The Background:
In 2010 I posted a question about alternatives to Easytrieve in this thread. Now there has been a disaster. My computer crashed at the end of August. This has led to many frustrations with the new Access 2010 program and other things. I was running Easytrieve on my computer, and the reinstallation is an older version than the one I was using. It’s run up against a licensing issue. At first I was just getting an error window letting me know there’s a licensing error. Today I got a pop-up window when I tried to start the program that said I don’t have a license and I can’t use the software. In 2010 I received this message from Computer Associates, the maker of Easytrieve:
Here’s the thing: Even though we have a license, they will not tell me how to fix the error because we let our maintenance contract expire in 2014. So now I’m dead in the water, and I don’t know what my employer will do. I need to revisit alternatives to Easytrieve.
The Recap:
I need to:
[ul][li]Reformat the file (There are many different formats, depending on things, and there are usually two or three output files of the same data in different formats);[/li][li]Add fields;[/li][li]Compare the current file with the previous file and use data from the previous file when there is a match on the key field;[/li][li]Add numeric fields together to create a new field (or to replace two or more fields with one);[/li][li]Add numeric fields together and compare them to the Total field. If they don’t match within set parameters, then the record is written to a different file;[/li][li]Display a summary of the number of records that meet various parameters;[/li][li]Write two output files, plus one or more files (non-matching totals, rejects, etc.);[/li][li]Scan fields to remove and/or replace characters;[/li][li]Sort files;[/li][li]Other things as needed.[/ul][/li]
Easytrieve reads fixed-position text files, so Excel spreadsheets are imported into Access and then exported as fixed-position text files. Software that can read an Excell or .csv file directly would be nice. Note, however, that not all fields are populated.
In the other thread, the consensus seems to be that I should use Perl or Python, with Python seeming to have the lead. I think it was last year that I tried to find a community college class to learn Python, and wasn’t turning up anything useful. Given that I have a specific set of things I need to do with the data, is Python still the way to go? How the hell do I go about learning it? (FWIW, I learned Easytrieve 20-some years ago by starting with programs that already did what I wanted to do, and modified them for other data.)
I want to show the type of thing I’m going. This is the third of a three-part process. The first part sorts two files by account number. The second part compares the new file to the previous file and, if the a/r numbers match, use the names and addresses from the previous file to put into the output file. New records that do not exist in the previous file are written to a different output file, where they are incorporated into the ‘clean’ file. This third part reads the ‘cleaned’ file, does some calculations, and writes to two different formats in two different output files. I’ll have to break this up into multiple posts for SDMB character limits.
*********************************************************************
*********************************************************************
** 802861 [Company name] Ltd **
** 10/23/13 -- [Johnny L.A.] **
*********************************************************************
*********************************************************************
FILE FILEA V(1000) SEQUENTIAL +
SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\802861_Input.txt'
AR-NUM 6 12 A
NAME 18 40 A
NAME2 58 40 A
ADDR1 98 30 A
ADDR2 128 30 A
CITY 158 20 A
STATE 178 2 A
ZIP 198 5 A
*ZIP-4 204 4 A
ZIP-4 203 4 A
ZIP-9 198 9 A
BALANCE 208 12 A
BALANCE-NUM 208 12 N 0
BALANCE-BYTE-IN1 BALANCE 1 A INDEX SUB1
BALANCE-DOLLARS 208 10 N
BALANCE-CENTS 218 2 N
CURRENT 220 12 A
CURRENT-NUM 220 12 N 0
CURRENT-BYTE-IN1 CURRENT 1 A INDEX SUB1
CURRENT-DOLLARS 220 10 N
CURRENT-CENTS 230 2 N
01-30 232 12 A
01-30-BYTE-IN1 01-30 1 A INDEX SUB1
01-30-DOLLARS 232 10 N
01-30-CENTS 242 2 N
31-60 244 12 A
31-60-BYTE-IN1 31-60 1 A INDEX SUB1
31-60-DOLLARS 244 10 N
31-60-CENTS 254 2 N
61-90 256 12 A
61-90-BYTE-IN1 61-90 1 A INDEX SUB1
61-90-DOLLARS 256 10 N
61-90-CENTS 266 2 N
OVER-90 268 12 A
OVER-90-BYTE-IN1 OVER-90 1 A INDEX SUB1
OVER-90-NUM 268 12 N 0
OVER-90-DOLLARS 268 10 N
OVER-90-CENTS 278 2 N
OVER-120 280 12 A
OVER-120-BYTE-IN1 OVER-120 1 A INDEX SUB1
OVER-120-NUM 280 12 N 0
OVER-120-DOLLARS 290 10 N
OVER-120-CENTS 290 2 N
PHONE-AREA 292 3 A
PHONE-PRE 295 3 A
PHONE-REST 298 4 A
FILE FILEB V SEQUENTIAL CREATE RESET +
SYSNAME 'G:\Auto Data\802861_BIS.txt'
*SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\802861_BIS.txt'
*BIS-format output file
CDR-OUT-REC 1 350 A
CDR-REC-CD 1 1 A
CDR-CONTRIB# 2 6 A
CDR-BUS-CAT 8 4 A
CDR-ACCT-NAME 12 40 A
CDR-ADDL-NAME 52 40 A
CDR-ADDR1 92 30 A
CDR-ADDL-ADDR 122 30 A
CDR-SIC-CODE 152 4 A
CDR-CITY-ST-CD 157 1 A
CDR-CTY 158 20 A
CDR-ST 178 20 A
CDR-ZIP 198 5 A
CDR-ST-ABBREVIATION 203 2 A
CDR-EXTDT 208 6 A
CDR-EXTDT-MM 208 2 A
CDR-EXTDT-DD 210 2 A
CDR-EXTDT-YY 212 2 A
CDR-ARNUM 214 12 A
CDR-CUS-SIC-CODE 226 4 A
CDR-PHONE 230 10 A
CDR-PHONE-AREA 230 3 A
CDR-PHONE-PREFIX 233 3 A
CDR-PHONE-REST 236 4 A
CDR-YRS-CUST-CD 248 1 A
CDR-YRS-CUST 249 2 N 0
CDR-DOLS-MM 251 2 A
CDR-DOLS-YY 253 2 A
CDR-DOLS-MM-NUM 251 2 N 0
CDR-DOLS-YY-NUM 253 2 N 0
CDR-TERMS 255 7 A
CDR-RHC-CODE 262 1 A
CDR-RHC 263 8 N
CDR-BAL-CODE 271 1 A
CDR-BALANCE 272 8 N 0
CDR-BAL-SIGN 280 1 A
CDR-CURRENT 281 7 N 0
CDR-CUR-SIGN 288 1 A
CDR-01-30 289 7 N 0
CDR-01-30-SIGN 296 1 A
CDR-31-60 297 7 N 0
CDR-31-60-SIGN 304 1 A
CDR-61-90 305 7 N 0
CDR-61-90-SIGN 312 1 A
CDR-OVER-90 313 7 N 0
CDR-OVER-90-SIGN 320 1 A
CDR-COMMENT-CD 321 2 A
CDR-ZERO-FILL 323 4 A
CDR-OPTIONAL-ZIP5 329 5 A
CDR-OPTIONAL-ZIP4 334 4 A
CDR-OPTIONAL-ZIP9 329 9 A
A-REC 1 350 A
A-REC-CODE 1 1 A
A-CONTUM 2 6 A
A-VERSION 8 6 A
A-DATE 171 6 A
A-MM 171 2 A
A-DD 173 2 A
A-YY 175 2 A
A-DESCRIPTION 177 25 A
A-TEMP-DATE 232 8 A
A-TEMP-MM 232 2 A
A-TEMP-DD 235 2 A
A-TEMP-YY 238 2 A
A-TEMP-YY-N 238 2 N
Z-REC 1 350 A
Z-REC-CODE 1 1 A
Z-REC-COUNT 2 7 N
Z-RHC 9 10 N 0
Z-BALANCE 19 10 N 0
Z-CURRENT 29 10 N 0
Z-01-30 39 10 N 0
Z-31-60 49 10 N 0
Z-61-90 59 10 N 0
Z-OVER-90 69 10 N 0
FILE FILEC V SEQUENTIAL CREATE RESET +
SYSNAME 'G:\Auto Data\802861_CPEG.txt'
*SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\802861_CPEG.txt'
*CPEG-format output file
*CPEG header record
CPEG-RECORD 1 1430 A
CPEG-A-REC 1 183 A
CPEG-A-REC-CODE 1 2 A
CPEG-A-VERSION 3 8 A
CPEG-A-CONTUM 11 6 A
CPEG-A-EQUIFAX 17 10 A
CPEG-A-DANDB 27 9 A
CPEG-A-CONT-NAME 36 120 A
CPEG-A-CREATE-DATE 156 8 A
CPEG-A-CREATE-MM 156 2 A
CPEG-A-CREATE-DD 158 2 A
CPEG-A-CREATE-CC 160 2 A
CPEG-A-CREATE-YY 162 2 A
CPEG-A-EXT-DATE 164 8 A
CPEG-A-EXT-MM 164 2 A
CPEG-A-EXT-DD 166 2 A
CPEG-A-EXT-CC 168 2 A
CPEG-A-EXT-YY 170 2 A
CPEG-A-TEMP-DATE 276 8 A
CPEG-A-TEMP-MM 276 2 A
CPEG-A-TEMP-DD 279 2 A
CPEG-A-TEMP-YY 282 2 A
*CPEG data record
CPEG-OUT-REC 1 1430 A
CPEG-REC-CD 1 2 A
CPEG-CONTRIB# 3 6 A
CPEG-BUS-CAT 9 4 A
CPEG-EXTDT 13 8 A
CPEG-EXTDT-MM 13 2 A
CPEG-EXTDT-DD 15 2 A
CPEG-EXTDT-CC 17 2 A
CPEG-EXTDT-YY 19 2 A
CPEG-EXTDT-YY-N 19 2 N 0
CPEG-SUB-CODE 21 7 A
CPEG-EQUIFAX-CONTNUM 28 10 A
CPEG-DANDB-CONTNUM 38 9 A
CPEG-NAME-DISPLAY 47 1 A
CPEG-ACCT-NAME 48 120 A
CPEG-NAME-TYPE 168 3 A
CPEG-EXP-BIN 171 10 A
CPEG-DUNS 181 10 A
CPEG-EQUIFAX-ID 191 10 A
CPEG-CUST-SIC 201 8 A
CPEG-NAICS 209 6 A
CPEG-TAX-ID 215 11 A
CPEG-TAX-ID-TYPE 226 1 A
CPEG-OWNER-CHANGE 227 1 A
CPEG-NAME-CHANGE 228 1 A
CPEG-ADDR1 229 50 A
CPEG-ADDL-ADDR 279 50 A
CPEG-CTY 329 32 A
CPEG-ST-ABBREVIATION 361 2 A
CPEG-PROVINCE 363 25 A
CPEG-ZIP 388 9 A
CPEG-COUNTRY 397 3 A
CPEG-CUST-LOC-TYPE 400 2 A
CPEG-CUST-ADDR-TYPE 402 1 A
CPEG-PHONE-CONTRY 403 5 A
CPEG-PHONE-AREA 408 3 A
CPEG-PHONE-PREFIX 411 3 A
CPEG-PHONE-REST 414 4 A
CPEG-CUST-URL 422 75 A
CPEG-CUST-EMAIL 497 75 A
CPEG-ADDL-NAME 572 120 A
CPEG-ADDL-NAME-TYPE 692 3 A
CPEG-ADDR2 695 50 A
CPEG-ADDL-ADDR2 745 50 A
CPEG-ADDL-CITY 795 32 A
CPEG-ADDL-ST 827 2 A
CPEG-ADDL-PROVINCE 829 25 A
CPEG-ADDL-ZIP 854 9 A
CPEG-OPTIONAL-ZIP5 854 5 A
CPEG-OPTIONAL-ZIP4 859 4 A
CPEG-ADDL-COUNTRY 863 3 A
CPEG-ADDL-LOC-TYPE 866 2 A
CPEG-ADDL-ADDR-TYPE 868 1 A
CPEG-ADDL-PHONE-COUNTRY 869 5 A
CPEG-ADDL-PHONE 874 14 A
CPEG-ADDL-PHONE-AREA 874 3 A
CPEG-ADDL-PHONE-PREFIX 877 3 A
CPEG-ADDL-PHONE-REST 880 4 A
CPEG-LEGAL-ENTITY-TYPE 888 1 A
CPEG-FRANCHISE-IND 889 1 A
CPEG-ARNUM 890 40 A
CPEG-DATE-ACQUIRED 930 8 A
CPEG-ACCOUNT-TYPE 938 3 A
CPEG-START-DATE 941 8 A
CPEG-START-MM 941 2 A
CPEG-START-DD 943 2 A
CPEG-START-CC 945 2 A
CPEG-START-YY 947 2 A
CPEG-START-CCYY 945 4 A
CPEG-CLOSE-DATE 949 8 A
CPEG-CLOSE-MM 949 2 A
CPEG-CLOSE-DD 951 2 A
CPEG-CLOSE-CC 953 2 A
CPEG-CLOSE-YY 955 2 A
CPEG-CLOSE-CCYY 953 4 A
CPEG-REASON-CLOSED 957 2 A
CPEG-DOLS-MM 959 2 A
CPEG-DOLS-YY 961 2 A
CPEG-DOLS-MM-NUM 959 2 N 0
CPEG-DOLS-YY-NUM 961 2 N 0
CPEG-LAST-ACT-TYPE 967 1 A
CPEG-PAYMENT-TYPE 968 2 A
CPEG-PAY-FREQ 970 1 A
CPEG-TERMS-DURATION 971 4 A
CPEG-TERMS-DUR-1 974 1 A
CPEG-TERMS-DUR-2 973 2 A
CPEG-TERMS-DUR-3 972 3 A
CPEG-TERMS 975 15 A
CPEG-STATUS-CODE 990 2 A
CPEG-ACTIVITY-FLAG 992 1 A
CPEG-NUM-OWNERS 993 2 A
CPEG-NUM-GUARANTORS 995 2 A
CPEG-GOVT-GUAR 997 3 A
CPEG-PERCENT-GUAR 1000 3 A
CPEG-SECURED 1003 1 A
CPEG-LEASE-CAT 1004 2 A
CPEG-MATURE-DATE 1006 8 A
CPEG-MATURE-MM 1006 2 A
CPEG-MATURE-DD 1008 2 A
CPEG-MATURE-CC 1010 2 A
CPEG-MATURE-YY 1012 2 A
CPEG-MATURE-CCYY 1010 4 A
CPEG-COLLATERAL 1014 2 A
CPEG-CREDIT-LIMIT 1016 11 N
CPEG-RHC-CODE 1027 1 A
CPEG-RHC 1028 11 N
CPEG-ORIG-LOAN-AMT 1039 11 N
CPEG-CUR-LOAN-AMT 1050 11 N
CPEG-SCHED-PAY 1061 11 N
CPEG-ACTUAL-PAY 1072 11 N
CPEG-STATEMENT-DATE 1083 8 A
CPEG-STATEMENT-MM 1083 2 A
CPEG-STATEMENT-DD 1085 2 A
CPEG-STATEMENT-CC 1087 2 A
CPEG-STATEMENT-YY 1089 2 A
CPEG-STATEMENT-CCYY 1087 4 A
CPEG-DUE-DATE 1091 8 A
CPEG-DUE-MM 1091 2 A
CPEG-DUE-DD 1093 2 A
CPEG-DUE-CC 1095 2 A
CPEG-DUE-YY 1097 2 A
CPEG-DUE-CCYY 1095 4 A
CPEG-DOLP-DATE 1099 8 A
CPEG-DOLP-MM 1099 2 A
CPEG-DOLP-DD 1101 2 A
CPEG-DOLP-CC 1103 2 A
CPEG-DOLP-YY 1105 2 A
CPEG-DOLP-CCYY 1103 4 A
CPEG-BALLOON-AMT 1107 11 A
CPEG-BALLOON-DATE 1118 8 A
CPEG-BALLOON-MM 1118 2 A
CPEG-BALLOON-DD 1120 2 A
CPEG-BALLOON-CC 1122 2 A
CPEG-BALLOON-YY 1124 2 A
CPEG-BALLOON-CCYY 1122 4 A
CPEG-BAL-CODE 1126 1 A
CPEG-BALANCE 1127 11 N 0
CPEG-BAL-SIGN 1127 1 A
CPEG-CURRENT 1138 11 N 0
CPEG-CUR-SIGN 1138 1 A
CPEG-01-30 1149 11 N 0
CPEG-01-30-SIGN 1149 1 A
CPEG-31-60 1160 11 N 0
CPEG-31-60-SIGN 1160 1 A
CPEG-61-90 1171 11 N 0
CPEG-61-90-SIGN 1171 1 A
CPEG-91-120 1182 11 N 0
CPEG-91-120-SIGN 1182 1 A
CPEG-121-150 1193 11 N 0
CPEG-121-150-SIGN 1193 1 A
CPEG-151-180 1204 11 N 0
CPEG-151-180-SIGN 1204 1 A
CPEG-OVER-180 1215 11 N 0
CPEG-OVER-180-SIGN 1215 1 A
CPEG-TOTAL-PAST-DUE 1226 11 N 0
CPEG-TOTAL-PAST-DUE-SIGN 1226 1 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-DATE 1237 8 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-MM 1237 2 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-DD 1239 2 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-CC 1241 2 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-YY 1243 2 A
CPEG-1ST-DEL-CCYY 1241 4 A
CPEG-CHARGE-OFF 1245 11 N 0
CPEG-CHARGE-OFF-SIGN 1245 1 A
CPEG-CHARGE-DATE 1256 8 A
CPEG-CHARGE-MM 1256 2 A
CPEG-CHARGE-DD 1258 2 A
CPEG-CHARGE-CC 1260 2 A
CPEG-CHARGE-YY 1262 2 A
CPEG-CHARGE-CCYY 1260 4 A
CPEG-COLLECTION-FLAG 1264 1 A
CPEG-COLLECT-AMT 1265 11 N 0
CPEG-COLECT-SIGN 1265 1 A
CPEG-PMT-AMT 1276 11 N 0
CPEG-PMT-SIGN 1276 1 A
CPEG-PMT-HIST 1287 24 A
CPEG-COMMENT 1311 3 A
CPEG-COMMENT2 1314 3 A
CPEG-COMMENT3 1317 3 A
CPEG-COMMENT-TEXT 1320 70 A
CPEG-USER-TRACKING 1390 40 A
CPEG-SCORE-FLAG 1430 1 A
*Trailer record
FILE FILED V SEQUENTIAL CREATE RESET +
SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\802861_Crossfoot_Errors.txt'
ERROR-OUT-REC 1 350 A
FILE STSAUTO V SEQUENTIAL CREATE RESET +
SYSNAME 'G:\Experian Auto Data\S000.BC.C802861.STSAUTO.txt'
* SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\S000.BC.C802861.STSAUTO.txt'
AUTO-RECORD 1 1430 A
*********************************************************************
** WORKING STORAGE **
*********************************************************************
WS-RHC-A-IN W 12 A
RHC-BYTE-IN1B WS-RHC-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-BALANCE-A-IN W 12 A
BALANCE-BYTE-IN1B WS-BALANCE-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-CURRENT-A-IN W 12 A
CURRENT-BYTE-IN1B WS-CURRENT-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-01-30-A-IN W 12 A
01-30-BYTE-IN1B WS-01-30-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-31-60-A-IN W 12 A
31-60-BYTE-IN1B WS-31-60-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-61-90-A-IN W 12 A
61-90-BYTE-IN1B WS-61-90-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-OVER-90-A-IN W 12 A
OVER-90-BYTE-IN1B WS-OVER-90-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-OVER-120-A-IN W 12 A
OVER-120-BYTE-IN1B WS-OVER-120-A-IN 1 A INDEX SUB1B
WS-MM W 2 A
WS-DD W 2 A
WS-YY W 2 A
WS-DATE W 8 A
WS-DOLS-FLAG W 1 A
WS-YRS-CUST W 3 N 0
WS-Z-REC-COUNT W 7 N
WS-Z-RHC W 10 N 0
WS-Z-BALANCE W 10 N 0
WS-Z-CURRENT W 10 N 0
WS-Z-01-30 W 10 N 0
WS-Z-31-60 W 10 N 0
WS-Z-61-90 W 10 N 0
WS-Z-OVER-90 W 10 N 0
WS-PAST01 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST30 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST60 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST90 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST120 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST150 W 11 N 0
WS-PAST180 W 11 N 0
WS-BALANCE W 8 N 0
WS-CDR-BALANCE W 8 N 0
WS-CDR-CURRENT W 7 N 0
WS-CDR-01-30 W 7 N 0
WS-CDR-31-60 W 7 N 0
WS-CDR-61-90 W 7 N 0
WS-CDR-OVER-90 W 7 N 0
WS-CROSSFOOT W 7 N 0
WS-CROSS-COUNTER W 7 N
WS-TOTAL-RECORDS W 7 N
WS-PERCENT W 3 N 2
WS-OVER-90 W 7 N 0
WS-120-SIGN W 1 A
WS-DISPLAY-COUNTER W 4 N
The first part defines the input and output fields, and working storage. The second part reformats the data and calculates account balances from the aging amounts, and checks to make sure the calculated balances match the given balances. The NUMFIX subroutine converts alphanumeric amounts (e.g., ’ 1234.56’) to numeric (e.g., ‘0000000000’), which is written in whole dollars. This program doesn’t have it, but some of my programs have a subroutine to convert lowercase to uppercase.
No personal experience with Easytrieve, but, if I have understood you correctly, those are exactly the type of jobs Perl was designed to script together easily (certainly processing/wrangling formatted text files and generating reports fall into that category). Python I always thought of as more of a general-purpose programming language, but you can certainly accomplish the same tasks and I don’t think there would be a great difference in speed, assuming proper programming.
Either way, both tools are free. If you are already handy with Python, it may not be worth the extra trouble learning to use an extra tool like Perl (or COBOL, SNOBOL, whatever).
Could be tens of records, could be tens of thousands of records. My largest file is around 91,000 records. Since output is required to be in uppercase and Excel won’t do a global conversion, some programs have the case conversion subroutine in them where the entire record is parsed. That’s the thing that takes the most time.
ETA: About having separate sort, matching, and reformatting programs. I know I could put them all into a single program, but I like breaking them up so that I can have more control. In the event that I need to reprocess, I can skip steps.
I don’t know much about Easytrieve, but I think neither Perl nor Python resembles it, so if you need to adapt an existing script you will need to port/rewrite it to the new language, unless someone has made an automatic converter.
91000 records is nothing; also converting to uppercase should be no bottleneck (e.g. in Perl you can use the ‘uc’ command when you are writing your output). The trick is to minimize the number of string operations; uppercasing a big string or record in one command might be 1000x faster than manually looping over every single character and changing its case.
There are a lot of online resources to aid in learning Python such as:
O’Reilly also has a large series of products for learning Python, for doing everything from web programming and enterprise project development to data analysis and scientific programming.
However, unless you really want to learn Python, I’d have to agree with DPRK that Perl is actually better suited to what you are looking to do here. Python is a general purpose code, and while it is often described as a “scripting language” it has evolved to do damn near anything other than embedded systems. The basic mechanics are pretty simple and consistent, but it has a lot more functionality and very philosophically precise data types than you really need for what you are doing here which can add to the learning curve. Perl is ugly in the way that Unix shell scripting is ugly (unsurprising since Perl is basically a superset of sed and awk which was grown to be a more general purpose scripting language) but for doing expression matching and text processing it is nonpareil, and you can make it to basically create commands to be called for each of these “sort, matching, and reformatting” steps.
Much of what you want done can really be done using regular expressions (“regexs”) where doing things like complex pattern matching and converting from mixed case to all upper case is almost trivial once you understand the basics, and Perl has the best regex capability. Python has the re module as part of the standard library and it is pretty good, but with Perl regex processing is built into the core language so it is super easy to integrate regular expressions into other manipulations so you don’t have to call separate functions or have a bunch of subroutines doing things like searching for patterns. I haven’t followed everything you are doing here but I’m guessing you could probably write Perl scripts of less than a hundred lines to do what you are doing here. All about Perl.
Either way, handling tens of thousands of records should not be a problem for either Perl or Python. Both of these languages are routinely used to handle vastly more data than that. And both Perl and Python have modules for reading directly from .xls files, as well as reading comma-separated and variable format text files, allowing you to dump any step involving Excel entirely.
Is the old hard drive a total loss or can you slave it to the new computer and read data off of it? It looks like the license is stored in a file called ca.olf that you then import into the program.
There are people out there who will look at your data and your requirements and quickly say “One way to do it is this: [insert fairly short and very reasonable explanation here].”
I think - maybe? - that you might be better off finding the right person to pay. It depends on how often you’re going to really use what you learn, if you were to learn how yourself - because if you won’t use it that often, you’ll be more likely to need assistance next time as well.
I’d have to rewrite everything. But it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, since most of my stuff is in two or three output formats.
The old HD is toast. I saved CA.olf to my folder specifically so that I would have it in case of disaster. I also have Easytrieve on a flash drive (including the key), but our IT people didn’t attempt to install it from there. It might have everything for installation, but then it might not. Thanks for the link. I’ll forward it.
Stranger: A lot of what you wrote is over my head, but it sounds like Perl would be easier for me to learn. I’ll check out the links later. Thanks.
It says ‘Time to complete: 10 hours.’ Does that mean that it normally takes 10 hours to complete? Or does it mean that you have 10 hours to complete it, and if you don’t you’re SOL?
OK, right off it talks about a ‘Unix shell’. I have no idea what that is, let alone how to use one.
The thing is, I’m old. I learned BASIC around 1980 (and haven’t used it since 1985). Easytrieve is a sequential language; ‘do this, then do this’. I have zero experience with object-oriented languages.
Sorry, I used a lot of jargon; “regex” are regular expressions, which is just a complex and powerful pattern matching algorithm, kind of like a very narrowly focused scripting language in and of itself which allows you to do multiple manipulations on a segment of text in one action. A search-and-replace command to do something like find all numbers divisible by 5 and replace them with hash marks could be done in a single line. Basically, for the kind of pattern matching and reformatting functions you are looking to perform, Perl is essentially ideal.
It should take 10 hours to get through. The great thing about Perl is that because it is essentially an overgrown scripting language you can write very simple functions of just a few lines to learn how a function works; you don’t have to create an elaborate program with a main() function that calls subroutines and passes arguments, so the threshold to getting to bare minimum competency is pretty low. Given a couple hours a night or one long weekend you should be up to at least minimum competency in Perl quickly. Plus, it is a great general purpose scripting language you can use on macOS to bind together different functions like batch processing of image and video files. All of the time I wasted learning AppleScript, and you can do most of what you need with Perl (or Python or Ruby).
So it sounds like I should be looking at Perl instead of Python.
All of my work is on my office PC running Windows something-or-other. I think it’s 2007. I use a Mac at home, but not for work – except for connecting on it to my office computer.
I can probably do a couple of hours a night, and definitely weekends. The thing is, I need someplace to start. I looked at the Python links, and I was lost at ‘Unix shell’. That’s why I think I need an actual class, where an instructor says ‘Do this. Now do this.’ I learned Easytrieve in a mainframe environment. I don’t remember how I started the programs (it’s been almost 20 years since I was with that company), but I know I saved the program to an .exe file that contained JCL. The version I’ve been using is PC-based. I double-click on the desktop icon, and it opens up. Then I put the code into a blank window (in reality, I save a program I’ve already written under a different name ), click the Compile button, and then click the Run button.
So the first thing I need is to have a Perl icon (or whatever) to start the environment I’m going to run the program in. Then I need to learn how to do what I need to do. In a classroom, the instructor would give the students some code and the students would go from there to complete the assignment. Right now, I have no starting point.
), click the Compile button, and then click the Run button.