comparing data from two .txt files

[Zingzi]

Hello folks,

I am a complete noob at this so forgive up front please.

I have been messing around AutoIT the last few weeks and it has been so much fun! I'm hooked. I needed something light and portable and this fits the bill perfectly. Right now I am using it to gleam data from my network and splitting the data down into two ":" delimited txt files. All data is alphanumeric.

The first txt file contains a data structure like this and is around 400 lines long:

data1:data2

The second txt file contains a data structure like this and also is around 400 lines long:

data2:data3

What I am trying to do, and failing at, is searching the first txt file for data1 to get data2 and then searching the second txt file using data2 to find data3. The end result would be a parsed txt file containing data1:data2:data3.

I am not asking anyone to do this for me but rather point this noob in the right direction.

Thanks

[jchd]

Welcome to the forum,

That's a perfect job for two scripting dictionnaries (use forum's search feature).

[Melba23]

Zingzi,

Welcome to the AutoIt forum.

Nice attitude there - it will help you a lot here!

I would start by reading the files into arrays using _FileReadToArray. Then you can loop through the first file in a For...Next loop using StringInStr to detect the presence of "data1". if it is there you can extract "data2" in a number of ways - perhaps using StringSplit.

Once you have "data2" you repeat the process on the second file to find "data3".

Then you concatenate the 3 bits of data and use FileWrite to add it to a new file.

Give it a try - you know where we are if you run into difficulties.

M23

Edit: Or you can try jchd's idea.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Melba23

[Zingzi]

Thanks for the kick in the right direction M23.

[czardas]

If your files are using delimitered strings you might want to use a two dimensional array. I recently wrote a script which you might find useful. You will need to run the code below. Although it's intended for csv you can set the delimiter to whatever you like.

#include <Array.au3> ; For array display purposes
#include <CSVSplit.au3>
 
Dim $file = FileOpen("test.txt", 0)
If $file = -1 Then ; Check if file opened for reading OK
    MsgBox(0, "Error", "Unable to open file.")
    Exit
EndIf
 
Dim $sDataString = FileRead($file)
FileClose($file)
 
Dim $aArray = _CSVSplit($sDataString, ":") ; Using colon delimiter
_ArrayDisplay($aArray)

Once your data is organized in an array you can loop through each row, and then each column using two nested For loops.

Word of warning, the only problem that could arise is if your file contains double quote characters, since the script was originally designed to be used with csv.

Edit : just fixed an error in the code

Edited November 3, 2011 by czardas

[jchd]

I apologize for laconic post above (I was a little upset with unreliable 3G link that trashed typed text 3 times).

[czardas]

It's given me something to research jchd. There's so much I haven't tried.

[Zingzi]

no worries there jchd.