[Hidden-tech] Text Manipulation Problem

[Chris Hoogendyk]

I use BBEdit/Text Wrangler to do that sort of thing all the time. You haven't said what the line 
format of the text file is after you copy and paste it. However, basically, you need to know your 
grep patterns and do find/replace. I usually ask it to do one, which I could fix manually if I have 
the pattern wrong, and then ask it to do all when I am confident that I have it right. It may take a 
couple of steps to handle everything.


On 10/21/17 7:34 AM, David Greenberg wrote:
> I have a hard copy list of names, addresses and phone numbers. I can scan to PDF and then copy and 
> paste to a text editor (BBEdit) or other file. I then need to manipulate the text so that I end up 
> with a csv file that can be opened by a spreadsheet program. Tools that I have at my disposal 
> include BBEdit (with Grep), a MAMP stack, NeoOffice (Mac version of OpenOffice) and FileMaker.
>
> Input looks like this:
>
> John Doe
> (413) 111-1111
> 123 First St Greenfield 01301
> Jane Smith
> 456 So Main Ln Greenfield 01301
> Jane Ann Smith
> (413) 222-2222
> 78 Main Ct Greenfield 01301
>
> Note that all addresses will include 'Greenfield 01301' and, /if /the data includes a phone 
> number, it will start with '(413)'.
>
> Output should look like this:
>
> John,Doe,(413) 111-1111,123 First St,Greenfield,01301
> Jane,Smith,,456 So Main Ln,Greenfield,01301
> Jane Ann,Smith,(413) 222-2222,78 Main Ct,Greenfield,01301
>
> Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.
>
> David
>
>
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-- 
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Chris Hoogendyk

-
    O__  ---- Systems Administrator
   c/ /'_ --- Biology & Geosciences Departments
  (*) \(*) -- 315 Morrill Science Center
~~~~~~~~~~ - University of Massachusetts, Amherst

<hoogendyk at bio.umass.edu>

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Erdös 4