Re^6: Question on the format statement

"Some of the fields are left undefined": These are the col headers-

Consumer name Subdivision Cheque no. Receipt no. Amount

And this a sample row of data-

M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd.!Elm Street!134!27456.00

The field left undefined in this row of data is the cheque number(for cash payments)

If some column data is missing in this way the output report I get is all jumbled up. In the format statements I've just assigned the possible max no of characters for each field.But the data tends to vary in length for ex. the consumer name could be:

@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 

M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd
Somethin&Someone
Something-Something
Someone
[download]

The names are of different lengths and none are as long as the max defined no. of characters.
The same could happen for other fields. In such a situation is it possible to get the column headers and data below to match, like in a tabular format?
Expected output:

Col1              Col2      Col3   Col4

Someone           26354     151    27364.00
M/s Something               152    234.00
Mr. xxx           36454     153    4856679.00
Mr.yy                       154    3645.00 
Mr.Z              2675      155    23459.00
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Re^7: Question on the format statement by roboticus (Chancellor) on Apr 07, 2010 at 18:12 UTC
perl seeker: Oh, I see what you're asking now. For a delimited file, you usually don't leave out the delimiters. In other words, I wouldn't expect to see this: `M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd.!Elm Street!134!27456.00` Rather, I would expect to see (notice the extra !): `M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd.!Elm Street!!134!27456.00` In this version, you get the correct number of fields, with a blank cheque number. If the format is under your control, I'd suggest always having the correct number of delimiters. Otherwise you won't be able to reliably tell the difference between the fields--how would you determine it was the cheque number that was missing rather than the receipt number? ...roboticus	[reply] [d/l] [select]

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Re^7: Question on the format statement
by roboticus (Chancellor) on Apr 07, 2010 at 18:12 UTC

perl seeker:

Oh, I see what you're asking now. For a delimited file, you usually don't leave out the delimiters. In other words, I wouldn't expect to see this:

M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd.!Elm Street!134!27456.00

Rather, I would expect to see (notice the extra !):

M/s. Something Pvt. Ltd.!Elm Street!!134!27456.00

In this version, you get the correct number of fields, with a blank cheque number. If the format is under your control, I'd suggest always having the correct number of delimiters. Otherwise you won't be able to reliably tell the difference between the fields--how would you determine it was the cheque number that was missing rather than the receipt number?

...roboticus

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