To read a line based on string search from a text file

[rkr]

Hi, i want to read a particular string from a text file using autoit. i wish to read it without explicitly opening the text file. the copied string should be then transferred to an excelbook (again, no need to explicitly open the excel book)... 

with reference to my screenshot attached, my input to the  'script'' is going to be 0017-0008, and the script should copy the highlighted two lines from the input file to excel

thanks

[Blaxxun]

You have to provide the format of your textfile so one can define a parsing function.

[FrancescoDiMuro]

@rkr Good morning, and welcome to the AutoIt forum
The best thing I should do is read the content of the file, and then parse it in order to find what you were looking for.
Then, if you match something, you can take the line/lines matched, and paste in a new file.
In the help, look for File* and _File* functions, to have an idea of what they do

Feel free to ask if you need any help!

Francesco

Edited January 18, 2018 by FrancescoDiMuro

[KickStarter15]

@rkr , We can help you if you can provide textfile to parsed and a sample code that we can start with.

To give hint of what FrancescoDiMuro means is this "Local $aSection = IniReadSectionNames(@ScriptDir & "\test.txt")" or "Local $var = IniReadSection(@ScriptDir & "\Testing.txt", $sValue)" and then go for "For $i = 1 To $var[0][0]... Next" to get the array from IniReadSection(). With that maybe you can start checking our help file.

You can start with this.

Local $sValue = InputBox("Testing", "Value to search...", "") ;value to search in text file
Local $var = IniReadSection(@ScriptDir & "\Testing.txt", $sValue)
If @error Then
    MsgBox(4096, "", "Error occurred, probably no INI/TEXT file.")
Else
    For $i = 1 To $var[0][0]
        MsgBox(4096, "", "Key: " & $var[$i][0] & @CRLF & "Value: " & $var[$i][1]) ;display the array
    Next
EndIf

in Text file data is:

[0017-0008]
0017
0008

Or

#include <Array.au3>

Local $readvalue, $aSection = IniReadSectionNames(@ScriptDir & "\test.text")

For $i = 1 To UBound($aSection) - 1
    $readvalue = IniReadSection("test.ini", $aSection[$i])
    If $readvalue[0][0] = 1 And $readvalue[1][0] = "name" And $readvalue[1][1] = "askjfjgkjfd" Then ; input to search in text file, you can also change this to InputBox().
        MsgBox(0, 'Section name is', $aSection[$i]); check if input is correct
        _ArrayDisplay($readvalue, "read"); display the array from $readvalue
    EndIf
Next

in Text file data is:

[123456]
name = asdasdasd
[564665]
name = asdmfkggf
[465468]
name = askjfjgkjfd

Else, let us know further for your needs.

 

KS15

[rkr]

 @KickStarter15, thanks for that detail help.. i tried the code, but i am getting error message - but the file is in the same location  - tried _filecountlines and it worked perfectly - which means the error is not due to lack of access. i am attaching the text file (gaplst.) and the script with this. could you please have a look.. thanks

copychunk.au3

gaplst

[KickStarter15]

@rkr,

Try this and try playing with it.

#include <File.au3>

Dim $array

$file = @ScriptDir & "\gaplst.txt"
$find = InputBox('What To Find', 'Type in below what to search for.' & @CRLF & _
        'Lines that match will be shown.', 'Text To Match', '', 200, 140)
$found = 0
$lines = ''

If $file <> '' And $find <> '' Then
    _FileReadToArray($file, $array)
    For $i = 1 To UBound($array) - 1
        If StringInStr($array[$i], $find) Then
            $array[$i] = ''
            $found += 1
            $lines &= $i & ', '
        EndIf
    Next
    MsgBox(64, 'Done', 'Total lines found = ' & $found & @CRLF & _
            'Searched Line(s)= ' & FileReadLine($file, $lines))
    $sFile = @ScriptDir & '\New.txt'
    $hFile = FileOpen($sFile, $FO_APPEND)
    FileWrite($hFile, FileReadLine($file, $lines)) ; to see if the line is correct
    FileClose($hFile)
Else
    MsgBox(48, 'Error', 'A file was not picked or what to find was cancelled/empty!')
EndIf

Also, as noticed with your text file, member name is not unique it is repeatedly occurring in the text file, so better to search the unique member name to show your input.

Example:

You want yo search for 0017-0008... then it should as this "0017-0008 0017 L2A" to show the data you wanted. I'll check on this later that it can only show the data you wanted but for now, you can play with it.

 

 

KS15

Edited January 19, 2018 by KickStarter15

[rkr]

On 1/19/2018 at 7:21 AM, KickStarter15 said:

@rkr,

Try this and try playing with it.

