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

How can I add an identifier to differentiate any block of data coming from an array?
I know that the data will come in blocks, I would like to be able to differentiate each block by comparing the first tag <1> with any other first tag in this array, if there is a match I would like to add something like
<1><2><3>...<1b><2b><3b>...<1c><2c><3c><4>...<1d><2d><3d>....
How could I do something like that? Data will be in one or more blocks like these:
<1>66543
<2>2009
<3>TY
<4>-
<6>
<7>TOM
<8>2 - DUNDAS
<8>100 - MAIN
<9>ONT 00001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1>12345
<2>1999
<3>PP
<4>XLX - TEST
<6>Comm
<7>
<8>1 BLVD
<9>MA 00001
<10>CITI, INC.
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1>8887
<2>2000
<3>
<4>TEST
<6>
<7>JOE
<7>MARY
<8>100 MAIN
<9>CT 02221
<10>BH, INC.
<11>871-000-0000
<12>YEAR

<1>test
<2>2087
<3>XX
<4>-
<6>
<7>DOM
<8>2 - CHT
<8>1000 - CAR
<9>ONTA X0001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>
<13>
<14>CB

[download]

my @all; # here is all the data will be

foreach my $xy (@all)
 {
    
    
    }

[download]


It would be nice to have at the end something like this: 
<1>66543
<2>2009
<3>TY
<4>-
<6>
<7>TOM
<8>2 - DUNDAS
<8>100 - MAIN
<9>ONT 00001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1b>12345
<2b>1999
<3b>PP
<4b>XLX - TEST
<6b>Comm
<7b>
<8b>1 BLVD
<9b>MA 00001
<10b>CITI, INC.
<11b>000-000-0000
<12b>

<1c>8887
<2c>2000
<3c>
<4c>TEST
<6c>
<7c>JOE
<7c>MARY
<8c>100 MAIN
<9c>CT 02221
<10c>BH, INC.
<11c>871-000-0000
<12c>YEAR

<1d>test
<2d>2087
<3d>XX
<4d>-
<6d>
<7d>DOM
<8d>2 - CHT
<8d>1000 - CAR
<9d>ONTA X0001
<10d>
<11d>000-000-0000
<12d>
<13d>
<14d>CB

[download]

Thanks for the help!!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Adding an identifier to an array element.
by apl (Monsignor) on Apr 15, 2010 at 19:35 UTC
    Tell us what @all looks like. Is it a one-dimensional array composed of the N lines of a block? Is it a 2-dimensional array where you store each block in thr array?

    What is <1> as opposed to <1c>? Something to be displayed, or manipulated, or an index into your array, or...?

    You seem to be suffering from I know what I mean. Why don't you?.

    REVISED: That last was uncalled for. I just reread your post. Why not simply maintain a "counter" of a single character (null initially, then 'a', 'b', etc. Be careful what happens after 'z'), incrementing the counter each time you hit a record starting <1>? Then you could output it at will...

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      So you know what he means... Why don't I? : )

      (Even if he wants to add a..z to each block it's completely unknown how his input can be split...

      In short: What?)

[reply]
Re: Adding an identifier to an array element.
by Anonymous Monk on Apr 15, 2010 at 18:44 UTC
    what?
[reply]
Re: Adding an identifier to an array element.
by Marshall (Canon) on Apr 16, 2010 at 11:44 UTC
    Here is one way to get your stated desired output from your stated input... 
    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $letter ='a';

while (<DATA>) 
{  
    print_record();
    print "\n";          # record spacer #
    $letter++;
}

# adds an alpha character to the id that's like <1>
# except weirdly enough for a.
#
sub print_record
{
    s/<(\d+)>/<$1$letter>/ unless $letter eq 'a';
    print;
    while (defined($_ = <DATA>) && $_ !~ /^\s*$/)
    {
        s/<(\d+)>/<$1$letter>/ unless $letter eq 'a';
        print;
    }
}

=prints:

<1>66543
<2>2009
<3>TY
<4>-
<6>
<7>TOM
<8>2 - DUNDAS
<8>100 - MAIN
<9>ONT 00001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1b>12345
<2b>1999
<3b>PP
<4b>XLX - TEST
<6b>Comm
<7b>
<8b>1 BLVD
<9b>MA 00001
<10b>CITI, INC.
<11b>000-000-0000
<12b>

<1c>8887
<2c>2000
<3c>
<4c>TEST
<6c>
<7c>JOE
<7c>MARY
<8c>100 MAIN
<9c>CT 02221
<10c>BH, INC.
<11c>871-000-0000
<12c>YEAR

<1d>test
<2d>2087
<3d>XX
<4d>-
<6d>
<7d>DOM
<8d>2 - CHT
<8d>1000 - CAR
<9d>ONTA X0001
<10d>
<11d>000-000-0000
<12d>
<13d>
<14d>CB
=cut

__DATA__
<1>66543
<2>2009
<3>TY
<4>-
<6>
<7>TOM
<8>2 - DUNDAS
<8>100 - MAIN
<9>ONT 00001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1>12345
<2>1999
<3>PP
<4>XLX - TEST
<6>Comm
<7>
<8>1 BLVD
<9>MA 00001
<10>CITI, INC.
<11>000-000-0000
<12>

<1>8887
<2>2000
<3>
<4>TEST
<6>
<7>JOE
<7>MARY
<8>100 MAIN
<9>CT 02221
<10>BH, INC.
<11>871-000-0000
<12>YEAR

<1>test
<2>2087
<3>XX
<4>-
<6>
<7>DOM
<8>2 - CHT
<8>1000 - CAR
<9>ONTA X0001
<10>
<11>000-000-0000
<12>
<13>
<14>CB

    [download]
[reply]
[d/l]
      Thank you very much!
[reply]

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