How to fetch a string in CSV, create a new CSV by strings name and add that particular line to it?

Question

This is an example of my CSV file:

04/Feb/2016:06:38:44-0500,ab,3,10,57,200,10254
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,42,168,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,43,169,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ab,1,43,170,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,44,171,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,45,172,304,0

I would like to fetch string in 2nd column, create file called like that string if file doesnt already exist and add that particular line in a file. So something like this:

fetch string in 2nd column -> "ab" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "ab.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:38:44-0500,ab,3,10,57,200,10254"
fetch string in 2nd column -> "cd" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "cd.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,42,168,304,0"
fetch string in 2nd column -> "ef" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "ef.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,43,169,304,0"
fetch string in 2nd column -> "ab" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "ab.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ab,1,43,170,304,0"
fetch string in 2nd column -> "cd" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "cd.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,44,171,304,0"
fetch string in 2nd column -> "ef" -> if file doesnt exist create file called "ef.csv" -> open file and add line "04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,45,172,304,0"

Result:

ab.csv:
04/Feb/2016:06:38:44-0500,ab,3,10,57,200,10254
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ab,1,43,170,304,0
----------------------------------------------
cd.csv:
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,42,168,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,44,171,304,0
----------------------------------------------
ef.csv:
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,43,169,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,45,172,304,0

Any help appriciated!

Answer 1

Using awk

$ awk -F, '{print >> $2".csv"}' file.csv

$ cat ab.csv
04/Feb/2016:06:38:44-0500,ab,3,10,57,200,10254
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ab,1,43,170,304,0
$ cat cd.csv
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,42,168,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,cd,1,44,171,304,0
$ cat ef.csv
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,43,169,304,0
04/Feb/2016:06:39:07-0500,ef,1,45,172,304,0
$

Do bear in mind though that real CSV files might include quoted commas within their comma separated fields - so a proper CSV parser is always recommended for serious use: see for example How to read a CSV file using Perl? or PyMOTW: Comma-separated value files.

Answer 2

I don't know if you are still looking for pythonic solution. I'm amazed by the simplicity in steeldriver's answer, didn't realised awk is so powerful.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import csv
import os

def main():
    with open("file.csv", "rb") as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        for row in reader:
            fname = row[1] + ".csv"
            with open(fname, 'w') as f:
                f.write(','.join([i for i in row]))


main()

Can't blame me for trying :D for the shiny bounty