Gary Stainburn wrote: > > Hi folks. > > I'm trying to locate the UK postcode located somewhere inside an address, > extract it, and place it in a specific position. The data file I'm > processing is generated by a COBOL file and is fixed-length format text. > > I've almost got it, but as you can see from the output, it's not quite right. > The split's happening after the first letter not before it. > > The postcode is of the format XX99 9XX where the space is optional and the > first 'XX' and the '99' may be single character. The 9XX is always 1 digit > followed by 2 letters. > > e.g. WF10 5QQ, M5 5QQ, > TT$ pcoderun <slexport.txt 2>&1 >slexport.gps|head > in=' LS8 5QP','' out=' L','S8 5QP' > in=' LS9 8HE','' out=' L','S9 8HE' > in=' LS28 6QW','' out=' L','S28 6QW' > in=' LS28 7UH','' out=' L','S28 7UH' > in='CO DURHAM DL1 2BL','' out='CO DURHAM D','L1 2BL' > in=' LS11 7NW','' out=' L','S11 7NW' > in=' BS2 0EQ','' out=' B','S2 0EQ' > in='LEEDS, LS12 6BN','' out='LEEDS, L','S12 6BN' > in=' LS11 0DS.','' out=' L','S11 0DS' > in='PRESTON, PR5 8AT.','' out='PRESTON, P','R5 8AT' > TT$cat pcoderun > #!/usr/bin/perl -w > > my $template="A40A30A30A30A30A10A9"; # matches COBOL file descripter > while(<STDIN>) { > my ($head,$addr1,$addr2,$addr3,$addr4,$pcode,$rest)=unpack($template,$_); > if ($addr4) { > splitit(\$addr4,\$pcode); > } elsif ($addr3) { > splitit(\$addr3,\$pcode); > } elsif ($addr2) { > splitit(\$addr2,\$pcode); > } > print pack($template,$head,$addr1,$addr2,$addr3,$addr4,$pcode,$rest),"\n"; > } > > sub splitit { > my ($line,$pcode)=@_; > if ($$line=~/^(.*)(\D{1,2}\d{1,2}\s{0,1}\d\D{2})\s*/) { > print STDERR "in='$$line','$$pcode' out='$1','$2'\n"; > $$line=$1; > $$pcode=$2; > } > }
Along with the other wonderful suggestions, you could write it like this: my $template = 'A40A30A30A30A30A10A9'; # matches COBOL file descripter while ( <STDIN> ) { my ( $head, $addr1, $addr2, $addr3, $addr4, $pcode, $rest ) = unpack $template, $_; for ( $addr4, $addr3, $addr2, $addr1 ) { if ( s/\s*([A-Z]{1,2}\d\d?\s?\d[A-Z]{2})\s*$// ) { $pcode = $1; last; } } print pack($template,$head,$addr1,$addr2,$addr3,$addr4,$pcode,$rest),"\n"; } :-) John -- use Perl; program fulfillment -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]