Okay...so i have found a solution...though i am not sure if it is the most efficient/effective. I have been testing it and it seems to be working out... Basically i took the first couple array values for granted, since i know they will not contain commas. Then i did a count() on the array to see how many values it had. I then took the LAST one (regardless of the number) and made it my "Transaction Amount". Then whatever was "left over" in the middle I concatenated together to form my description (and i even added back in the commas for clarity). I hope this helps someone someday. If anyone has a better solution, please let me know! Thanks!

<?php

$csv_data = $_POST['csv_data'];
$csv_array = explode("\n",$csv_data);

// Loop through all CSV data rows and generate separate
$last_data_row = count($csv_array) - 1;//this is necessary because arrays start with position #0
for($counter = 0; $counter < $last_data_row; $counter++)
{
$data_row = explode(",",$csv_array[$counter]);

//just in case there were commas in the 'description' portion we are taking the first few and the last...then clumping the leftovers (2 + [3, 4, 5...]) in the 'description'
$RowsInArray = count($data_row) - 1;

$TransactionType = $data_row['0'];
$TransactionDate = $data_row['1'];
$TransactionDescription = $data_row['2'];
for( $descriptcounter = 3; $descriptcounter <= ($RowsInArray-1); $descriptcounter++)
{
$TransactionDescription .= ', '.$data_row[$descriptcounter];
}
$TransactionAmount = trim($data_row[$RowsInArray]);

$query = "INSERT INTO Transactions (TransactionType, TransactionDate, TransactionDescription, TransactionAmount) VALUES('$TransactionType','$TransactionDate','$TransactionDescription','$TransactionAmount'); ";
echo "$query <br />";
}

?>

You might try the following
using: $TransactionDescription = $data_row['2'];

make believe that the whole element is textual
by placing it within escaped double quotes
$address = "\"$address\"";

A little trick I picked up from somewhere :)
wish I had this simple idea first!

Would something like this work

$sql = "INSERT INTO $table ($fields) VALUES (";
 //Read the post string as csv
$row_count = 0;
while (($data = str_getcsv($_POST['csv_data'])) !== false) {
++$row_count;
foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
$clean_data = mysql_real_escape_string((get_magic_quotes_gpc())? stripslashes($value): $value);
$query_string .= "'" . $clean_data . "',";
}
$query_string = substr($query_string, 0, -4);
$query_string .="),(";
}
$sql = substr($query_string, 0, -2);

print $sql;

Or use the PHP function designed for this, fgetcsv [php.net]

fgetcsv parse the file that's why I suggested the str_getcsv basically the same thing

Yep, understood. From the first sentence in the original post ...

I am trying to parse a CSV file

So, I thought I would make it obvious that the exact function exists.

You know I missed that part. I was looking at the $_POST['csv_data']; part and wasn't thinking it was a file, That snippet I posted can be interchanged with the fgetcsv as the original function I use is for importing csv files

I should clean the dust off my monitor

Did you try my suggestion,
I do not remember where I used it, but I know it did the job.

Henry0: I did not understand your suggestion. The problem happens when the $data_row() array is initially populated because i am exploding the string based upon commas. This means that $data_row['2'] does not (necessarily) contain the entire string it should contain, thus escaping it really doesn't do anything. Let me know if I misunderstand your suggestion.

coopster/bkeep: Thanks for pointing out this function. I had no idea that this existed. I have not yet tried playing around with it, because the scripting I wrote does do the job...however I plan to re-write it with fgetcsv just to learn how it works. You are both correct...the real (eventual) plan is to set up my script to import the actual file and parse that. However, at the moment I have it just parsing an incoming posted string for ease of troubleshooting. THANKS for letting me know about this function, I kinda feel like i just re-invented he wheel. Oh well...I guess it was a good exercise in problem solving :-)

I was under the impression that you were only concerned by comma/s within the str

I am...but it is that comma that is causing the problem. The entire "row" is a single string, and i am breaking this up (explode) at each comma. Unfortunately this includes a break at a comma that is not meant to be a deliminator but rather is included as part of one of the values. Most of my commas are "good"...but there are these occasional extra "bad" commas where they don't belong.

I bet that the built-in CSV functions within PHP (fgetcsv and str_getcsv) will work beautifully, but in the meantime the workaround i wrote (posted above) is also working well.

Thanks!