lineparser

lineparser is a small library with one goal: parse fixed-width formatted files extremely quickly. In order to achieve this, lineparser uses Cython to obtain the speed offered by good old C code and the convenience of Python.

Installing

You should be able to install lineparser via pip if you are on a Windows or Linux 64 bit machine.

$ pip3 install lineparser

Installing from Source

Installing from source is also easy. You must have GCC installed on your machine, and you must have Cython installed only if you want to modify the library. Then run this command:

$ python3 setup.py install

You may need root / administrator privileges to install.

Example

demo.py

from lineparser import Field, parse
import time

fields = [  Field(float, 12),
            Field(float, 10), 
            Field(float, 12), 
            Field(str, 6),
            Field(str, 6),
            Field(str, 14),
            Field(str, 14),
            Field(float, 6) ]

try:
    start = time.time()
    
    lines = parse(fields, b'data/small_data.par')
    
    end = time.time()
    
    print(f"Took {end - start} seconds to parse")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Encountered an error:\n {str(e)}")

# Use lines

data/small_data.par

    31.43339 6.531E-28   31.442390     3     2       0.00048       0.00000   100
    41.89467 1.415E-26   62.878170     4     3       0.00065       0.00000   100
    41.89786 3.538E-27   62.876840     4     3       0.00064       0.00000   100
    ...

Running the example: python3 demo.py