Convert CSV to this new format -

i have csv file sorted country, state, , city. looks this:

usa,california,arcata usa,california,bakersfield usa,california,barstow usa,california,berkeley usa,california,chico usa,california,delano usa,california,el centro usa,california,eureka usa,california,fresno usa,california,irvine usa,colorado,colorado springs usa,colorado,denver usa,colorado,durango usa,colorado,fort collins 

i want create output file looks this:

usa -california --bakersfield --barstow --berkeley --chico --delano --el centro --eureka --fresno --irvine -colorado --colorado springs --denver --durango --fort collins 

states prepended single dash, , cities prepended 2 dashes within each state.

how create output? thanks!

please check below script in powershell. have made assumption there 1 country. entries can jumbled in way.

also, assume there below row first row in csv headers:

country,state,city 

you can use similar logic in other programming language well.

$csvinput = import-csv -path "c:\data\test\abc.csv" | sort-object state  $outputfilecontent = @()  $outputfilecontent += ($csvinput[0].country)  $oldstate = "" $newstate = "" foreach($csvrow in $csvinput) {     $newstate = $csvrow.state     if($newstate -ne $oldstate)     {         $outputfilecontent+= ( "-" + $csvrow.state)     }     $oldstate = $newstate      $outputfilecontent += ("--" + $csvrow.city) }  $outputfilecontent | out-file -filepath "c:\data\test\testoutput.txt" 

replace "c:\data\test\abc.csv" input csv file , "c:\data\test\testoutput.txt" path output file.