File write problem

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

Hello

The following code reads the values of variables stored in several separate text files.

open PL, 'pvclength.txt' or die "Cant open file";
pvc_l=<PL>;

open GIL, 'gilength.txt'or die "Cant open file";
$gipipe_l=<GIL>;

open QGBS, 'qgibendsocket.txt' or die "Cant open file";
$gibend_sck_q=<QGBS>;
[download]

When writing these values and other computed values to a report file(.doc) using the code below:

printf EH "\n   Item";
printf EH "\n   No    Descr.        Qty           Unit   Rate    Comp.
+    Party";

printf EH "\n   70    Pvc 4sqmm     $pvc_l        MTR    35.14   0.00 
+   $pvc_a";  
       
printf EH "\n   71    Gi Pipe 25mm  $gipipe_l     MTR    94.93   0.00 
+   $gipipe_a\n";            

printf EH "\n   73    Gi Bend       $gibend_sck_q NO  50.00   0.00    
+     $gibend_sck_a\n";
printf EH "\n        &Socket25mm\n";
[download]

The expected output is:

Item
No    Descr.          Qty   Unit   Rate    Comp.    Party
70    Pvc 4sqmm       2     MTR    35.14   0.00    70.28
71    Gi Pipe 25mm    3     MTR    94.93   0.00    284.79
73    Gi Bend         4     NO     50.00   0.00    200
      &Socket25mm
[download]

But the output I get is this i.e. everything after the Qty figure appearing on the second line

Item
   No    Descr.        Qty   Unit   Rate    Comp.    Party
   70    Pvc 4sqmm     2
        MTR    35.14   0.00    70.28
   71    Gi Pipe 25mm  3
     MTR    94.93   0.00    284.79

   73    Gi Bend       4
 NO     50.00   0.00    200

         &Socket25mm
[download]

How to get around this problem? I tried removing whitespace from the Qty variables for example $pvc_l but that did not work. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Update

The .txt files contain just a single value for example "pvclength.txt" just contains the value 2.

Comment on File write problem Select or Download Code

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Re: File write problem by dHarry (Abbot) on Jul 08, 2010 at 13:29 UTC
Maybe your variables don't contain what you think they do? There is probably a newline in the file you read and you don't chomp. I normally use sprintf when I want to format output. If you have to do it a lot it's probably a better idea to use a module.	[reply]
Re^2: File write problem by toolic (Bishop) on Jul 08, 2010 at 13:37 UTC
If you have to do it a lot it's probably a better idea to use a module I agree with this (and all your other suggestions), and I recommend Text::Table for this task.	[reply]
Re: File write problem by kennethk (Abbot) on Jul 08, 2010 at 14:13 UTC
Based upon your update, I would say dHarry's diagnosis that you have unaccounted for newlines is correct. One way to fix that would be: `open PL, 'pvclength.txt' or die "Cant open file"; $pvc_l=<PL>; chomp $pvc_l; open GIL, 'gilength.txt'or die "Cant open file"; $gipipe_l=<GIL>; chomp $gipipe_l; open QGBS, 'qgibendsocket.txt' or die "Cant open file"; $gibend_sck_q=<QGBS>; chomp $gibend_sck_q;` [download] See chomp. You also mention in your OP you "tried removing whitespace from the Qty variables". How? What code did you use? This should be straight-forward using regular expressions. Please note that because all your variable names are different lengths, your columns will not align - you have a different number of spaces following each one. Again, a simple solution is to follow dHarry's advice and use sprintf. Also, note you dropped a sigil off of `pvc_l` in your OP. Please get in the habit of testing code before you post so Monks don't go off chasing red herrings. See How do I post a question effectively? and make sure posted code passes strict and warnings. Update: Fixed oversights in code. Thanks wfsp.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: File write problem by roboticus (Chancellor) on Jul 08, 2010 at 17:08 UTC
perl_seeker: You should read the documentation for printf/sprintf. It's unreasonable for you to expect that it will magically interpolate the variables into their values for the desired width. You need to tell it the width you want. For example: `printf "%-15.15s % 4d\n", $string, $integer;` [download] This code tells printf to format the $string variable into a 15 character column, left justifying it (and truncating it if it's too long. It formats $integer into a 4 character field, filling with spaces. ...roboticus Update: Cleaned up the formatting. (Thanks, moritz!)	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: File write problem by perl_seeker (Scribe) on Aug 03, 2010 at 12:05 UTC
Hello, it was whitespace characters causing everything after the Qty figure to appear on the second line. Don't know why the code did not work earlier. Fixed the second line prob using this `open PL, 'pvclength.txt' or die "Cant open file"; $pvc_l=<PL>; $pvc_l =~ s/^\s+//; $pvc_l =~ s/\s+$//;` [download] Also for the alignment will look up on sprintf. Thank you everyone for your comments and sorry for the delay in replying. perl_seeker	[reply] [d/l]