[Tutor] Suggestions Please

[Phillip Pugh]

I am trying to decide if Python is the right toolset for me. I do a lot of data analytics. Over the years I have used a lot of SQL and VBA, but the data sources are getting bigger. I am thinking Python may be what I need to use, but I am in the early stages of getting to know Python.  Can you point me to a really good, intuitive resource for getting up to speed with data. Something that would help with the following.

I have one text file that is 500,000 + records..  I need to read the file, move "structured" data around and then write it to a new file. The txt file has several data elements and is 300 characters per line. I am only interested in the first two fields. The first data element is 19 characters. The second data element is 6 characters. I want to rearrange the data by moving the 6 characters data in front of the 19 characters data and then write the 25 character data to a new file.  

I have spent some time digging for the correct resource, However being new to Python and the syntax for the language makes it slow going.  I would like to see if I can speed up the learning curve. Hopefully  can get some results quickly then I will know how deep I want to go into Python.

Thanks in advance

Phillip