Parsing files in python

[Kene Meniru]

Chris Angelico wrote:

> I'm hoping you meant for that to be public; if not, my apologies for
> forwarding a private message.
> 
> On Mon, Dec 24, 2012 at 8:45 PM, Kene Meniru <kene.meniru at illom.org>
> wrote:
>> Chris Angelico wrote:
>>> from povray_macros import *
>>>
>>
>> Am afraid you misunderstood my post. The file format I described is not
>> an attempt to re-create or modify a python environment. I do not wish to
>> be able to "import" python macros but other text files similar to the one
>> I described.
> 
> Yep. There are two possibilities: Either you create a program that
> reads in a file of format you invent, or you make a set of Python
> functions and classes that mean that the format is actually a Python
> script. Instead of writing a file parser, you use Python's, and the
> program you write is actually a module rather than a top-level
> application.
> 

Actually, I think I mean what you are saying. Let me repeat what I 
understand maybe I am understanding it wrong.

You are saying I can create a python module that can parse this file format 
without using a system like python-ply? I know how to parse strings using 
python but considering that text files that describe a whole building may be 
quite large I thought perhaps the re module may not be adequate.

> Producing output on stdout is one of the easiest and most standard
> ways to export content.
> 
> ChrisA