I am trying to extract parts of a text log file. The format is kind of fixed, I can always write code to retrieve the important parts, but I am trying to look for a generic way - or a framework that already does this.

I am looking for something simple and lightweight.

In case the requirement is not clear, the log file has a format like:

my_header (.*)
...
time: (.*)
...
[error: (.*)]
...
status: (.*)
...
end_signature
[download]

Basically, this contains some lines that may be matched (those enclosed in []s) and some lines that must be matched (those not). Also, it would be interesting if there is a way to specify that the some line need not be at any given location.

If anyone has any pointers on how I can achieve this, I would really appreciate it.

Thanking you in advance,
Hemanth

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