MAMEWorld Forums - Programming - Batch file processing...

Okay, so on a work computer I have a file directory similar to this:


STATES
  |_ ALABAMA
  |_ ALASKA
  .
  .
  .
  |_ WYOMING

In each folder there are large numbers of "proprietary" binary files, with each file having large amounts of ASCII text inside. The file is named like so: DATA - CITY1.stl. In my example, this will be "Joe Smith - Detroit.stl"

The inside of a file would be similar to so:
...header...
"NAME"="Joe Smith"
"CITY2"="Detroit"
"PHONE"="3015551212"
"IMAGE"=encoded monochrome image
...other fields...
...footer...

I'd like a script/app that goes through the folder, including all subdirectories, extracts the DATA, CITY1, NAME, CITY2 and PHONE fields from each file, and concatenates it all into a CSV file where a sample CSV would look like so:

DATA,CITY1,NAME,CITY2,PHONE
Joe Smith,Detroit,Joe Smith,Detroit,3015551212

The character combination to parse the filename will always be " - ". That's right, whitespace-hyphen-whitespace.

grep should do the trick, as would a Perl script, but it's been a good decade since I've dealt with either.

Anyone kind enough to save me some time? Once I have the feel for it, I should be able to fill in the particular ASCII to hunt for, as far as file data goes, myself.

I _can_ do it myself, but it will just take longer that way. I have a feeling someone here should be able to code this without even realizing it.

For bonus points, insert another field in the CSV that displays "% similar" statistic in comparing CITY1 and CITY2 fields.

In return, you get a tasty pudding snack.

- Stiletto

Edited by Stiletto (03/29/07 08:47 AM)