I want to parse a log that has entries like this: [2009-03-17 07:28:05.545476 -0500] rprt s=d2bpr80d6 m=2 mod=mail cmd=msg module=access rule=x_dynamic_ip action=discard attachments=0 rcpts=1 routes=DL_UK_ALL,NOT_DL_UK_ALL,default_inbound,firewallsafe,mail01_mail02,spfsafe size=4363 guid=291f0f108fd3a6e73a11f96f4fb9e4cd hdr_mid= qid=n2HCS4ks025832 subject="I want to interview you" duration=0.236 elapsed=0.280
the keywords will not always be the same. Also differing log levels will provide a different mix of keywords. This is good enough to get the majority of cases where there is a keyword, a "=" and then a value with no spaces: Group(Word(alphas + "+_-.").setResultsName("keyword") + Suppress (Literal ("=")) + Optional(Word(printables))) Sometimes there is a subject, which is a quoted string. That is easy enough to get with this: dblQuotedString(ZeroOrMore(Word(printables) ) ) My problem is combining them into one expression. Either I wind up with just the subject or I wind up with they keywords and their values, one of which is: subject, '"I' which is clearly not what I want. Do I scan each line twice, first looking for quotes ? Thanks -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list