From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2009-02-07T22:42:20+09:00
Subject: Re: cannot remove multiple space> nuts!

Tom Cloyd wrote:
> I'm baffled by this strange outcome - I cannot reduce multiple spaces 
> from a text file. This isn't just a regex problem, somehow. I'm 
> failing to grasp something essential, but don't know what it is. All 
> help appreciated, as usual!
>
> Here is a demo of my problem, in which I try two different ways, and 
> both fail:
>
> === code ===
> # h2t.rb
>
> def main
>  # conversion table spec
>  conv = [
>  [ '<h1>', 'h1. ' ], [ '<h2>', 'h2. ' ], [ '<h3>', 'h3. ' ],
>  [ '<h4>', 'h4. ' ], [ '<h5>', 'h5. ' ], [ '<h6>', 'h6. ' ],  [ 
> /<\/h\d>/, '' ],
>  [ " +", ' ' ]]  # <= this last array element should do the trick, but 
> doesn't
Ouch. THIS - [ / +/, ' ' ], substituted for [ " +", ' ' ] above fixes 
it. I'm going blind, obviously.

t.
>
>  data = open( 'h2t-in2.txt', 'r' ) { |f| ( f.readlines( data )).to_s  }
>
>  conv.each do |i|
>    data.gsub!( i[0], i[1] )
>  end
>  data.squeeze(' ')  # <= putting this here was sheer desperations, but 
> even THIS fails
>
>  open( "h2t-out.txt", "w" ) { |f| f.write( data ) }
>
> end
>
> %w(rubygems ruby-debug readline strscan logger fileutils).each{ |lib| 
> require lib }
>
> main
>
> === input file ===
>
> <h1>Library    catalog  listing           </h1>x
>
> <h3>Library    catalog  listing           </h3>x
>
> <h2>Library    catalog  listing           </h2>x
>
> p(subtitle).   A    complete listing of all material in the Library
>
>
> === output file ===
>
>
> h1. Library    catalog  listing           x
>
> h3. Library    catalog  listing           x
>
> h2. Library    catalog  listing           x
>
> p(subtitle).   A    complete listing of all material in the Library
>
> ==============
>
> The "x"s in the input file are to show that while the end tags are 
> being removed the space before them is NOT.
>
> t.
>


-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< tc@tomcloyd.com >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website) 
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
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