splitting tables

[robsom]

Hi, I have a problem with a small python program I'm trying to write
and I hope somebody may help me. I'm working on tables of this kind:

CGA 1988 06 21 13 48 G500-050 D   509.62 J.. R1 1993 01 28 00 00 880006
CGA 1988 06 21 14 04 G500-051 D   550.62 J.. R1 1993 01 28 00 00 880007

I have to read each line of the table and put it into comma-separated
lists like these for later manipulation:

CGA,1988,06,21,13,48,G500-050,D,509.62,J..,R1,1993,01,28,00,00,880006
CGA,1988,06,21,14,04,G500-051,D,550.62,J..,R1,1993,01,28,00,00,880007

The 'split' function works pretty well, except when there is an error in
the original data table. For example if an element is missin in a line,
like this:

CGA 1990 08 15 13 16 G500-105 D   524.45 J.. R1 1993 01 29 00 00 900069
CGA 1990 08 16 01 22          D   508.06 J.. R1 1993 01 27 00 00 900065

This error happens quite often in my dataset and the tables are too
large to check for it manually. In this case what I get splitting the
line string is of course this:

CGA,1990,08,15,13,16,G500-105,D,524.45,J..,R1,1993,01,29,00,00,900069
CGA,1990,08,16,01,22,D,508.06,J..,R1,1993,01,27,00,00,900065

And when the program tries to work on the second list it stops (of course!).
Is there any way to avoid this problem? This kind of error happens quite
often in my dataset and the tables are usually too large to check for it
manually. Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

R