Why do people keep asking what language to use for certain things in the Python newsgroup? Obviously the answer is going to biased.
Not that it's a bad thing because I love Python, but it doesn't make sense if you honestly want an objective opinion. R ross wrote: > I want to do some tricky text file manipulation on many files, but > have only a little programming knowledge. > > What are the ideal languages for the following examples? > > 1. Starting from a certain folder, look in the subfolders for all > filenames matching *FOOD*.txt Any files matching in each folder should > be copied to a new subfolder within the current folder called EATING > with a new name of *FOOD*COPY.txt > > 2. Process each file as follows: > Here is a simplified example of what I want as input and output. > > ------------------------------------- input > ......................... 'several unknown lines of text file > Get apples from apples shop > Get oranges from oranges shop > Get plums from plums shop > Get pears from pears shop > Eat from apples, oranges, > plums, pears 'whitespace at start of line is unimportant > ......................... 'more unknown lines of text file > Chapter 1 > Several lines of text about apples in here > Chapter 2 > Several lines of text about oranges in here > Chapter 3 > Several lines of text about plums in here > Chapter 4 > Several lines of text about pears in here > > ------------------------------------- output > ......................... 'several unknown lines of text file > Get apples from apples shop > Get oranges from oranges shop > Get plums from plums shop > Get pears from pears shop > Get bagels from bagels shop 'the Get lines... > Get donuts from donuts shop 'can be in any order > Eat from apples, bagels, oranges, > plums, donuts, pears 'whitespace at start of line is unimportant > ......................... 'more unknown lines of text file > Chapter 1 > Several lines of text about apples in here > Chapter 2 > Several lines of text about bagels in here > Chapter 3 > Several lines of text about oranges in here > Chapter 4 > Several lines of text about plums in here > Chapter 5 > Several lines of text about donuts in here > Chapter 6 > Several lines of text about pears in here > > Summary: > I have added two new items to Get; > I have put them into the comma-delimited list after searching for a > particular fruit to put each one after; > The Chapters are renumbered to match their position in the > comma-delimited list. > The "several lines of text" about each new item can be pulled from a > new_foods.txt file (or a bagels.txt and a donuts.txt file). > > My first objective is to process the files as described. > My second objective is to learn the best language for this sort of > text manipulation. The language should run on Windows 98, XP and > Linux. > > Would Python be best, or would a macro-scripting thing like AutoHotKey > work? > I thought about Perl, but think I would learn bad habits and have hard > to read code. > > Thanks, Ross -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