#include <File.au3>

Dim $array

$file = @ScriptDir & "\gaplst.txt"
$find = InputBox('What To Find', 'Type in below what to search for.' & @CRLF & _
        'Lines that match will be shown.', 'Text To Match', '', 200, 140)
$found = 0
$lines = ''

If $file <> '' And $find <> '' Then
    _FileReadToArray($file, $array)
    For $i = 1 To UBound($array) - 1
        If StringInStr($array[$i], $find) Then
            $array[$i] = ''
            $found += 1
            $lines &= $i & ', '
        EndIf
    Next
    MsgBox(64, 'Done', 'Total lines found = ' & $found & @CRLF & _
            'Searched Line(s)= ' & FileReadLine($file, $lines))
    $sFile = @ScriptDir & '\New.txt'
    $hFile = FileOpen($sFile, $FO_APPEND)
    FileWrite($hFile, FileReadLine($file, $lines)) ; to see if the line is correct
    FileClose($hFile)
Else
    MsgBox(48, 'Error', 'A file was not picked or what to find was cancelled/empty!')
EndIf

Also, as noticed with your text file, member name is not unique it is repeatedly occurring in the text file, so better to search the unique member name to show your input.

Example:

You want yo search for 0017-0008... then it should as this "0017-0008 0017 L2A" to show the data you wanted. I'll check on this later that it can only show the data you wanted but for now, you can play with it.

 

 

KS15

thanks a lot KS15, that was to the point..helped me

[KickStarter15]

On 1/21/2018 at 2:23 PM, rkr said:

thanks a lot KS15, that was to the point..helped me

I want to help you but not much that I can do with your application. Maybe there are other coder here that knows how to deal with this.

As for the head start, you can check my code below. Note: Member name is unique and as you've noticed, I added letter 'a' in member number '0017-0008a' to see if the code worked (attached). Take a test on this:

First code is to loop thru your text file and find all the occurrences of the searched number.

#include <File.au3>

Dim $array, $sLine

$file = @ScriptDir & "\gaplst.txt"
$find = InputBox('What To Find', 'Type in below what to search for.' & @CRLF & _
        'Member Number:', 'Text To Match', '', 200, 140)
$found = 0
$lines = ''

If $file <> '' And $find <> '' Then
    _FileReadToArray($file, $array)
    For $i = 1 To UBound($array) - 1
        If StringInStr($sLine, $find) And Not $iValid Then
            $iValid = 1
            ContinueLoop
        EndIf
        If StringInStr($array[$i], $find) Then
            $array[$i] = ''
            $found += 1
            $lines &= $i & ', '
            $sLine = MsgBox(4, 'Done', 'Total lines found = ' & $found & @CRLF & _
                  'Searched Line(s)= ' & FileReadLine($file, $i) & @CRLF & @CRLF & _
                  'Proceed searching.')
            $sFile = @ScriptDir & '\New.txt'
            $hFile = FileOpen($sFile, $FO_APPEND)
            $sLine = FileReadLine($hFile)
            FileWrite($hFile, FileReadLine($file, $i) & @CRLF)
            FileClose($hFile)
         ElseIf $sLine = 7 Then
           Exit
        EndIf
    Next
   Else
    MsgBox(48, 'Error', 'A file was not picked or what to find was cancelled/empty!')
EndIf

 

The next code is to get what you need to be searched but again it needs to be unique like letter "a" was added in the searched number. ConsoleWrite() will show you the results.

expandcollapse popup

#include <File.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

Dim $array

$find = InputBox('What To Find', 'Type in below what to search for.' & @CRLF & _
        'Member Number:', 'Text To Match', '', 200, 140)

Global $file = @ScriptDir & "\Testing.txt", $find
Global $iLine = 1, $sLine = '', $iValid = 0
Global $hFile = FileOpen($file)

$found = 0
$lines = ''

If $hFile = -1 Then
    MsgBox(0,'ERROR','Unable to open file for reading.')
    Exit 1
EndIf
If $file <> '' And $find <> '' Then
    _FileReadToArray($file, $array)
    For $i = 1 To UBound($array) - 1
        If StringInStr($array[$i], $find) Then
            Global $iLine = 0, $sLine = '', $iValid = 0
            $array[$i] = ''
            $found += 1
            $lines &= $i & ', '
            ConsoleWrite(FileReadLine($file, $i) & @CRLF)
        EndIf
    Next
   Else
    MsgBox(48, 'Error', 'A file was not picked or what to find was cancelled/empty!')
EndIf

; do a loop to locate the next line of $find
While 1
    $iLine += 1
    $sLine = FileReadLine($hFile)
    If @error = -1 Then ExitLoop

    ; test the line for the $search string until the flag $iValid is set
    If StringInStr($sLine, $find) And Not $iValid Then
        $iValid = 1
        ContinueLoop
    EndIf

    If $iValid Then
        $iValid += 1
        ConsoleWrite($sLine & @CRLF) ; To check if the search lines are correct. NOTE: It should be unique, else I have nothing to do.
        If $iValid > 5 Then ExitLoop
    EndIf
WEnd
FileClose($hFile)

Hope you can get an idea with these codes.

