Txt File To 2-column Array

[CyberSlug]

I have a tex tfile with some number of lines in the following format:

FunctionName [tab] SyntaxSpec

I'd like to read this file into a two-column array as efficiently as possible.

My Ideas:

1) Require user to put the line count at the very top of the text file.

2) Read the once to get the line count, and a second time to fill the array.

Any better ideas?

[Jon]

I'd count the lines first, as long as the file is not that big it will probably fit into cache so the second read will be quick.

[CyberSlug]

Darn. I was hoping you'd say:

I saw this post and thought, waa?? We can't even ReDim an array?? How did that happen

Thanks anyway, Jon

[Valik]

Dim a large amount, create grow() and shrink() functions. If you fill the initial size, grow() it to 1.5 or whatever you feel, then once you've read the entire file, you can use shrink() to bring it back down so you don't waste memory.

This will be a fairly expensive operation in memory as both grow() and shrink() will have to copy stuff. But I think that should be faster than doing the file operation twice.

grow() - Basically ReDim, except it'll have to work on multi-dimensional arrays, which my ReDim function doesn't.

shrink() - Either loop through the array looking for "uninitialized" data to mark the end, or pass it a value to specify the new size. This works like grow(), it copies all elements in the original array till its told to stop.

The simple way is obviously to specify the number of lines in the file at the top.

[Valik]

Oooh, I forgot about cacheing....

[CyberSlug]

I could change the _FileReadToArray to use both @TAB and @LF as delimiters. Reult is array with odd elements as the FunctionName and even elements [except elt 0] as the SyntaxSpecs.

[scriptkitty]

If your file is actually small enough, you can use StringSplit to dimention it

; test how big $x can get
$x=""
$file = FileOpen("testread.txt", 0)
If $file = -1 Then
    MsgBox(0, "Error", "Unable to open file.")
    Exit
EndIf
While 1
    $line = FileReadLine($file)
    If @error = -1 Then ExitLoop
If $x="" Then
$x=$line
Else
$x=$x&"|"&$line
EndIf
Wend
FileClose($file)
$lines=StringSplit($x,"|")
dim $out[$lines[0]+1][2]
For $i=1 To $lines[0]
    $out[$i][0]=StringLeft($lines[$i], StringInStr($lines[$i], chr(9))-1)
    $out[$i][1]=StringTrimLeft($lines[$i],StringInStr($lines[$i], chr(9)  ))
MsgBox(1,"Line "&$i&" of "&$lines[0],$out[$i][0]&@CRLF&$out[$i][1])
Next

Other approach:

dim $x[10000]
$a=0
$file = FileOpen("testread.txt", 0)
If $file = -1 Then
    MsgBox(0, "Error", "Unable to open file.")
    Exit
EndIf
While 1
   $line = FileReadLine($file)
    If @error = -1 Then ExitLoop
$a=$a+1
$x[$a]=$line
Wend
FileClose($file)

dim $out[$a+1][2]
For $i=1 To $a
    $out[$i][0]=StringLeft($x[$i], StringInStr($x[$i], chr(9))-1)
    $out[$i][1]=StringTrimLeft($x[$i],StringInStr($x[$i], chr(9)  ))
MsgBox(1,"Line "&$i&" of "&$a,$out[$i][0]&@CRLF&$out[$i][1])
Next
dim $x[1]

Or a quick made redim()

I like $x[0] to basically be Ubound($x)

dim $x[10000]
$a=0
$file = FileOpen("testread.txt", 0)
If $file = -1 Then
    MsgBox(0, "Error", "Unable to open file.")
    Exit
EndIf
While 1
   $line = FileReadLine($file)
    If @error = -1 Then ExitLoop
$a=$a+1
$x[$a]=$line
Wend
FileClose($file)
$y=redim($x,$a)
MsgBox(1,Ubound($y),Ubound($x))
MsgBox(1,$a,$y[$a]) 

Func redim($_x,$_amount)
Dim $y[$_amount+1]
$y[0]=$_amount
For $i=1 To $_amount
$y[$i]=$_x[$i]
Next
Return $y
EndFunc

Anyway I could use a redim(),Grow() and shrink(), if you want to put them in

Just a quick example of sloppy things that seem to work. I didn't do the dual array work on the last example.

[CyberSlug]

Ah, that's what I was looking for. Thanks, Scriptkitty

P.S. You can use @Tab instead of Chr(9)

[scriptkitty]

Old habit from Access programming. I am just getting used to @crlf.