Writing/parsing a fixed width file using Python

Question

I\'m a newbie to Python and I\'m looking at using it to write some hairy EDI stuff that our supplier requires.

Basically they need an 80-character fixed width text f

Answer 1

I used Jarret Hardie's example and modified it slightly. This allows for selection of type of text alignment(left, right or centered.)

class FixedWidthFieldLine(object):
    def __init__(self, fields, justify = 'L'):
        """ Returns line from list containing tuples of field values and lengths. Accepts
            justification parameter.
            FixedWidthFieldLine(fields[, justify])

            fields = [(value, fieldLenght)[, ...]]
        """
        self.fields = fields

        if (justify in ('L','C','R')):
            self.justify = justify
        else:
            self.justify = 'L'

    def __str__(self):
        if(self.justify == 'L'):
            return ''.join([field[0].ljust(field[1]) for field in self.fields])
        elif(self.justify == 'R'):
            return ''.join([field[0].rjust(field[1]) for field in self.fields])
        elif(self.justify == 'C'):
            return ''.join([field[0].center(field[1]) for field in self.fields])

fieldTest = [('Alex', 10),
         ('Programmer', 20),
         ('Salem, OR', 15)]

f = FixedWidthFieldLine(fieldTest)
print f
f = FixedWidthFieldLine(fieldTest,'R')
print f

Returns:

Alex      Programmer          Salem, OR      
      Alex          Programmer      Salem, OR