Re: Converting fixed record length files to pipe delimited

[unixwzrd]

I had a similar situation where I had a fixed length file generated on a mainframe. I actually used this to do some edits and inserted rows into an Oracle database, but I've shortened it a bit here and used joining the record with a "pipe":

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;

my @record_layout = qw(
   state_code
   place_code
   state_alpha_code
   class_code
   place_name
   county_code
   county_name
   zip_code
);

my %field_types = (
   state_code        => 'A2',
   place_code        => 'A5',
   state_alpha_code  => 'A2',
   class_code        => 'A2',
   place_name        => 'A52',
   county_code       => 'A3',
   county_name       => 'A22',
   zip_code          => 'A5'
);
my %fips_data;

my $fips_template = join(" ", @field_types{@record_layout});

while(my $fips_line = <>){
   @fips_data{@record_layout} = unpack($fips_template, $fips_line);
   next if $fips_data{'state_code'} == 52;
   print STDOUT join('|', @fips_data{@record_layout});
}

Update: This post and its follow-up keep getting panned. It would be nice to get some constructive criticism rather than watching the numbers continue to fall on this, after all I would like to know what's wrong or could be done better so I can grow as a Perl programmer.

Thanks,
Mike

"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen... and stupidity."
Harlan Ellison

[unixwzrd]

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention, I was only using "A" data types, but this method would work for any type of fixed records with binary or other embedded data types in it, just simply change the field types for the record layout...

Mike

"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen... and stupidity."
Harlan Ellison