[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Cameron Laird) writes: > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Tim Chase <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> I hope this is the right place to ask, but I am trying to come up with >>> a way to parse each line of a file. Unfortunately, the file is neither >>> comma, nor tab, nor space delimited. Rather, the character locations >>> imply what field it is. >>> >>> For example: >>> >>> The first ten characters would be the record number, the next >>> character is the client type, the next ten characters are a volume, >>> and the next three are order type, and the last character would be an >>> optional type depending on the order type. >> >>Sounds like you could do something like >> >> recno_idx = slice(0,10) >> client_idx = slice(10, 11) >> volume_idx = slice(11,11+10) >> order_type_idx = slice(11+10, 11+10+3) > . > . > . > !? That seems to me confusingly far from a working solution, > at least in comparison to > > recno_idex = the_line[0:10] > client_idx = the_line[10:11] > ... > > What am I missing?
I suppose in your case the slice objects will be re-created for each line, whereas with Tim's solution they are created once and for all before the parsing starts. This may result in speedier parsing. -- Arnaud -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
