Create Output file with multiple lines (Python)

Question

I have an file with a specific data I would like to pull.

The file looks like this:

DS User ID 1  
random garbage  
random garbage  
DS  N user name 1   
random garbage  
DS User ID 2   
random garbage  
random garbage  
DS  N user name 2

So far I have:

import sys  
import re  
f = open(sys.argv[1])

strToSearch = ""

for line in f:
        strToSearch += line

patFinder1 = re.compile('DS\s+\d{4}|DS\s{2}\w\s{2}\w.*|DS\s{2}N', re.MULTILINE)

for i in findPat1:  
    print(i)

My output to screen looks like this:

DS user ID 1  
DS  N user name 1  
DS user ID 2  
DS  N user name 2

If I write to file using:

outfile = "test.dat"   
FILE = open(outfile,"a")  
FILE.writelines(line)  
FILE.close()

Everything is pushed to a single line:

DS user ID 1DS  N user name 1DS user ID 2DS  N user name 2

I can live with the first scenario for the ouput. Ideally though I would like to strip the 'DS' and 'DS N' from the output file and have it comma separated.

User ID 1,user name 1  
User ID 2, username 2

Any ideas on how to get this accomplished?

Hi, welcome to StackOverflow. Please take a minute to familiarize yourself with the editor, especially the Code button {} that you can use to format code. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Mar 1, 2011 at 13:13
This is quite obviously not your real program. For one, you're never using the regex. It also doesn't match the samples you provided, at least not most of them. You never define findPat1. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Mar 1, 2011 at 13:19
Please describe clearly what your input data looks like and what criteria you're using to match. From your samples it seems that looking for lines that start with DS should be enough - if it isn't, please state the rules. You seem to be trying to match up corresponding user ID/username entries. We can surely show you a better way of doing this, if we know what you're doing. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Mar 1, 2011 at 13:25

Shawn Chin · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-31 07:45:58Z

5

It's difficult to provide a robust solution without understanding the actual input data format, how much flexibility is allowed, and how the parsed data is going to be used.

From just the sample input/output given above, one can quickly cook up a working sample code:

out = open("test.dat", "a") # output file

for line in open("input.dat"):
    if line[:3] != "DS ": continue # skip "random garbage"

    keys = line.split()[1:] # split, remove "DS"
    if keys[0] != "N": # found ID, print with comma
        out.write(" ".join(keys) + ",")
    else: # found name, print and end line
        out.write(" ".join(keys[1:]) + "\n")

Output file will be:

User ID 1,user name 1
User ID 2,user name 2

This code can of course be made much more robust using regex if the format specification is known. For example:

import re
pat_id = re.compile(r"DS\s+(User ID\s+\d+)")
pat_name = re.compile(r"DS\s+N\s+(.+\s+\d+)")
out = open("test.dat", "a")

for line in open("input.dat"):
    match = pat_id.match(line)
    if match: # found ID, print with comma
        out.write(match.group(1) + ",")
        continue
    match = pat_name.match(line)
    if match: # found name, print and end line
        out.write(match.group(1) + "\n")

Both the examples above assumes that "User ID X" always comes before "N user name X", hence the respective trailing chars of "," and "\n".

If the order is not specific, one can store the values in a dictionary using the numeric ID as a key then print out the ID/name pair after all input has been parsed.

If you provide more info, perhaps we can be of more help.

edited Oct 31, 2012 at 7:45

answered Mar 1, 2011 at 13:26

Shawn Chin

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1 Comment

user639302 Over a year ago

Works great and exactly what I needed. Thanks. Trying to get rid of the DS and DS N and it will be perfect.

Jan Hudec · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-01 13:24:55Z

4

print adds a newline character after the arguments, but writelines does not. So you have to write like:

file = open(outfile, "a")
file.writelines((i + '\n' for i in findPat1))
file.close()

The writelines statement can also be written as:

for i in findPat1:
    file.write(i + '\n')

answered Mar 1, 2011 at 13:24

Jan Hudec

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Comments

stderr · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-01 13:27:04Z

0

FILE.writelines(line)

does not add line separators.

Just do:

FILE.write(line + "\n")

Or:

FILE.write("\n".join(lines))

answered Mar 1, 2011 at 13:27

stderr

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Comments

eyquem · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-01 14:45:19Z

0

import re

ch ='''\
DS User ID 1
random garbage
random garbage
DS  N user name 1
random garbage
DS User ID 2
random garbage
random garbage
DS  N user name 2'''

RE = '^DS (User ID (\d+)).+?^DS  N( user name \\2)'

with open('outputfile.txt','w') as f:
    for match in re.finditer(RE,ch,re.MULTILINE|re.DOTALL):
        f.write(','.join(match.groups())+'\n')

EDIT:

replaced

RE = '^DS (User ID \d+).+?^DS  N( user name \d+)'

with

RE = '^DS (User ID (\d+)).+?^DS  N( user name \\2)'

edited Mar 1, 2011 at 14:45

answered Mar 1, 2011 at 14:38

eyquem

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