Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters

biancoari has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Apr 16, 2013 at 21:21 UTC
`perl -pe"$_ = join qq[\t], unpack 'a17 a6 a31 a3 a3', $_" infile > out +file` [download] With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday' Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by kennethk (Abbot) on Apr 16, 2013 at 20:33 UTC
xkcd://208: Regular Expressions to the rescue. `perl -pi -e 's/^(.{17})(.{6})(.{31})(.{3})(.{3})/$1\t$2\t$3\t$4\t$5\t/ +' file.txt` [download] #11929 First ask yourself `How would I do this without a computer?' Then have the computer do it the same way.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by choroba (Cardinal) on Apr 16, 2013 at 21:08 UTC
You can use substr to change a string: `my $string = "20130204000000000068100836100220130681002002201306880002 +00494"; my $n = -1; substr $string, $n += 1 + $_, 0, "\t" for 17, 6, 31, 3, 3; print "$string\n";` [download] لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by johngg (Canon) on Apr 16, 2013 at 22:20 UTC
Attacking the insertions in reverse order from the right-hand side means you don't have to increment your position by one for each successive insertion. Swings and roundabouts really but sometimes a useful technique. `$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' > my $text = > q{2013020400000000006810083610022013068100200220130688000200494}; > my @offs = ( 17, 6, 31, 3, 3 ); > my @cums = ( 0 ); > push @cums, $_ + $cums[ -1 ] for @offs; > substr $text, $_, 0, q{-} for reverse @cums[ 1 .. $#cums ]; > say $text;' 20130204000000000-068100-8361002201306810020022013068800-020-049-4` [download] Here's the code without the PS2 prompt for easier copy'n'paste, as requested by /msg in respect of another post. Read more... (499 Bytes) I hope this is of interest. Cheers, JohnGG	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by biancoari (Initiate) on Apr 17, 2013 at 03:11 UTC
Hi, I've tried to use it exactly as you put it and I got: biancoari@biancoari ~/Desktop $ perl perl1.pl String found where operator expected at perl1.pl line 8, near "say $text;'" (Might be a runaway multi-line '' string starting on line 1) (Missing semicolon on previous line?) syntax error at perl1.pl line 8, near "say $text;'" Execution of perl1.pl aborted due to compilation errors. Besides I have another question what I am trying to modify is a txt file with several lines (like the one on the example, they are all the same) any clue on that?	[reply]
Re^4: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by johngg (Canon) on Apr 17, 2013 at 11:15 UTC
Re^5: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by biancoari (Initiate) on Apr 17, 2013 at 12:09 UTC
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Re^4: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Apr 17, 2013 at 11:19 UTC
Re: Adding a TAB after a certain ammount of characters by BillKSmith (Monsignor) on Apr 17, 2013 at 02:42 UTC
The template for the function unpack is a perfect match to your description of the problem. `use strict; use warnings; my $template = "A17A6A31A3A3A*"; while (my $line = <DATA>) { print join("\t", unpack($template, $line)); } __DATA__ 2013020400000000006810083610022013068100200220130688000200494;` [download] Bill	[reply] [d/l]