Hi, I've just started to learn programming and was told this was a good place to ask questions :)
Where I work, we receive large quantities of data which is currently all printed on large, obsolete, dot matrix printers. This is a problem because the replacement parts will not be available for much longer. So I'm trying to create a program which will capture the fixed width text file data and convert as well as sort the data (there are several different report types) into a different format which would allow it to be printed normally, or viewed on a computer. I've been reading up on the Regular Expression module and ways in which to manipulate strings however it has been difficult to think of a way in which to extract an address. Here's an example of the raw text that I have to work with: ADDRESS INFORMATION/RENSEIGNEMENTS SUR L'ADRESSE: **************************** FOR/POUR AL/LA: 20 CORR TYP: A1B 2C3 P:3 CHNGD/CHANG LANG: E CONS/REGR: ####### MRS XXX X XXXXXXX ### XXXXXXXXX ST DD TYP: P:6 CHNGD/CHANG MONCTON NB LANG: E CONS/REGR: ####### MRS XXX X XXXXXXX ##### #### ###-###-# ADDRESS INFORMATION/RENSEIGNEMENTS SUR L'ADRESSE: **************************** FOR/POUR AL/LA: 30 BOTH TYP: A1B 2D3 P:3 CHNGD/CHANG LANG: E CONS/REGR: ####### MISS XXXX XXXXX ### XXXXXXXX ST MONCTON NB EARNINGS VITAL INFORMATION/RENSEIGNEMENTS ESSENTIELS SUR LES GAINS: *********** (the # = any number, and the X's are just regular text) I would like to extract the address information, but the two different text objects on the right hand side are difficult to remove. I think it would be easier if I could just extract a fixed square of information, but I don't have a clue as to how to go about it. If anyone could give me suggestions as to methods in sorting this type of data, it would be appreciated. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list