Collect lines in a file

[sridhar]

Hi all,
If a line doesn't start with a timestamp , i need to add it with previous line through list.
this is the content of my file
9/16/16, 01:38 - User1: Hi , How you doing
9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,
I'm good
How about you ?
Thanks for asking man
<media>
9/16/16, 02:02 - User3: Howdy folks!
9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: Awesome
9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: we are all good,
Thanks for asking
awesome
7/11/20, 13:00 - Me: <Video> watch this

Here is the code that I designed

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intermediate =[] finalData  = [] file = open('sample.txt', 'r' , encoding="utf8") for lines in file:     if startsWithDate(lines):         intermediate .clear()         intermediate .append(lines)     else:         intermediate .append(lines)     intr = ' '.join(intermediate )     finalData.append(intr) print(finalData)

output obtained is

Output:
['9/16/16, 01:38 - User1: Hi , How you doing\n',
'9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n',
"9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n I'm good\n", 
"9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n I'm good\n How about you ?\n",
"9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n I'm good\n How about you ?\n Thanks for asking man\n", 
"9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n I'm good\n How about you ?\n Thanks for asking man\n <media>\n", 
'9/16/16, 02:02 - User3: Howdy folks!\n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: Awesome \n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: we are all good,\n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: we are all good,\n Thanks for asking\n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: we are all good,\n Thanks for asking\n awesome\n',
'7/11/20, 13:00 - Me: <Video> watch this']

I don't need intermediate repeated outputs which are highlighted above.
Expected output is

Output:
['9/16/16, 01:38 - User1: Hi , How you doing\n',
"9/16/16, 01:39 - User2: hi,\n I'm good\n How about you ?\n Thanks for asking man\n <media>\n", 
'9/16/16, 02:02 - User3: Howdy folks!\n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: Awesome \n', 
'9/16/16, 02:29 - User2: we are all good,\n Thanks for asking\n awesome\n', 
'7/11/20, 13:00 - Me: <Video> watch this']

Please help me out

[mlieqo]

Collect all messages in intermediate and append to final data only when there is a timestamp (and there is data in intermediate)

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intermediate = [] finalData = [] file = open('sample.txt', 'r', encoding="utf8") for lines in file:     if startsWithDate(lines) and intermediate:         finalData.append(' '.join(intermediate))         intermediate.clear()     intermediate.append(lines)

[j.crater]

Hello,
the problem is placing of line 11 (appending to finalData). This line happens in each iteration, regardless of whether line started with a date or not.
Apart from that, I would recommend you not to use "file" as a variable name, since it is a Python reserved keyword.
And when working with files, it is recommended to use "with" (context manager). You can read more here:
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/input...ting-files

[sridhar]

Thanks! @mlieqo That really helps but I could not able to capture last item upon using your method.
Thanks! @j.crater. I didn't noticed.