Create Pandas DataFrame from txt file with specific pattern

Question

I need to create a Pandas DataFrame based on a text file based on the following structure:

Alabama[edit]
Auburn (Aubu         


        

Answer 1

You could parse the file into tuples first:

import pandas as pd
from collections import namedtuple

Item = namedtuple('Item', 'state area')
items = []

with open('unis.txt') as f: 
    for line in f:
        l = line.rstrip('\n') 
        if l.endswith('[edit]'):
            state = l.rstrip('[edit]')
        else:            
            i = l.index(' (')
            area = l[:i]
            items.append(Item(state, area))

df = pd.DataFrame.from_records(items, columns=['State', 'Area'])

print df

output:

      State          Area
0   Alabama        Auburn
1   Alabama      Florence
2   Alabama  Jacksonville
3   Alabama    Livingston
4   Alabama    Montevallo
5   Alabama          Troy
6   Alabama    Tuscaloosa
7   Alabama      Tuskegee
8    Alaska     Fairbanks
9   Arizona     Flagstaff
10  Arizona         Tempe
11  Arizona        Tucson