How to use text output from one perl script as input to another perl script? I seem to be able run this as two separate scripts but not as one

Question

I've got a script that reformats an input file and creates an output file. When I try to read that output file for the second part of the script, it doesn't work. However if I split the script into two parts it works fine and gives me the output that I need. I'm not a programmer and surprised I've got this far - I've been banging my head for days trying to resolve this.

My command for running it is this (BTW the temp.txt was just a brute force workaround for getting rid of the final comma to get my final output file - couldn't find another solution):

c:\perl\bin\perl merge.pl F146.sel temp.txt F146H.txt

Input looks like this (from another software package) ("F146.sel"):

/ Selected holes from the .\Mag_F146_Trimmed.gdb database.
"L12260"
"L12270"
"L12280"
"L12290"

Output looks like this (mods to the text: quotes removed, insert comma, concatenate into one line, remove the last comma) "F146H.txt":

L12260,L12270,L12280,L12290

Then I want to use this as input in the next part of the script, which basically inserts this output into a line of code that I can use in another software package (my "merge.gs" file). This is the output that I get if I split my script into two parts, but it just gives me a blank if I do it as one (see below).

CURRENT        Database,"RAD_F146.gdb"
SETINI         MERGLINE.OUT="DALL"
SETINI         MERGLINE.LINES="L12260,L12270,L12280,L12290"
GX             mergline.gx

What follows is my "merge.pl". What have I done wrong?

(actually, the question could be - what haven't I done wrong, as this is probably the most retarded code you've seen in a while. In fact, I bet some of you could get this entire operation done in 10-15 lines of code, instead of my butchered 90. Thanks in advance.)

# this reformats the SEL file to remove the first line and replace the " with nothing

$file = shift ;
$temp = shift ;
$linesH = shift ;

#open (Profiles, ">.\\scripts\\P2.gs")||die "couldn't open output .gs file";

open my $in,  '<', $file      or die "Can't read old file: Inappropriate I/O control operation";
open my $out, '>', $temp or die "Can't write new file: Inappropriate I/O control operation"; 

my $firstLine = 1;                                                                               

while( <$in> )                                                                                   
{                                                                                                
    if($firstLine)                                                                               
    {                                                                                            
        $firstLine = 0;                                                                          
    }                                                                                            
    else{                                                                                        
   s/"L/L/g; # replace "L with L                                                                 
   s/"/,/g; # replace " with, 
   s|\s+||; # concatenates it all into one line 
   print $out $_;  
    }
} 
close $out;


open (part1, "${temp}")||die "Couldn't open selection file";
open (part2, ">${linesH}")||die "Couldn't open selection file";
printitChomp();

sub printitChomp
{
print part2 <<ENDGS;
ENDGS
}

while ($temp = <part1> )
{
    print $temp;    
    printit();
}

sub printit 
{$string = substr (${temp}, 0,-1);
print part2 <<ENDGS;
$string
ENDGS
}                                                                                      

####Theoretically this creates the merge script from the output 
####file from the previous loop. However it only seems to work 
####if I split this into 2 perl scripts.
open (MergeScript, ">MergeScript.gs")||die "couldn't open output .gs file";
printitMerge();

open (SEL, "${linesH}")||die "Couldn't open selection file";  
sub printitMerge
#open .sel file                                                 

{
print MergeScript <<ENDGS;
ENDGS
}

#iterate over required files
while ( $line = <SEL> ){    
    chomp $line;            
    print STDOUT $line;     
    printitLines();              

}                           

sub printitLines 
{
print MergeScript <<ENDGS;
CURRENT        Database,"RAD_F146.gdb"
SETINI         MERGLINE.OUT="DALL"
SETINI         MERGLINE.LINES="${line}"
GX             mergline.gx

ENDGS
}

lecstor · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-21 12:31:02Z

so I think all you were really missing was close(part2); to allow it to be reopened as SEL..

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;

# this reformats the SEL file to remove the first line and replace the " with nothing

my $file = shift;
my $temp = shift;
my $linesH = shift;

open my $in,  '<', $file      or die "Can't read old file: Inappropriate I/O control operation";
open my $out, '>', $temp or die "Can't write new file: Inappropriate I/O control operation"; 

my $firstLine = 1;                                                                               

while (my $line = <$in>){
  print "LINE: $line\n";
  if ($firstLine){                                                                                            
    $firstLine = 0;                                                                          
  } else {
    $line =~ s/"L/L/g; # replace "L with L
    $line =~ s/"/,/g;  # replace " with,
    $line =~ s/\s+//g; # concatenates it all into one line
    print $out $line;  
  }
} 
close $out;


open (part1, $temp) || die "Couldn't open selection file";
open (part2, ">", $linesH) || die "Couldn't open selection file";

while (my $temp_line = <part1>){
  print "TEMPLINE: $temp_line\n";    
  my $string = substr($temp_line, 0, -1);
  print part2 <<ENDGS;
$string
ENDGS
}

close(part2);

#### this creates the merge script from the output 
#### file from the previous loop.
open (MergeScript, ">MergeScript.gs")||die "couldn't open output .gs file";
open (SEL, $linesH) || die "Couldn't open selection file";  

#iterate over required files
while ( my $sel_line = <SEL> ){
  chomp $sel_line;            
  print STDOUT $sel_line;     
  print MergeScript <<"ENDGS";
CURRENT        Database,"RAD_F146.gdb"
SETINI         MERGLINE.OUT="DALL"
SETINI         MERGLINE.LINES="$sel_line"
GX             mergline.gx

ENDGS

}

and one alternative way of doing it..

#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $file = shift;

open my $in,  '<', $file or die "Can't read old file: Inappropriate I/O control operation";
my @lines = <$in>;            # read in all the lines
shift @lines;                 # discard the first line
my $line = join(',', @lines); # join the lines with commas
$line =~ s/[\r\n"]+//g;       # remove the quotes and newlines

# print the line into the mergescript
open (MergeScript, ">MergeScript.gs")||die "couldn't open output .gs file";

print MergeScript <<"ENDGS";
CURRENT        Database,"RAD_F146.gdb"
SETINI         MERGLINE.OUT="DALL"
SETINI         MERGLINE.LINES="$line"
GX             mergline.gx

ENDGS

Thank you - you are a programming GOD. Wow. I wish I understood all those hieroglyphics but I'm thankful that you've solved my problem. Both solutions work and I like the elegance of your one.Thank you Lecstor, you've made my week.
umm, no, far from it, but thanks Adrian, definitely always happy to make someones week.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to use text output from one perl script as input to another perl script? I seem to be able run this as two separate scripts but not as one

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related