how can extract delimited data from a text file. . .

JohnnyBlaze

I have several text files with a few thousand lines of delimited text. Each line is formatted as such:

As you can see, the delimiter is the "|" symbol. What I am trying to do is take each line, strip away several of the unwanted fields and store the ones I do need. I would like to eventually insert them into a mysql database, but being that I just started with php I should aim to just put them in a text file first. Any help would be appreciated.

matt_4013

This should give you an idea 🙂

// Get the data from the original file
	//This will split up the file so each line is a row in the array
	$aOrigFile = file($sFileName);

// Open the new file
// "a" for append, write-only
$fp = fopen("/path/to/newfile/", "a");

// Set the field numbers you want to keep in an array, makes it easier later on
$aFields = array(0,1,3,8,12);

// Loop through the file rows
for($x = 0; $x < count($aOrigFile); $x++) {

	// Explode the line into an array using | as a delimiter. 
	// We use trim to strip the newline character at the end
	$aLine = explode("|", trim($aOrigFile[$x]));

	foreach($aFields as $v) {

		// Write the fields you want to a new variable
		$sNewLine .= ($sNewLine == "") ? $aLine[$v] : "|".$aLine[$v];
	}

	// Add the newline character to the end of the string
	$sNewLine .= "\n";

	// Write the new line to the new file
	fwrite($fp, $sNewLine);

	// Clear the new line variable
	unset($sNewLine);
}

// Close the new file
fclose($fp);

JohnnyBlaze

You're one noble peon Matt, thanks for the quick reply.

matt_4013

heh, no problem. By the way, In My Opinion, working with files is a LOT harder than working with databases! If you get the files figured out, MySQL is gonna be a breeze for you 😉

JohnnyBlaze

Couldn't get it to work 🙁 Here's the error I get when I run it : Warning: file("") - Inappropriate ioctl for device in /home/domain/public_html/scripts/read2.php on line 8

Here's the code I'm using :

<?php

// Get the data from the original file

$sFilename=fopen("/home/domain/public_html/scripts/azd.txt","r");

//This will split up the file so each line is a row in the array

$aOrigFile = file($sFileName);



// Open the new file

// "a" for append, write-only

$fp = fopen("/home/domain/public_html/scripts/adf.txt", "a");



// Set the field numbers you want to keep in an array, makes it easier later on

$aFields = array(1,4,5,7);



// Loop through the file rows

for($x = 0; $x < count($aOrigFile); $x++) {



    // Explode the line into an array using | as a delimiter. 

    // We use trim to strip the newline character at the end

    $aLine = explode("|",trim($aOrigFile[$x]));



    foreach($aFields as $v) {



        // Write the fields you want to a new variable

        $sNewLine .= ($sNewLine =="") ? $aLine[$v] : "|".$aLine[$v];

    }



    // Add the newline character to the end of the string

    $sNewLine .= "\n";



    // Write the new line to the new file

    fwrite($fp, $sNewLine);



    // Clear the new line variable

    unset($sNewLine);

}



// Close the new file

fclose($fp);

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

ereptur

The problem is here:

$sFilename=fopen("/home/domain/public_html/scripts/azd.txt","r");

//This will split up the file so each line is a row in the array

$aOrigFile = file($sFileName);

fopen() doesn't return a string, it returns a file pointer to the opened file. file() doesn't take a file pointer for an argument, it takes a string as a path to the file
It should read like this

$sFilename="/home/domain/pubic_html/scripts/azd.txt";
$aOrigFile = file($sFilename);

;

JohnnyBlaze

aha. . . however, it's still giving me an error, I have a feeling it might have to do with the path to the file : Warning: file("") - Inappropriate ioctl for device in /home/domain/public_html/scripts/script3.php on line 15

Here's the script I used :

<?php
// Get the data from the original file

$sFilename="/home/domain/public_html/scripts/azd.txt";

//This will split up the file so each line is a row in the array

$aOrigFile = file($sFileName);

// Open the new file

// "a" for append, write-only

$fp = fopen("/home/domain/public_html/scripts/adf.txt", "a");

// Set the field numbers you want to keep in an array, makes it easier

later on

$aFields = array(3,5,7);

// Loop through the file rows

for($x = 0; $x < count($aOrigFile); $x++) {

// Explode the line into an array using | as a delimiter.

// We use trim to strip the newline character at the end

$aLine = explode("|",trim($aOrigFile[$x]));

foreach($aFields as $v) {

// Write the fields you want to a new variable

$sNewLine .= ($sNewLine =="") ? $aLine[$v] : "|".$aLine[$v];

}

// Add the newline character to the end of the string

$sNewLine .= "\n";

// Write the new line to the new file

fwrite($fp, $sNewLine);

// Clear the new line variable

unset($sNewLine);

}

// Close the new file

fclose($fp);

whadya think?

matt_4013

Are there any symbolic links in your path?

JohnnyBlaze

😕 Im not sure what symbolic links are but thats the absolute path to the file. . .

matt_4013

Ahhhh, I figured it 😉 It's one of those really really simple things 😉

$sFilename and $sFileName are 2 different things 🙂 Variables are case sensitive! 🙂