Re: creating a list from a inconsistent text file

[Kam-Hung Soh]

On Fri, 02 May 2008 23:47:11 +1000, Jetus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

On May 2, 7:19 am, Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

On Fri, 02 May 2008 04:14:47 -0700, Jetus wrote:
> I have a comma delimited file that is separated by comma's, and then
> sometimes by ","

> c:\temp\05-06-08\Sale1,659 CECIL,"659 CECIL,40211",
> 1,659,CECIL,AVENUE,LOUISVILLE,40211,"$65,276.78 "
> c:\temp\05-06-08\Sale2,637 SOUTH 27TH,"637 SOUTH 27TH,40211",
> 2,637,SOUTH 27TH,STREET,LOUISVILLE,40211,"$45,456.95 "
> c:\temp\05-06-08\Sale3,2709 ELLIOT,"2709 ELLIOT,40211",
> 3,2709,ELLIOT,AVENUE,LOUISVILLE,40211,"$49,349.66 "

The items are always delimited by commas but some items themselves contain

a comma and therefore are enclosed in double quotes.  So it's not
inconsistent.

> How do I convert that line into a list?

Use the `csv` module in the standard library.

Ciao,
        Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

Hello Marc;
Thanks for the input! I am worried about the comma in the "" data
items, how do I tell Python to look for the "" data first, then use
the comma separator?

The reader in the csv package automatically handles double-quoted fields.

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Kam-Hung Soh <a href="http://kamhungsoh.com/blog";>Software Salariman</a>
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