    def import_csv(self, ifc_file, table, attributes=None, delimiter=",", null="-", empty="", bool_true="YES", bool_false="NO"):
+    def import_csv(
+        self, ifc_file, table, attributes=None, delimiter=",", null="-", empty="", bool_true="YES", bool_false="NO"
+    ):
         with open(table, newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
             reader = csv.reader(f, delimiter=delimiter)
             headers = []
@@ -441,7 +446,10 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     parser.add_argument("-f", "--format", type=str, default="csv", help="The format, chosen from csv, ods, or xlsx")
     parser.add_argument("-d", "--delimiter", type=str, default=",", help="The delimiter in CSV. Defaults to a comma.")
     parser.add_argument(
-        "-n", "--null", type=str, default="-", help="How to represent null values. Defaults to a hyphen."
+        "-n", "--null", type=str, default="N/A", help="How to represent null values. Defaults to N/A."
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-e", "--empty", type=str, default="-", help="How to represent empty strings. Defaults to a hyphen."
     )
     parser.add_argument("--bool_true", type=str, default="YES", help="How to represent true values. Defaults to YES.")
     parser.add_argument("--bool_false", type=str, default="NO", help="How to represent false values. Defaults to NO.")
@@ -452,9 +460,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         nargs="+",
         help="Specify attributes that are part of the extract, using the IfcQuery syntax such as 'class', 'Name' or 'Pset_Foo.Bar'",
     )
-    parser.add_argument(
+    parser.add_argument("--headers", nargs="+", help="Specify human readable headers that correlate to each attribute.")
-        "--headers", nargs="+", help="Specify human readable headers that correlate to each attribute."
-    )
     parser.add_argument("--sort", nargs="+", help="Specify one or more attributes to sort by.")
     parser.add_argument("--order", nargs="+", help="Choose the sort order from ASC or DESC for each sorted attribute.")
     parser.add_argument("--export", action="store_true", help="Export from IFC to the desired format.")
@@ -477,6 +483,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             format=args.format,
             delimiter=args.delimiter,
             null=args.null,
+            empty=args.empty,
             bool_true=args.bool_true,
             bool_false=args.bool_false,
             sort=sort,
@@ -485,6 +492,11 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         ifc_csv = IfcCsv()
         ifc_file = ifcopenshell.open(args.ifc)
         ifc_csv.Import(
-            ifc_file, args.spreadsheet, attributes=args.attributes or [], delimiter=args.delimiter, null=args.null
+            ifc_file,
+            args.spreadsheet,
+            attributes=args.attributes or [],
+            delimiter=args.delimiter,
+            null=args.null,
+            empty=args.empty,
         )
         ifc_file.write(args.ifc)

src/ifcopenshell-python/docs/ifccsv.rst

@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ utility:
 ::
 
     $ python -m ifccsv -h
-    usage: ifccsv.py [-h] -i IFC [-s SPREADSHEET] [-f FORMAT] [-d DELIMITER] [-n NULL] [--bool_true BOOL_TRUE] [--bool_false BOOL_FALSE] [-q QUERY] [-a ATTRIBUTES [ATTRIBUTES ...]] [--headers HEADERS [HEADERS ...]] [--sort SORT [SORT ...]]
+    usage: ifccsv.py [-h] -i IFC [-s SPREADSHEET] [-f FORMAT] [-d DELIMITER] [-n NULL] [-e EMPTY] [--bool_true BOOL_TRUE] [--bool_false BOOL_FALSE] [-q QUERY] [-a ATTRIBUTES [ATTRIBUTES ...]] [--headers HEADERS [HEADERS ...]]
-                     [--order ORDER [ORDER ...]] [--export] [--import]
+                     [--sort SORT [SORT ...]] [--order ORDER [ORDER ...]] [--export] [--import]
 
     Exports IFC data to and from CSV
 
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@ utility:
                             The format, chosen from csv, ods, or xlsx
       -d DELIMITER, --delimiter DELIMITER
                             The delimiter in CSV. Defaults to a comma.
-      -n NULL, --null NULL  How to represent null values. Defaults to a hyphen.
+      -n NULL, --null NULL  How to represent null values. Defaults to N/A.
+      -e EMPTY, --empty EMPTY
+                            How to represent empty strings. Defaults to a hyphen.
       --bool_true BOOL_TRUE
                             How to represent true values. Defaults to YES.
       --bool_false BOOL_FALSE