Adding a delimiter inbetween number characters and letter characters

[toomanyjoes]

Hi,

I just posted a message on deleting newline characters in perl.


I used this code to do that:
perl -pe "chomp;print $/ if $.>1 and /^\d/" file1 > file2

I ended up with a new text file in this format:

1sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext
....

Now what I want is to add a delimiter inbetween the number at the
beginning of the line and the text. The number however could be any
number of digits long. So for instance if I use a "/" as a delimiter
the text would look like this.

1/sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2/sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8/sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext

This way I can go from a text file to Excel and then into a database.
Could anyone help me with this?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Paul Lalli]

I ended up with a new text file in this format:

1sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
sampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext
...

Now what I want is to add a delimiter inbetween the number at the
beginning of the line and the text. The number however could be any
number of digits long. So for instance if I use a "/" as a delimiter
the text would look like this.

1/sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2/sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8/sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletex
tsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext

This way I can go from a text file to Excel and then into a database.
Could anyone help me with this?

This is a trivial operation using regular expressions and
search-and-replace. I suggest you read up:

perldoc perlretut
perldoc perlrequick
perldoc perlre

Paul Lalli

 

[toomanyjoes]

Anyone can feel free to post helpful messages despite Paul Lalli's
post. I realize it is trivial, I'm not a Perl programmer, and I am
reading up, but my project is waiting for this one simple task to be
completed before moving on so the faster I figure this out the better.
Paul if its so easy why not code to do it? I suggest you read up on
newsgroup etiquette.

 

[toomanyjoes]

Anyone can feel free to post helpful messages despite Paul Lalli's
post. I realize it is trivial, I'm not a Perl programmer, and I am
reading up, but my project is waiting for this one simple task to be
completed before moving on so the faster I figure this out the better.
Paul if its so easy why not post code to do it? I suggest YOU read up
on newsgroup etiquette.

 

[Scott Bryce]

Anyone can feel free to post helpful messages despite Paul Lalli's
post. I realize it is trivial, I'm not a Perl programmer, and I am
reading up, but my project is waiting for this one simple task to be
completed before moving on so the faster I figure this out the better.
Paul if its so easy why not post code to do it? I suggest YOU read up
on newsgroup etiquette.

Paul gave you good advice. You can learn more from the docs than you can
learn from blindly copying code. Paul showed you exactly where to read
in the docs.

Perhaps you should read the posting guidelines for this group. Now that
you have insulted Paul, you are probably on your own.

 

[Paul Lalli]

Anyone can feel free to post helpful messages despite Paul Lalli's
post.

My post was extremely helpful.

I realize it is trivial, I'm not a Perl programmer, and I am
reading up, but my project is waiting for this one simple task to be
completed before moving on

The failure of your project coordinator to hire correct staff is not
justification for asking this group to do your project's work for you.

so the faster I figure this out the better.

The better for you, perhaps. The better for the rest of the people
reading this group, not so much, no.

Paul if its so easy why not post code to do it?

Because I *know* how to do it. I am not the one who needs to learn.

I suggest YOU read up on newsgroup etiquette.

Really? Would that etiquette include such things as posting the same
message twice? Would it include not reading the posting guidelines for
the group? Would it include not quoting the material your are
responding to?

Please do go read those guidelines. Then try to understand that this is
not a group where it is acceptable to ask "Someone please do this for
me." This is a group where beginners are encouraged to ask for help or
understanding when it comes to *learning* the Perl language.

Paul Lalli

 

[toomanyjoes]

In spite of Scotts message anyone can feel free to post useful
information. Scott, I already knew about those references. I've been
going through them. My post did not violate any rules for this group, I
have read those too. I am not new to newgroups, only to the Perl
language. You guys could make someone new here a little more
comfortable posting questions. Rather than more people telling me how
little I know about Perl, I would be much oblidged to anyone who can
post a little snippet of code for me.

 

[toomanyjoes]

In spite of Scotts message anyone can feel free to post useful
information. Scott, I already knew about those references. I've been
going through them. My post did not violate any rules for this group, I
have read those too. I am not new to newgroups, only to the Perl
language. You guys could make someone new here a little more
comfortable posting questions. Rather than more people telling me how
little I know about Perl, I would be much oblidged to anyone who can
post a little snippet of code for me.

 

[toomanyjoes]

I'm not going to let my temper get the better of me Paul, like you just
did. Showing the passion of your emotions is very unattractive in
groups like this. Perhaps my "project coordinator" hired the wrong
"staff", true. But the facts are:

1) I have to get this done
2) Your post was of no help to me
3) I still need help

I hope you will accept an apology for insulting you. I have read the
guidelines for this group. I've been posting on these groups for over
10 years back when it was DejaNews and it has and probably will remain
a forum to ask people to write code for you, many people learn this way.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

In spite of Scotts message anyone can feel free to post useful
information.

You can keep parroting that cute little catch-phrase of yours all you want -
the fact remains that the people you're berating *did* post useful
information.

