setting variables after data file record match?

[rtb1]

I have a data file than contains 4 variables seperated by “:” for each record, like

Mark:25:male:sports

To open the file I use:

open (data, &quot;<$file&quot or &error(&quot;Unable to open the data file&quot;
@data=<data>;
close(data);

What I would like to do is check the first variable of each record against a variable $check1. If they match I would like to set the following three variables of this record to the corresponding values. The result of this for the example above would be:

If $check1= “Mark”

$check2 = “24”
$check3 = “male”
$check4 = “sports”

Could some body show me what I should add to the code above to accomplish this?

Thanks,
[sig][/sig]

 

[damann]

Try this:

while (<data>) {
chomp();
if (^/Mark/) {
($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
}
}

Let me know if there are any problems with this... [sig][/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Thanks damann, but it resulted in Internal Errors. (opening and closing the file is ok).
I also tried to replace Mark for $name but didn't help.

This is the script:

open (data, &quot;<$file&quot or &error(&quot;Unable to open the data file&quot;
@data=<data>;
close(data);
while (<data>) {
chomp();
if (^/Mark/) {
($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
}
}

Any ideas? [sig][/sig]

 

[damann]

you need to remove @data=<data> and replace it with the code I added.. [sig][/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Ok, sorry for this Perl is still new to me. But it still gives an Internal Error with your code in between:

open (data, &quot;<$passfile&quot or &error(&quot;Unable to open the data file&quot;
while (<data>) {
chomp();
if (^/$Mark/) {
($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
}
}
close(data); [sig][/sig]

 

[MikeLacey]

hi there,

you need to put the ^ character *inside* the match thingies, like this:

$check1= 'Mark';
open (data, &quot;<$passfile&quot or &error(&quot;Unable to open the data file&quot;
while (<data>) {
chomp();
if (/^$check1/) {
($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
}
}
close(data);

The ^ does something called &quot;anchoring&quot;.

When you say something like /$check1/ you're saying &quot;look for the string in $check1 in the Perl variable $_ (which automatically gets filled in this kind of while loop)

When you say /^$check1/ the ^ anchors the search of $_ to the *beginning* of $_ -- so it will match this string:

'Mark Latham'

but not:

'Latham, Mark'

or anything else not beginning with the contents of $check1. [sig]<p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br> [/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Yes, that worked and thanks for explaining things aswell.

So if I would skip ^. And I would search for 'Latham', it would find 'Mark Latham'. Will it also find 'lathamandmore'?

Well I'm going to experiment a bit with this although it is not really necessary for this script but nice to know and to learn from! [sig][/sig]

 

[MikeLacey]

rtb

sort of -- if you skip the ^ it *will* find 'Mark Latham' and 'Lathamandmore -- but not 'lathamandmore', it's a case sensitive thing.

oh and no problem, a pleasure.
[sig]<p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br> [/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Actually it is not doing what I would like to,

The values of the four variables are always the values of the last record so instead of setting the other variables only when $check1 matches the first field it is setting the values in each record and shows those of the last! My quess? [sig][/sig]

 

[MikeLacey]

add this, so that you can see what it's doing

if (/^$check1/) {
[tab]print;
[tab]($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
}
[sig]<p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br> [/sig]

 

[rtb1]

I changed the way of setting $check1 and now it seems to work correctly, although I can't see why it choose to set the four variables for each record initially.

Thanks anyway for the tip,

Raoul

[sig][/sig]

 

[rtb1]

I run into a new problem. Matching a variable with the first field works now but how do you match a variable with the third field of a record? [sig][/sig]

 

[shail]

hi rtb1,

one can construct /^(\w*)\w*)\w*)\w*)$/ would give u $1=Mark $2=25 $3=male $4=sports

ofcourse nothing stops u from ($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/); first

and then match each check (1|2|3|4) == _whatever_var

hope this helps..

-shail



[sig][/sig]

 

[MikeLacey]

($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
if($check3 =~ /matchstring/){
.
.
.
}
[sig]<p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br> [/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Ok, that was a stupid question, thanks for being patient! [sig][/sig]

 

[rtb1]

As you might have gathered I am a newbie in this field who’s experimenting a bit.

The last action (the match for field 3) might result in a number of matches.

How do I create an array of all the first fields of each record that match this third field and how do I access each item of the array if I would like to print that particular item or something like that?

What I would like to achieve is check the data file for matches in field 3 and create a form with a combobox with all the names ($check1) inside it that match on field 3.

raoul
[sig][/sig]

 

[MikeLacey]

Hi Raoul,

Can't help you with the HTML stuff, as I know as much about that as a pig does about Sunday, but try this:

my @match_array;
my $array_elemnt;

while... { # as you work through the file

[tab]($check1, $check2, $check3, $check4) = split(/:/);
[tab]push @match_array, $_ if $check3 =~ /matchstring/;
}

# and then, to work through the array
foreach $array_elemnt (@match_array){
# and your code goes here...
}
[sig]<p>Mike<br><a href=mailto:michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com>michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.cargill.com/>

Cargill's Corporate Web Site</a><br> [/sig]

 

[rtb1]

Thanks Mike, I will try this,

raoul [sig][/sig]