 

[rkr]

thanks for all that KS15, just one more doubt.. i stored the following line into an array

0017-0008  0017  l2a  1  -18407.00    5110.90    0.00    0.03    -70735.59

 

i was trying stringsplit to store each of them above as a vairable

ie; $string1 should be 0017-0008,

$string2 =0017,

$string3=l2a,

 $string4=1

$string5=-18407.00 and so on till $string9

 

how do i achieve this as the delimitter in this case is not a constant... in all cases, there will be 'space' between the strings/numbers, however, the number of spaces change depending on the number, sign of number etc.. 

 

thanks for all the help

 

[mikell]

What about the regular expression way ? 

#Include <Array.au3>

$n = "0017-0008"

; get the line to a string
; assuming that in the file, it's the last line containing "0017-0008"
$txt = FileRead("gaplst.txt")
$res1 = StringRegExpReplace($txt, '(?s).*(' & $n & '\N+).*', "$1")
Msgbox(0,"", $res1)

; parse non whitespace sequences to an array
$res2 = StringRegExp($res1, '\S+', 3)
_ArrayDisplay($res2)

 

[KickStarter15]

@rkr,

Use it this way.

_StringSplit()

Func _StringSplit()
    Local $sString = StringSplit("0017-0008 0017 l2a 1 -18407.00 5110.90 0.00 0.03 -70735.59", " ") ; Split the string using the delimiter " " and return the value.

    For $i = 1 To $sString[0]
        MsgBox(0, "", "String [" & $i & "] - " & $sString[$i])
    Next
EndFunc

All you need to do is replace the "$sString" with the line searched from my above posted second code.

[iamtheky]

18 hours ago, rkr said:

i was trying stringsplit to store each of them above as a vairable

$NumberOfVars = _StringSplitToVar("0017-0008 0017 l2a 1 -18407.00 5110.90 0.00 0.03 -70735.59" , " ")

For $k = 1 to $NumberOfVars
    msgbox(0, '' , eval("StringToVar" & $k))
Next


Func _StringSplitToVar($sStr , $delim)
    Local $aString = StringSplit($sStr , $delim)

    For $i = 1 To $aString[0]
        assign("StringToVar" & $i , $aString[$i] , 2)
    Next

    return $aString[0]

EndFunc

 

[rkr]

On 1/23/2018 at 7:38 AM, iamtheky said:

$NumberOfVars = _StringSplitToVar("0017-0008 0017 l2a 1 -18407.00 5110.90 0.00 0.03 -70735.59" , " ")

For $k = 1 to $NumberOfVars
    msgbox(0, '' , eval("StringToVar" & $k))
Next


Func _StringSplitToVar($sStr , $delim)
    Local $aString = StringSplit($sStr , $delim)

    For $i = 1 To $aString[0]
        assign("StringToVar" & $i , $aString[$i] , 2)
    Next

    return $aString[0]

EndFunc

 

u nailed it....thanks.. but the spacing between the numbers are not same...and it varies

Edited January 25, 2018 by rkr
noticed that input is edited

[mikell]

3 hours ago, rkr said:

the spacing between the numbers are not same...and it varies

So, the regex way... because it allows such a variation

$NumberOfVars = _StringSplitToVar("0017-0008 0017 l2a 1 -18407.00 5110.90 0.00 0.03 -70735.59" , "\S+")

For $k = 0 to $NumberOfVars
    msgbox(0, '' , eval("StringToVar" & $k))
Next

Func _StringSplitToVar($sStr , $what_to_get)
    Local $aString = StringRegExp($sStr , $what_to_get, 3)

    For $i = 0 To UBound($aString)-1
        assign("StringToVar" & $i , $aString[$i] , 2)
    Next
    return UBound($aString)-1
EndFunc

 

[rkr]

On ‎1‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 7:38 AM, iamtheky said:

$NumberOfVars = _StringSplitToVar("0017-0008 0017 l2a 1 -18407.00 5110.90 0.00 0.03 -70735.59" , " ")

For $k = 1 to $NumberOfVars
    msgbox(0, '' , eval("StringToVar" & $k))
Next


Func _StringSplitToVar($sStr , $delim)
    Local $aString = StringSplit($sStr , $delim)

    For $i = 1 To $aString[0]
        assign("StringToVar" & $i , $aString[$i] , 2)
    Next

    return $aString[0]

EndFunc

 

thanks buddy, this helped me