I'm trying to process a list and I'm stuck. Hopefully someone can help me out here:
I've got a list that is formatted as follows: [Name,job#,jobname,workcode,hours] An example might be: [Bob,07129,projectA,4001,5] [Bob,07129,projectA,5001,2] [Bob,07101,projectB,4001,1] [Bob,07140,projectC,3001,3] [Bob,07099,projectD,3001,2] [Bob,07129,projectA,4001,4] [Bob,07099,projectD,4001,3] [Bob,07129,projectA,4001,2] Now I'd like to consolidate entries that are duplicates. Duplicates meaning entries that share the same Name, job#, jobname and workcode. So for the list above, there are 3 entries for projectA which have a workcode of 4001. (there is a fourth entry for projectA but it's workcode is 5001 and not 4001). So I'd like to end up with a list so that the three duplicate entries are consolidated into one with their hours added up: [Bob,07129,projectA,4001,11] [Bob,07129,projectA,5001,2] [Bob,07101,projectB,4001,1] [Bob,07140,projectC,3001,3] [Bob,07099,projectD,3001,2] [Bob,07099,projectD,4001,3] I've tried doing it with brute force by stepping through each item and checking all the other items for matches, and then trying to build a new list as I go, but that's still confusing me - for instance how can I delete the items that I've already consolidated so they don't get processed again?. I'm not a programmer by trade so I'm sorry if this is a basic computer science question. RQ _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor