Not sure what to call what I want to do

[SpencerH]

I have almost completed my program, but I am not sure what to do next. Please stick with me as I try to explain.

Currently, I get a list from email and it is formatted with information that I want to print. However, everything is out of order.

I formate what I want to print using print statements and output to text files. But I can only do this for lists of 1 and only for the first item because I'm unsure of how to make my loop work right.

The list comes to me as a list of lists.

How can I iterate through my list building the correct results?

When I pull the email and process it I get:

['\ufeff73450', 'New Hope Electric Company of Washington, Inc.', 'CI-120 - West Port Hall Student Commons - AC-Aiphone-Intrusion-CCTV', 'Location', 'Part#', 'Description', 'Curr Qty', 'M2C2', '6702UE 888U1000', 'Cable - 4 Conductor-SSA-Plenum-Box-Unshielded-22AWG/4-Stranded-Natural', '1000', '']
['\ufeff76805', 'JM Wentworth, Inc.', 'JMW - Westport - Buildout', 'Location', 'Part#', 'Description', 'Curr Qty', 'L1B2', '98756-U48', 'Patch Panel-Cat6-48 Port-2U-Loaded-Universal-Black', '1', 'L1B3', '65756-U24', 'Patch Panel-Cat6-24 Port-1U-Loaded-Universal-Black', '1', 'M3B4', '95-050-41-X', 'Fiber Connector-MM-Unicam-Ceramic-SC-50/125-OM3/OM4-High performance-Aqua', '24', 'M3B7', 'RIC-F-SC12-01', 'Fiber Bulkhead-SM/MM-6 Duplex-12 Adapters-SC-Black', '2', 'M3B9', 'RIC-F-BLNK-01', 'Fiber Bulkhead - Blank-Black', '4', 'M3C9', '852-L42-009', 'Fiber Patch Cord-MM-LC-SC-Duplex-50/125-Riser/CMR-3 M-Value Series-Aqua', '2', 'M2C88', '000-050', '"Fiber Ground- Connector-MC-.5"" NWT Metallic"', '2', 'M4C7', '566-000-005', 'Copper Patch Cord-Cat6-RJ45-RJ45-5 Ft-No boot-PVC-Stranded-Value Series-Blue', '37', 'M4C6', '2601-00000-015', 'Copper Patch Cord-Cat6A-RJ45-RJ45-15 Ft-Snagless-PVC-Shielded-Stranded-Gray', '2', '']

Currently to get things to print how I want I use this:

print("_" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| Job Number: " + "73543",
      " " * (25 - len(attachment_all[0][7])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| Job Name: " + attachment_all[0][1],
      " " * (18 - len(attachment_all[0][7])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| Job Location: " + attachment_all[0][2],
      " " * (17 - len(attachment_all[0][7])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("*" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| Loc  | Part #", " " * (17) + "| Qty   |", file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| " + attachment_all[0][7],
      " " * (4 - len(attachment_all[0][7])) + "| "
      + attachment_all[0][8],
      " " * (23 - len(attachment_all[0][8])) + "| "
      + attachment_all[0][10],
      " " * (10 - len(attachment_all[0][10])) + "|",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
print("| Description: " + attachment_all[0][9], file=open("output.txt", "a"))

*Notice I put the job number if I don't I get an error, but I am worried about how I can iterate through my list to get things to print the right way. The heading will always be the same but when a list has more than 1 part it will not repeat the headline and just add a new line for the items.

---

I'm reading through some other posts and getting ideas.

I know for instance I want to grab items 0-6 inside any new list. This will be my header which is 1-12 in my print section.

Next, I want to grab any set of 4 items, 7-11, and make that my next line. Follow this line with any 4 more items until no items are left.

So far I don't know how to do this part.

[Larz60+]

In this case, It would be easier on our end if you show what you want the output to look like,
in addition to the code.
I am sure that there is a much simpler solution.

[metulburr]

i would just organize it, then work on the way it is presented, then write it to a file....not all at once.

kinda like this

import pprint
pp = pprint.PrettyPrinter()

soup = [
['\ufeff73450', 'New Hope Electric Company of Washington, Inc.', 'CI-120 - West Port Hall Student Commons - AC-Aiphone-Intrusion-CCTV', 'Location', 'Part#', 'Description', 'Curr Qty', 'M2C2', '6702UE 888U1000', 'Cable - 4 Conductor-SSA-Plenum-Box-Unshielded-22AWG/4-Stranded-Natural', '1000', ''],
['\ufeff76805', 'JM Wentworth, Inc.', 'JMW - Westport - Buildout', 'Location', 'Part#', 'Description', 'Curr Qty', 'L1B2', '98756-U48', 'Patch Panel-Cat6-48 Port-2U-Loaded-Universal-Black', '1', 'L1B3', '65756-U24', 'Patch Panel-Cat6-24 Port-1U-Loaded-Universal-Black', '1', 'M3B4', '95-050-41-X', 'Fiber Connector-MM-Unicam-Ceramic-SC-50/125-OM3/OM4-High performance-Aqua', '24', 'M3B7', 'RIC-F-SC12-01', 'Fiber Bulkhead-SM/MM-6 Duplex-12 Adapters-SC-Black', '2', 'M3B9', 'RIC-F-BLNK-01', 'Fiber Bulkhead - Blank-Black', '4', 'M3C9', '852-L42-009', 'Fiber Patch Cord-MM-LC-SC-Duplex-50/125-Riser/CMR-3 M-Value Series-Aqua', '2', 'M2C88', '000-050', '"Fiber Ground- Connector-MC-.5"" NWT Metallic"', '2', 'M4C7', '566-000-005', 'Copper Patch Cord-Cat6-RJ45-RJ45-5 Ft-No boot-PVC-Stranded-Value Series-Blue', '37', 'M4C6', '2601-00000-015', 'Copper Patch Cord-Cat6A-RJ45-RJ45-15 Ft-Snagless-PVC-Shielded-Stranded-Gray', '2', '']
]
data = {}
#assign key names to known indexes
for lst in soup:
    key = lst[1] #set the second element (the name) of each list as the dictionary key
    data.update({key:{}})
    data[key].update({'num':lst[7]})
    data[key].update({'loc':lst[2]})
    data[key].update({'part':lst[4]})
    data[key].update({'desc':lst[9]})
    
pp.pprint(data) # example of data organized
#assign output presentation
for k in data:
    d = f'''
    | Job Number: {' ': <25} {data[k]['num']} |
    | Job Name: {' ': <25} {k} |
    | Job Location: {' ': <25} {data[k]['loc']} |

    '''
    print(d) #now write d to a file instead of printing it
    

its python3.6+ because i used the f-string otherwise you would do

    d = '''
    | Job Number: {SPACE: <25} {NUM} |
    | Job Name: {SPACE: <25} {KEY} |
    | Job Location: {SPACE: <25} {LOC} |

    '''.format(
    SPACE=' ',
    NUM=data[k]['num'],
    KEY=k,
    LOC=data[k]['loc']
    )

[SpencerH]

i would just organize it, then work on the way it is presented, then write it to a file....not all at once.

Your example gets me pretty close. But I'm still not seeing how to process when the item contains more than one "part". Indexes 7-10 will always be a part but so will every 4 positions after that. 11-14, 15-18, etc but only if they are there of course.

I had started down a path of trying to feed the data into JSON. I think your example helps me see a way to do that but I still have the same problem

[SpencerH]

Maybe this will explain what I want to do even though this code is none functioning:

list = ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6']
 for i in list:
	while i [3] or more in i:
		composite_list = [list[x:x+4] for x in rangee90, len(list),5]

[metulburr]

But I'm still not seeing how to process when the item contains more than one "part". Indexes 7-10 will always be a part but so will every 4 positions after that. 11-14, 15-18, etc but only if they are there of course.

Pop off the first 10 indexes, as they will always be there right? Then pop off the next 4 indexes, and repeat until you get an IndexError as it will either be empty or out of range when the list goes below 4 indexes. As you are popping off the sections add them into your dictionary.

[SpencerH]

I did that in a way:

for item in happy_days:
    the_real_deal = str(base64.b64decode(item).decode())
    # print(the_real_deal)
    testing_the_split = re.split('[\t\r\n]+', the_real_deal)
    #print(testing_the_split)
    # list_of_lists = [list(elem) for elem in the_real_deal]
    # print(list_of_lists)
    header_list = testing_the_split[:3]
    parts_list = testing_the_split[7:]
    print("_" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Job Number: " + header_list[0],
      " " * (25 - len(header_list[0])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Job Name: " + header_list[1],
      " " * (18 - len(header_list[1])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Job Location: " + header_list[2],
      " " * (17 - len(attachment_all[0][2])) + "| ",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("*" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Loc  | Part #", " " * (17) + "| Qty   |", file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| " + parts_list[0],
      " " * (4 - len(parts_list[0])) + "| "
      + parts_list[1],
      " " * (23 - len(parts_list[1])) + "| "
      + parts_list[3],
      " " * (10 - len(parts_list[3])) + "|",
      file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Description: " + parts_list[2], file=open("output.txt", "a"))

I am still not processing beyond 1 part on my list but I have a new problem.

When I run this I get:

Error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<input>", line 13, in <module>
  File "C:\Users\Kingdel\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\lib\encodings\cp1252.py", line 19, in encode
    return codecs.charmap_encode(input,self.errors,encoding_table)[0]
UnicodeEncodeError: 'charmap' codec can't encode character '\ufeff' in position 14: character maps to <undefined>

This is because when I return the first object in the list it looks like

['\ufeff73543', ...

I'm stumped for a simple solution.

[metulburr]

thats an encoding issue because you are writing it to a file. Thats why i said separate what you are doing into steps. Writing to a file is the last step. You still havent figured out how to organize the data yet.

But read this for your issue
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1463...-undefined

[SpencerH]

thats an encoding issue because you are writing it to a file. Thats why i said separate what you are doing into steps. Writing to a file is the last step. You still havent figured out how to organize the data yet.

But read this for your issue
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1463...-undefined

I was able to find when I write the file I just put in encoding="utf-8"

So I got the encode/wirte to file funciton fixed.

for item in happy_days:
    the_real_deal = str(base64.b64decode(item).decode("utf8"))
    # print(the_real_deal)
    testing_the_split = re.split('[\t\r\n]+', the_real_deal)
    # print(testing_the_split)
    # list_of_lists = [list(elem) for elem in the_real_deal]
    # print(list_of_lists)
    header_list = testing_the_split[:3]
    parts_list = testing_the_split[7:]
    print("_" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Job Number: " + header_list[0],
          " " * (25 - len(header_list[0])) + "| ",
          file=open("output.txt", "a", encoding="utf-8"))
    print("| Job Name: " + header_list[1],
          " " * (18 - len(header_list[1])) + "| ",
          file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Job Location: " + header_list[2],
          " " * (17 - len(attachment_all[2])) + "| ",
          file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("*" * 45, file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Loc  | Part #", " " * (17) + "| Qty   |", file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| " + parts_list[0],
          " " * (4 - len(parts_list[0])) + "| "
          + parts_list[1],
          " " * (23 - len(parts_list[1])) + "| "
          + parts_list[3],
          " " * (10 - len(parts_list[3])) + "|",
          file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("| Description: " + parts_list[2], file=open("output.txt", "a"))
    print("there was " + header_list[0])
    #os.system("C:/Users/Kingdel/PycharmProjects/ScannerMailHandler/printanddelete.exe")
    time.sleep(5)

The pprint gave me the ideas to split the string. Now I am stuck wondering how I can format correctly for the second part.

In the code above [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] will get split into

header_list = [0,1,2]
parts_list = [7,8,9,10]

And will output this:

_____________________________________________
| Job Number: 0                          | 
| Job Name: 1                   | 
| Job Location: 2              | 
*********************************************
| Loc  | Part #                  | Qty   |
| 7    | 8                       | 9        |
| Description: 10

However if my list is [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]

[11:] will be dropped but I need to process it to the next line like this:

_____________________________________________
| Job Number: 0                          | 
| Job Name: 1                   | 
| Job Location: 2              | 
*********************************************
| Loc  | Part #                  | Qty   |
| 7    | 8                       | 9        |
| Description: 10
|11    | 12                      | 13        |
| Description: 14

[nilamo]

file=open("output.txt", "a")

Please, just open the file once. Seeing that on every line is hurting my brain.

Something like

with open("output.txt", "a") as out:
    print("something", file=out)
    print("something else", file=out)