Extracting data from a string

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

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Re: Extracting data from a string by Eliya (Vicar) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:11 UTC
You haven't said what the semantics of the quotes are, and what you want to extract, but my suspicion is that Text::CSV would be the right tool for the job.	[reply]
Re: Extracting data from a string by Ratazong (Monsignor) on Feb 21, 2011 at 10:19 UTC
`nc,71526435,0,"text text, text text,456 etc...",36.5,121.1,1.4,7.50, 8 +,"text2 text, text text,123 etc..."` [download] If you are sure on the format of your input, you can parse such data easily with a regex (see below, and also this node by planetscape). However your code will likely not work if anything changes in your data-format - or if the data contains errors. Things that will make your regex complicated will be different number formats, or strings containing `\"` ... and many more. Thats why Text:CSV has been recommended to you. But now to the regex-approach: `^` lets your matching start at the beginning of the line `(..)`grabs two letters `,`matches a comma `\s(\d)`grabs a number (if one is available), possible preceeded by some blanks `"(.?)"`grabs text, enclosed in double quotes `\s(\d+\.\d+)`grabs a number (containing one dot), possible preceeded by some blanks Just combine them as you wish! HTH, Rata	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Extracting data from a string by Khen1950fx (Canon) on Feb 21, 2011 at 13:41 UTC
Using Text::CSV::Simple, you can extract all the data like this: `#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use Text::CSV::Simple; use YAML; use YAML::Dumper; my $dumper = YAML::Dumper->new; $dumper->indent_width(1); my $filename = '/root/Desktop/strings.txt'; my $parser = Text::CSV::Simple->new; my @data = $parser->read_file($filename); print "=========list of data=========", "\n"; print $dumper->dump( { dump => @data } ), "\n";` [download] If you just want a couple of fields for example: `use strict; use warnings; use Text::CSV::Simple; use YAML; use YAML::Dumper; my $dumper = YAML::Dumper->new; $dumper->indent_width(1); my $filename = '/root/Desktop/strings.txt'; my $parser = Text::CSV::Simple->new; $parser->want_fields(2,5); my @data = $parser->read_file($filename); print "=========wanted fields=======", "\n"; print $dumper->dump( { dump => @data } ), "\n";` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Extracting data from a string by tospo (Hermit) on Feb 21, 2011 at 10:23 UTC
Any regex you have tried so far? What did you get out of it and waht did you expect to get? Can you describe the pattern a bit more? What exactly do you need to capture and what defines a record in this format?	[reply]
Re: Extracting data from a string by viveksnv (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:19 UTC
Hi Did you try with split option. Hope you did `$var='nc,71526435,0,"text text, text text,456 etc...",36.5,121.1,1.4,7 +.50, 8,"text2 text, text text,123 etc..."'; @array=split(",",$var); while(<@array>) { print $_ ."\n"; }` [download] And also you may try with modules as suggested above.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Extracting data from a string by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:30 UTC
Did you? Run your program.	[reply]
Re^3: Extracting data from a string by kepler (Scribe) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:32 UTC
Hi, Yes. It's a mess, because the text between quotes has also commas. Kind regards, Kepler	[reply]
Re^4: Extracting data from a string by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:33 UTC
Re^5: Extracting data from a string by viveksnv (Sexton) on Feb 21, 2011 at 09:42 UTC