There's got to be an easy way to do this

[Brad Bollenbach]

Erg...wait...I guess you meant user input, not input from a file or a
database. Sorry. :)


"Brad Bollenbach" <bbollenbach at homenospam.com> wrote in message
news:v0517.75$hn5.63366 at news1.rdc1.mb.home.com...
> Consider the underlying problem here before going any further.
>
> Generally speaking "data" isn't stored formatted. "Information" is data
that
> has /been/ formatted. In other words, your data model (whether flat file,
or
> database), should store phone numbers as:
>
> 1235554444
>
> not
>
> (123) 555 - 4444
>
> So by the sounds of it, if you have to do some trickery just to extract
> _only digits_ out of  a stored phone number, you might want to fix your
data
> model before you fix your code.
>
> "Lindstrom Greg - glinds" <Greg.Lindstrom at acxiom.com> wrote in message
> news:mailman.994350130.18544.python-list at python.org...
> > I am reading in a phone number field and would like to throw away
> everything
> > except the digits.  Being an old C programmer, I know how I would do
this.
> > Even with my limited knowledge of Python, I know how I would do it:
> >
> > stripped_phone=''
> > for c in phone_number:
> > if c in digits:
> > stripped_phone += c
> >
> > but with all of the data structure support native to Python, I'm sure
> there
> > is "an obvious way" to do it (perhaps it's because I'm not Dutch:-).
> >
> > Greg Lindstrom
> > Acxiom Corporation,                    mail: CWY10011149
> > InfoBase Products Development                  office: (501) 342-1626
> > 301 Industrial Blvd, Conway, AR, 72032     fax:     (501) 336-3911
> > email: Greg.Lindstrom at acxiom.com
> >
> > "When the solution is simple, God has spoken"
> >
> >                                                             Albert
> Einstein
> >
> >
> >
>
>