textfile: copy between 2 keywords

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 10 Sep 2015 09:18 pm, Gerald wrote:

> Hey,
> 
> is there a easy way to copy the content between 2 unique keywords in a
> .txt file?
> 
> example.txt
> 
> 1, 2, 3, 4
> #keyword1
> 3, 4, 5, 6
> 2, 3, 4, 5
> #keyword2
> 4, 5, 6 ,7
> 
> 
> Thank you very much


Copy in what sense? Write to another file, or just copy to memory?

Either way, your solution will look something like this:

* read each line from the input file, until you reach the first keyword;
* as soon as you see the first keyword, change to "copy mode" and start
copying lines in whatever way you feel is best;
* until you see the second keyword, then stop.


E.g.

with open("input.txt") as f:
    # Skip lines as fast as possible.
    for line in f:
        if line == "START\n":
            break
    # Instead of copying, I'll just print the lines. That's sort of a copy.
    for line in f:  # This will pick up where the previous for loop ended.
        if line == "STOP\n":
            break
        print(line)
    # If you like, you can just finish now.
    # Or, we can read the rest of the lines.
    for line in f:  # continue from just after the STOP keyword.
        pass  # This is a waste of time...
print("Done!")



-- 
Steven