Parsing a Messy Text File for values

[greycoin]

Hello all, thank you for taking the time to read and/or reply!

 

I have been charged with writing a macro that will parse a somewhat messy text file automatically generated by a program in search of a few values. All of the fields are listed first, i.e.: “Invoice Number Payment Delivery Method Expiration Date etc.” (all separated by tabs) and the actual values for each field are listed at the end in the same respective order (i.e.: 3487242 USPS 10/13/2011 etc.” . I only need a few of the values out of all this information, but can’t figure out a clean way to do it without being so convoluted as to make the macro insanely long. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you.

[Cory]

I do this thing all the time and there are different tactics depending on the exact circumstances. Perhaps you could post a sample? In this case it sounds like using the ASCII File Process feature would be best. You can treat the text as a tab delimited file. Another approach I often use is to simply use the Split command as often the desired text will always appear as the same element. In extreme cases regex via the External Script command works wonders but the concept is fairly advanced for most.

 

Shameless plug: I do this for a living so if you need some help I’m available. Initial phone consultation is free. I believe that spending a few bucks with me can often result in saving you a lot of time experimenting and figuring things out for yourself.

[greycoin]

// temporary sample removed

[greycoin]

I need to gather values beginning at 3756466, but I need more than the numerical values, I also need for example a value with 'Einaudi, Ludovico, 1955-"

[greycoin]

If the problem becomes unsolvable I would certainly give you a call.

[Cory]

I'm sorry but none of your follow up posts make any sense to me.