Create a PHP script that can read a CSV in the form start_date, end_date, event and output as ICS file

function convertDate($date)
{
    $dateTime = DateTime::createFromFormat('m/d/Y', $date);
    if ($dateTime === false) {
        return false; // Return false if date parsing fails
    }
    return $dateTime->format('Ymd');
}

// Function to escape special characters in text
function escapeText($text)
{
    return str_replace(["\n", "\r", ",", ";"], ['\n', '\r', '\,', '\;'], $text);
}

// Read CSV file
$csvFile = 'uci.csv'; // Replace with your CSV file name
$icsFile = 'uci.ics'; // Output ICS file name

$handle = fopen($csvFile, 'r');
if ($handle !== false) {
    // Open ICS file for writing
    $icsHandle = fopen($icsFile, 'w');

    // Write ICS header
    fwrite($icsHandle, "BEGIN:VCALENDAR\r\n");
    fwrite($icsHandle, "VERSION:2.0\r\n");
    fwrite($icsHandle, "PRODID:-//Your Company//NONSGML Event Calendar//EN\r\n");

    // Read CSV line by line
    while (($data = fgetcsv($handle, 1000, ',')) !== false) {
        $startDate = convertDate($data[0]);
        $endDate = convertDate($data[1]);
        print_r($data) . PHP_EOL;
        echo $startDate;
        
        if ($startDate === false || $endDate === false) {
            continue;
        }
        $event = escapeText($data[2]);

        // Write event to ICS file
        fwrite($icsHandle, "BEGIN:VEVENT\r\n");
        fwrite($icsHandle, "UID:" . uniqid() . "\r\n"); // Unique identifier
        fwrite($icsHandle, "DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:" . $startDate . "\r\n");
        fwrite($icsHandle, "DTEND;VALUE=DATE:" . $endDate . "\r\n");
        fwrite($icsHandle, "SUMMARY:" . $event . "\r\n");
        fwrite($icsHandle, "DESCRIPTION:" . $event . "\r\n");
        fwrite($icsHandle, "END:VEVENT\r\n");
    }

    // Write ICS footer
    fwrite($icsHandle, "END:VCALENDAR\r\n");

    // Close files
    fclose($icsHandle);
    fclose($handle);

    echo "ICS file generated successfully.";
} else {
    echo "Error: Unable to open CSV file.";
}

Source data are from UCI and output is here from where it can be added as a calendar. BTW created also my first “hello world” Swift/iPhone app using this source although this took a bit more time…