Frankly, given your attitude, I'd imagine it's the last useful information
you'll get from this group.

You guys could make someone new here a little more
comfortable posting questions.

Making people comfortable posting questions not our goal here. Our goal is
to make people comfortable with the docs, so they don't have to post
questions.

To put it another way, if you've come looking for free fish, you're in the
wrong place. We give fishing lessons here.

I would be much oblidged to anyone who can
post a little snippet of code for me.

If you want code written to spec, email me privately for my consulting
rates.

sherm--

 

[Scott Bryce]

My post did not violate any rules for this group, I have read those
too.

But the posting guidelines said:

 

[Brian McCauley]

I ended up with a new text file in this format:

1sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext
...

Now what I want is to add a delimiter inbetween the number at the
beginning of the line and the text. The number however could be any
number of digits long. So for instance if I use a "/" as a delimiter
the text would look like this.

1/sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
2/sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
3/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
8/sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
9/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
15/sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext

perl -pe 's/^(\d+)/$1\//'

Could anyone help me with this?

Note I have helped you despite and not because of your complaints at
being told to RTFM.

 

[Paul Lalli]

I'm not going to let my temper get the better of me Paul, like you just
did.

You continue to not following the posting guidelines, so I don't know
exactly what you're referring to. I'm not aware of exhibiting any
temper in my posts.

Showing the passion of your emotions is very unattractive in
groups like this. Perhaps my "project coordinator" hired the wrong
"staff", true. But the facts are:

1) I have to get this done

Which remains not our problem.

2) Your post was of no help to me

Of course it was. It just wasn't the help you wanted.

3) I still need help

You've been given help. You choose not to accept it.

I hope you will accept an apology for insulting you.

You can't offern an apology for insulting me in the same message in
which you continue to insult me. It doesn't work that way. Thanks for
the attempt, however.

I have read the guidelines for this group.

And yet, have chosen not to follow them. That's actually worse than not
reading them, in my mind.

I've been posting on these groups for over
10 years back when it was DejaNews

I don't know which groups you're referring to, but they don't include
this one.

and it has and probably will remain
a forum to ask people to write code for you, many people learn this

way.

No. It isn't, and it won't. Please search the archives of this group.
See how well previous requests for "write this for me" have been
received.

If you want code written for you, I'd be happy to help. Feel free to
respond privately and we can discuss my professional rates.

If you want to learn, I have already given you pointers on where to
start. I'd be happy to help you understand that documentation, or to
help you correct any attempts you've made, free of charge.

Paul Lalli

 

[Scott Bryce]

I have read the guidelines for this group.

But you don't follow them.

I've been posting on these groups for over
10 years back when it was DejaNews

These groups have NEVER been DejaNews. DejaNews was an archive of these
groups.

and it has and probably will remain
a forum to ask people to write code for you

It never has been.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

I'm not going to let my temper get the better of me Paul

Too late.

Showing the passion of your emotions is very unattractive

Yes it is - why are you doing it?

2) Your post was of no help to me

Paul told you precisely where to find the answers you need? In what way was
that unhelpful? What did you expect, ready-to-run code written to spec?

I've been posting on these groups for over
10 years back when it was DejaNews

Silly rabbit. This isn't "Google Groups", and it wasn't "DejaNews" - it's
usenet, and those are nothing but web-based front ends for it. Since you're
so fond of Google, try searching for "usenet history" and studying up a bit
before you mouth off.

and it has and probably will remain
a forum to ask people to write code for you

No, that is completely and utterly wrong. This is a forum for people who
want to learn to write their own code. If you want to hire someone to write
code for you, try a group with "jobs" in its name.

sherm--

 

[toomanyjoes]

Ahhhh...Thank you guys. I apologize for this threads explosion, it got
a little out of hand. I just in practice never reply to a post unless I
have the answer so it irks me when others don't follow that practice.
Next time I'll just remain silent. I really thank you guys for your
help.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

I just in practice never reply to a post unless I
have the answer so it irks me when others don't follow that practice.

Paul *did* follow that practice. He told you where you could find the answer
to your question. Quit whining.

sherm--

 

[toomanyjoes]

One last post Sherm, then I'm done. No matter what obscenities you
respond with, and understand this, I'm happy. The code snippet Jim and
Brian gave me worked. Though in the spirit of learning I wouldn't mind
getting a break down of what each portion does, RegEx's confuse me.

But heres what I want to say, and in all logic try to understand,
putting emotions aside. When you ask someone how to do something and
they say "read the manual" in practice that is basically dismissing the
question. It has an arrogant "better than thou" tone to it. Is this
hard to understand? Perhaps Paul didn't understand this and still
doesn't recognize it. Perhaps he didn't even mean it this way, but
anyone who has asked a question and gotten "Pssh, thats easy read the
manual" knows exactly what I mean. First that assumes I haven't read
those docs. Which I am still doing (and was doing before I asked the
question) because I have a few more things I need to do in Perl after
this. But I don't see the harm in posting a question before I know
everything about Perl. Now I realize it is a mortal sin to have any
kind of response to a person on newsgroups who basically tells you to
"**** off" without multiple allies otherwise you get a barrage of
emails from that person and his cronies defending him. Thats a mistake
I made. I'm lucky that some people still were willing to help me
because no matter what you say after you have a swarm of enemies
bombarding you with replies, you always come out the bad guy. So thanks
to those who helped. But I just want to make that clear.

