Extreme newbie.. looking for a push in the right direction. Need to find text in a file and then display

[toflat at tdl.com]

Hi Hans,

Thanks so much for your help. Your code has definitely pointed me in the right
direction, just like I asked for. Now I'm starting to "get it"......

I'm still having a few problems, most notably having the script continue to print
out lines until it sees the end tag. But I'll get it. This is mostly a learning
exercise for me and I am certainly learning. Your code has definitely given me
things to think about and pointed me to the relevant areas in the Python Docs. I
actually think I'll be able to learn more from this little project and your
starter script, than I ever could have from a book or class!

_Thanks!
-T

Hans Nowak wrote:

> >===== Original Message From toflatpy2 at oaktown.org (toflat) =====
> >Hey There,
> >
> >I still pretty new to this and hope this question isn't too lame. I've
> >been digging around ( and learning) the documentation but just can
> >figure out how to do this.
> >
> >I have a file with a repeating predictable format.
> >
> >ie:
> >
> ><name>
> >fname lname
> >1
> >name
> >address
> >whatever
> >yada..
> ></end name> 12345
> >
> >So.. the record format is always:
> >Line 1. opening <name> tag
> >Line 2. record title (most often a first and last name) the opening
> ><name> tag, Line 3. a number (this number has no significance)
> >Lines 4-?. the record information.
> >Last Line. </end name> 12345
> >
> >I would like to write a script to search the file for a name and then
> >display the record.
> >
> >So it would...
> >A> search for the name (record title).
> >B> upon finding a match, the line containing the match is saved
> >(record title)
> >B> replace this number with a blank line in results
> >C> each following line is saved (added to record) up to but not
> >including...
> >D> the end marker (</end name> 12345)
> >
> >The script then displays the result to the terminal
> >
> >ex:
> >
> >searching the file for a record with "o'maley" in the title.
> >source file:
> >
> ><name>
> >Frank O'Maley
> >1
> >Frank O'Maley
> >1234 VeryDark Alley
> >Dublin, Ireland
> >011 123 45 45 9
> >yada yada
> ></end name> 12345
> >
> >Would return:
> >
> >Frank O'Maley
> >
> >Frank O'Maley
> >1234 VeryDark Alley
> >Dublin, Ireland
> >011 123 45 45 9
> >yada yada
> >
> >This is I've been pouring over the documentation and think I
> >understand how to use
> >the re module to find what I'm looking for. However I'm at a loss when
> >it come to
> >actually using what it finds. I don't know how I can get it to save
> >the line that contains
> >the search result. And I do not know how to get it to keep adding
> >lines (and modifying) until
> >it comes to the end marker.
>
> You probably won't need the re module. First you need to find <name> tags;
> this can be done by looping over the list of lines and ignoring everything but
> the tag. Upon finding one, you read the next line (which contains the first
> and last name) and check it for the name you're looking for.
>
> A very crude example to get you going:
>
> f = open("file", "rb")
> lines = f.readlines()
> f.close()
>
> for i in range(len(lines)):
>     line = lines[i]
>     if line.strip() == "<name>":
>         # Aha, found one
>         nextline = lines[i+1]
>         if match(line, NAME):
>             # this record starts at line i, which can be saved
>             # print the rest of the lines
>
> You will have to write the match function yourself, because I don't know
> exactly on what criteria you are searching and matching. Here's a simple
> example:
>
> >>> import string
> >>> def match(line, name):
>         idx = string.find(line.lower(), name.lower())
>         return (idx >= 0)
>
> >>> match("Fred O'Hara", "o'hara")
> 1
> >>> match("John McDouglas", "dougie")
> 0
>
> (Yes, I like to mix the string module and string methods, aside... ;-)
>
> HTH,
>
> --Hans Nowak