Importing variable number of columns into SQLite database - import

Question

I have a list of synonyms in a csv file format: word,meaning1,meaning2,meaning3....
Different words have different number of synonyms which means that rows are likely to have a variable number of columns. I am trying to import the csv file into an sqlite database like so:
sqlite3 synonyms
sqlite> create table list(word text, meaning0 text, meaning1 text, meaning2 text, meaning3 text, meaning4 text, meaning5 text, meaning6 text, meaning7 text, meaning8 text, meaning9 text);
sqlite> .mode list
sqlite> .separator ,
sqlite> .import ./csv/synonyms.csv list
To be on the safe side, I assumed a max. number of 10 columns to each word. For those words with less than 10 synonyms, the other columns should be null. The error I get on executing the import command is:
Error: ./csv/synonyms.csv line 1: expected 11 columns of data but found 3
My question(s):
1. In case the number of columns is less than 10, how can I tell SQLite to substitute it with null?
2. Is there some way of specifying that I want 10 columns after word instead of typing it automatically?

Answer 1

You can do following:
Import all data into single column;
Update table splitting column contents into other columns.
Sample:
-- Create a table with only one column;
CREATE TABLE table_name(first);
-- Choose a separator which doesn't exist within file
.separator ~
-- Import data
.import file.csv table_name
-- Add another column to split data
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN second;
-- Split data between first and second column
UPDATE table_name SET first=SUBSTR(first, 1, INSTR(first, ",")-1), second=SUBSTR(first, INSTR(first, ",")+1) WHERE INSTR(first, ",")>0;
-- Repeat to next column
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN third;
-- Split data between second and third column
UPDATE table_name SET second=SUBSTR(second, 1, INSTR(second, ",")-1), third=SUBSTR(second, INSTR(second, ",")+1) WHERE INSTR(second, ",")>0;
-- And so on...
ALTER TABLE table_name ADD COLUMN fourth;
UPDATE table_name SET third=SUBSTR(third, 1, INSTR(third, ",")-1), fourth=SUBSTR(third, INSTR(third, ",")+1) WHERE INSTR(third, ",")>0;
-- Many times as needed...
Not being an optimal method, sqlite performance should render it enough fast.