Re: parsing tricky text file

From:	J.Veenhuijsen	Date:	Tue, 28 Jan 2003 10:00:42 +0000
Subject:	Re: parsing tricky text file
References:	1	Groups:	php.windows
Request:	Send a blank email to php-windows+get-18129@lists.php.net to get a copy of this message

What I would do in this case is writing my own little parser program to spool it in to a MySQL database. I often use Delphi for this. What is the record delimiter? OTOP with nothing behind it means emty field? Execept for the USAU fields it seem all very fieldname/content like. Jochem George Pitcher wrote:

Hi, I'm looking for some advice. One of my suppliers (big publisher) has sent me a file containing records of their books. The file is anabsolute nightmare. There are approx 8000 records and the format is like this (actual record): -T&F eBook data rec.1534 @ 27/01/2003 VISBN 0203445570 OSBN 0-203-44557-0 EBK1 0203548310 EBK2 0203651057 EBK3 020375381X EBK4 0203273567 OTOP OTART OTI Creative Mathematics OSUB USAU Upitis |f Rena |u Queens University |c Kingston, Ontario |x
 Canada
USAU Phillips |f Eileen |u Teacher |c Vancover |x Canada USAU Higginson |f William |u Queens University |c Kingston |x
 Canada
EDIT INTRO FORWD Pimm |f David |u The Open University x| UK TRANS 2BIND 0415164621 |P 70.00 |U 100.00 |B Hb |A |M 1 |T Creative
 Mathematics
VPR 11.99 USPRI 17.99 OTBPR 19.99 |U 25.95 |D 17/07/1997 USBDG MFDT ERT GB US CA AU NZ ZA IE ORT NRT TTY OBIND eB PDUE 11/03/2002 VIZE VEXT 192 OILLS 40 illustrations LEVEL OSER OIMP RoutledgeFalmer LIBPR OALT OPPQ OCATL This book shows how creative maths can really work.
 Exploring the ways in which maths skills can be learned
 through cross-curricular activities based on visual arts
 and music, the book presents maths as a meaningful and
 exciting subject which holds no fears for children. The
 authors recognise that while maths-phobia prevails in our
 increasingly mathematicised world, attitudes and
 approaches to teaching the subject need to be reviewed,
 and issues such as gender stereotyping, which encourage
 maths-apathy, need to be tackled at an early stage. 
 Within this collection of classroom-based stories are
 detailed examples of integrative mathematic projects;
 these will give teachers the confidence to try out
 cross-curricular activities in their classes. The book
 also provides support with difficult areas such as
 assessment, planning and development. Fascinating to
 read in its own right this book will appeal to the
 specialist and non-specialist alike. 
OCONC This book shows how creative maths can really work.
 Exploring the ways in which maths skills can be learned
 through cross-curricular activities based on visual arts
 and music, the book presents maths as a meaningful and
 exciting subject which holds no fears for children. The
 authors recognise that while maths-phobia prevails in our
 increasingly mathematicised world, attitudes and
 approaches to teaching the subject need to be reviewed,
 and issues such as gender stereotyping, which encourage
 maths-apathy, need to be tackled at an early stage. 
 Within this collection of classroom-based stories are
 detailed examples of integrative mathematic projects;
 these will give teachers the confidence to try out
 cross-curricular activities in their classes. The book
 also provides support with difficult areas such as
 assessment, planning and development. Fascinating to
 read in its own right this book will appeal to the
 specialist and non-specialist alike. 
OCATS Exploring the ways in which maths skills can be learned
 through cross-curricular projects on arts and music, this
 book presents maths as a meaningful and exciting subject
 which holds no fear for children.
OQUO 'This is a fascinating book ... which gives detailed case
 studies.' |I Infant Equipment
OCNT FCONT OWRIT VEDIT 1 BICAC U BSUB1 J BSUB2 JD BSUB3 BICAV RF SUBJ1 SB150000 SUBJ2 SUBJ3 VPROD EB VACDE WEB CREAT MFK - AUTO |D 2002 07 19 So as you see, the filed names are at the left hand side with the data starting at position 6 (5 if the line-start is 0). I usually use Excell to clean up this sort of stuff but those fields with a lot of text in them just get trashed in the process. I have used Frontier to parse ACARS logs in the past and I thought that PHP might be able to help out here. I want to be able to convert the fieldname (where it is duplicated in a record) so that each one is unique. Strip out returns, replacing with [tab] and the producing an output file that can be imported into a db (MySQL eventually but I'm using FileMaker right now). Any suggestions (that do not involve a pistol)? George in Oxford === George Pitcher HERON Technical Manager Ingenta plc 23-38 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2ET T +44 (0)1865 799137 direct T +44 (0)1865 799000 switchboard F +44 (0)1865 799134 E george.pitcher@ingenta.com www.ingenta.com Ingenta: Empowering the exchange of academic and professional content online.