Re: Process mail logs

Perhaps Perl's (5.10+) given/when will work for you:

use Modern::Perl;

while ( my $string = <DATA> ) {
    given ($string) {
        when (/<=/) {
            say '<= was found.';
        }
        when (/=>/) {
            say '=> was found.';
        }
        when (/==/) {
            say '== was found.';
        }
        when (/\*\*/) {
            say '** was found.';
        }
        default {
            say "The following was found: $_";
        }
    }
}

__DATA__
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1234]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e <= it_ndt_bounces@new.itunes.com H=smtpmail.com [21.5.10.4] I
+=[8.4.14.4]:25 P=esmtp S=1966 id=1603882764.112965659.1335927964793.M
+ail.cboxp@ednabay.apple.com T="New on iTunes: One Thing And, Then Ano
+ther, Cooking Apps,\n Great Deals on First Seasons, and M"
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1234]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e <= it_ndt_bounces@new.itunes.com H=smtpmail.com [21.5.10.4] I
+=[8.4.14.4]:25 P=esmtp S=1966 id=1603882764.112965659.1335927964793.M
+ail.cboxp@ednabay.apple.com T="New on iTunes: One Thing And, Then Ano
+ther, Cooking Apps,\n Great Deals on First Seasons, and M"
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1235]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e => peterpiper <peterpiper@nosuchdomain.net> R=local_mail T=lo
+cal_maildir_mail_drop
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1235]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e == peterpiper <peterpiper@nosuchdomain.net> R=local_mail T=lo
+cal_maildir_mail_drop
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1234]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e ** it_ndt_bounces@new.itunes.com H=smtpmail.com [21.5.10.4] I
+=[8.4.14.4]:25 P=esmtp S=1966 id=1603882764.112965659.1335927964793.M
+ail.cboxp@ednabay.apple.com T="New on iTunes: One Thing And, Then Ano
+ther, Cooking Apps,\n Great Deals on First Seasons, and M"
May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1235]: 2012-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-00
+04en-1e -- peterpiper <peterpiper@nosuchdomain.net> R=local_mail T=lo
+cal_maildir_mail_drop
[download]

Output:

<= was found.
<= was found.
=> was found.
== was found.
** was found.
The following was found: May  2 07:06:20 lon.mail.net exim[1235]: 2012
+-05-02 07:06:20 1PSPtU-0004en-1e -- peterpiper <peterpiper@nosuchdoma
+in.net> R=local_mail T=local_maildir_mail_drop
[download]

Hope this helps!

Update: My thanks to influx for pointing me to an article in which the author encourages programmers to Use for() instead of given(). This may be especially relevant in this case, where millions of lines could be processed.

Comment on Re: Process mail logs Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Process mail logs by influx (Beadle) on Aug 13, 2012 at 07:45 UTC
Actually, you should try and refrain from using given/when. Brian D Foy explains why Here A pretty nice alternative I use, is `for ($string) { # given if (/<=/) { .. } # when elsif (/=>/) { .. } # when else { .. } # default }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Process mail logs by Kenosis (Priest) on Aug 13, 2012 at 20:19 UTC
Good call to address this given/when issue. Have updated my original post to reflect this...	[reply]
Re^2: Process mail logs by stevbutt (Novice) on Aug 13, 2012 at 10:41 UTC
Unfortunately this has to run on a stock Solaris 10 machine and it only comes with Perl 5.8.4 Is there another way ?	[reply]
Re^3: Process mail logs by aaron_baugher (Curate) on Aug 13, 2012 at 12:19 UTC
Certainly. The given/when (or for/when) construct is cleaner, but there's no reason you can't fall back on a series of if/elsif/else. (Though I'd recommend looking at the dispatch table concept first.) In your sample data, the fields appear consistent up to the 'directional' field you're looking at, so you could: `while(<DATA>){ chomp; my( $month, $day, $time, $host, $ppid, $date, $time2, $something, $d +irection, $remainder ) = split ' ', $_, 10; if( $direction eq '<=' ){ # go left } elsif( $direction eq '=>' ){ # go right } elsif( $direction eq '==' ){ # do a third thing } elsif( $direction eq '**' ){ # do a fourth thing } else { # fall back on a default behavior } }` [download] Aaron B. Available for small or large Perl jobs; see my home node.	[reply] [d/l]