 

[Martin Kissner]

In spite of Scotts message anyone can feel free to post useful
information. Scott, I already knew about those references. I've been
going through them. My post did not violate any rules for this group, I
have read those too. I am not new to newgroups, only to the Perl
language. You guys could make someone new here a little more
comfortable posting questions. Rather than more people telling me how
little I know about Perl, I would be much oblidged to anyone who can
post a little snippet of code for me.

I guess the problem is not, that you know little about perl.
The problem might rather be, that you don't know how to ask the right
questions.
Maybe this page can help you understand:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

However, here is some code for you.
Since I'm new to Perl, too, this is certanly not the best way to solve
your problem, but it works.
I took your OP, to analyze the problem by myself and practice coding.

1 #!/usr/bin/perl
2
3 use warnings;
4 use strict;
5 my $lastline="";
6 my @lastline;
7
8 while (<DATA>)
9 {
10 chomp ($lastline) if (/^\D/);
11 &printline;
12 $lastline = $_;
13 }
14 &printline;
15
16 sub printline
17 {
18 if ($lastline =~ /^\d+/)
19 {
20 @lastline = split /(^\d+)/, $lastline;
21 print "$lastline[1]\t<-->\t";
22 print "--$lastline[2]";
23 }
24 else
25 {
26 print $lastline;
27 }
28 }
29
30 __DATA__
31 1sampletextsampletextsamplet22tsampletextsampletextsampletext
32 2sampletextsampletextsampletextsam56etextsampletextsampletext
33 3sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
34 8sampletextsampletextsampletex765mpletextsampletextsampletext
35 9sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
36 15sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
37 sampletextsampletextsampletextsample324tsampletextsampletext
38 18sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
39 sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
40 sampletextsampletext566pletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
41 22sampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletextsampletext
42 1sampletextsampletextsamplete467ampletextsampletextsampletext

 

[Sherm Pendley]

One last post Sherm, then I'm done. No matter what obscenities you
respond with

Obscenities? What are you talking about? *You* dropped the "F-Bomb" in your
post - I haven't done anything of the sort.

The code snippet Jim and Brian gave me worked.

Did you read their posts? They both commented on your bad attitude, and
indicated that they're being charitable and helping you despite of it.

But heres what I want to say, and in all logic try to understand,
putting emotions aside.

Um... what emotions? Seriously. You're throwing the tantrum here, not me.
I'm trying to explain to you how your behavior will affect the quality and
type of responses you get here. I'm trying to help you - despite your poor
behavior.

When you ask someone how to do something and
they say "read the manual" in practice that is basically dismissing the
question.

Well, it's a good thing Paul didn't say that, now isn't it? He didn't just
dismiss you with "RTFM" - he gave you a nudge in the general direction by
telling you what parts of the manual would be most useful to you.

It has an arrogant "better than thou" tone to it.

Nonsense. I'm pointing you to the *same* docs I learned from. I'm confident
that you can learn from them just as well as I did. If I were arrogant I
wouldn't think that.

anyone who has asked a question and gotten "Pssh, thats easy read the
manual" knows exactly what I mean.

That's not what you got. You got "That's easy with regexes - have a look at
chapter X of the manual to learn about them." It might not have been the
handout you were hoping for, but it *was* a useful push to help get you
started in the right direction.

But I don't see the harm in posting a question before I know
everything about Perl.

No one told you you needed to "know everything" before posting a question.
What we're telling you is that you should make some attempt at solving the
problem yourself before asking for help.

There's a difference between asking for help and asking for a handout. You
asked for a handout, and this group strongly discourages that.

Now I realize it is a mortal sin to have any
kind of response to a person on newsgroups who basically tells you to
"**** off" without multiple allies otherwise you get a barrage of
emails from that person and his cronies defending him. Thats a mistake
I made.

Isn't that exactly the sort of emotional, obscenity-laced outburst you
imagined I was guilty of?

I'm lucky that some people still were willing to help me

Yes you were. Do you intend to depend on good luck in the future? If so, I
hope it works out well for you.

because no matter what you say after you have a swarm of enemies
bombarding you with replies, you always come out the bad guy.

It *does* matter what you say. That's the point of all this. If you had read
the suggested docs and tried to write some code, then come back here and
said "here's what I've tried so far - I expected it to do X, but it did Y
instead" there would have been no problem. You'd have been up to your
eyebrows in comments about your code, instead of comments about your
attitude.

Instead you complained that you didn't get the handout you expected.
Naturally, several people - those you imagine as "enemies" - tried to
explain to you that this isn't the place to come asking for handouts.

So thanks to those who helped.

You're quite welcome.

sherm--