# How to use the CSV.read? error "provide a valid sink argument"
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076
**Category:** Teaching & Outreach
**Created:** [December 2, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076 "2020-12-02T02:10:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Marc\_Hillocks](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc_Hillocks)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/1 "2020-12-02T02:10:29Z")
Hey everyone, I’m trying to use the CSV.read method, however I keep getting the argument “provide a valid sink argument”. I’ve tried putting in the path to my csv file I’m trying to load, but it still doesn’t work. The code I’ve used is as follows:
‘’’
Pkg.add(“CSV”)
Pkg.add(“DataFrames”)
using CSV, DataFrames
project\_data = using DataFrames; CSV.read(“/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv”, DataFrame)
‘’’
---
### Author:  [@stillyslalom](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stillyslalom)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/2 "2020-12-02T02:30:13Z")
Hi Marc, welcome to the community! It’s hard to diagnose this sort of issue if the reader can’t reproduce it. Can you provide more details (ideally a reproducible example following these [guidelines](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/psa-make-it-easier-to-help-you/14757))?
---
### Author:  [@jpsamaroo](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jpsamaroo)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 2:33am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/3 "2020-12-02T02:33:59Z")
Try using `CSV.File` instead of `CSV.read`; I believe the latter might be only for reading into a specific Tables.jl-compatible sink (which is not what most users actually want).
---
### Author:  [@pdeffebach](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pdeffebach)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/4 "2020-12-02T02:42:40Z")
you want the following
```julia
using DataFrames, CSV
df = CSV.read(file, DataFrame)
```
---
### Author:  [@Marc\_Hillocks](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc_Hillocks)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 3:08am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/5 "2020-12-02T03:08:06Z")
But what goes in the place of “file” I tried putting the path to my file and it doesn’t work, if i put the file name only, it tells me the file is not valid.
The code I tried is placed below:
Pkg.add(“CSV”)
Pkg.add(“DataFrames”)
using CSV, DataFrames
project\_data = using DataFrames; CSV.File(“/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv”, DataFrame)
---
### Author:  [@jling](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jling)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 3:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/6 "2020-12-02T03:10:02Z")
examples from documentation:
```julia
df = CSV.File(file) |> DataFrame
```
`file` is the path to your file (basically what you already have up there)
---
### Author:  [@pdeffebach](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pdeffebach)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/7 "2020-12-02T03:11:38Z")
your code has `CSV.File(file, DataFrame)`. You need `CSV.read(file, DataFrame)`
---
### Author:  [@Marc\_Hillocks](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc_Hillocks)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/8 "2020-12-02T03:14:56Z")
This is what I have now and I’m still getting the “provide a valid sink” error.
Pkg.add(“CSV”)
Pkg.add(“DataFrames”)
using DataFrames, CSV
project\_data = using DataFrames; CSV.read(“/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv”, DataFrame)
---
### Author:  [@pdeffebach](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/pdeffebach)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/9 "2020-12-02T03:27:58Z")
Can you run the following code?
```julia
julia> using CSV, DataFrames
julia> df = DataFrame(a = [1, 2], b = ["x", "z"]);
julia> CSV.write("test.csv", df);
julia> df2 = CSV.read("test.csv", DataFrame)
```
---
### Author:  [@Marc\_Hillocks](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Marc_Hillocks)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 9:20am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/10 "2020-12-02T09:20:07Z")
Thanks! This code runs, then I retried my old code right after and it works now. Thanks so much for your assistance!
---
### Author:  [@Skoffer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Skoffer)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-use-the-csv-read-error-provide-a-valid-sink-argument/51076/11 "2020-12-02T10:15:08Z")
Late to the party, but this line
```julia
project_data = using DataFrames; CSV.read("/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv", DataFrame)
```
was split in two, due to the `;` character
```julia
project_data = using DataFrames
CSV.read("/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv", DataFrame)
```
So, you read output of `using DataFrames` in `project_data` variable (which is a weird thing, suppose it was `nothing`?) and after that julia read csv file and ignore it.
If you need to use `;` symbol, you should put it into brackets
```julia
project_data = (using DataFrames; CSV.read("/Users/odionhillocks/Desktop/Project6925/Data.csv", DataFrame))
```
but there is no sense in doing it in this line of code. Also do not put `using` statements inside calculations, it’s better to import library at the beginning of the script.