Open textfile and get the data behind the colon in Python
Question:
This is my Example list for you which is stored in a textfile:
DEVICE: Test
HW-RELEASE: Test
SERIAL-NUMBER: Test
MAC-ADDRESS: Test
IP-ADDRESS: Test
IP-NETMASK: Test
INTRANET-ADDRESS: Test
INTRANETMASK: Test
VERSION: Test
NAME: Test
CONFIG-STATUS: Test
FIRMWARE-STATUS: Test
HW-MASK: Test
FEATUREWORD: Test
REGISTERED-WORD: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
TIME: Test
HTTP-PORT: Test
HTTPS-PORT: Test
TELNET-PORT: Test
TELNET-SSL-PORT: Test
SSH-PORT: Test
SNMP-PORT: Test
TFTP-PORT: Test
LOCATION: Test
COUNTRY-CODE: Test
COMMENT: Test
MYVPN: Test
MYVPN-HOSTNAME: Test
EXTENDED-NAME: Test
So I want to output the data behind the colon but always only one line of it. I want to define this line via a dictionary in the script so that I can for example only enter "Device" and it gives me the name after the colon so that the names in front of the colon should act as a key. As I do the whole instead I only know roughly what I have thought up so far. Unfortunately this code doesn’t work as I would like it to:
data = {}
with open('C:/example/example/example/example/example.txt') as fh:
for line in fh:
key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1)
data[key] = value
for x in data:
print(x)
Output from this code is:
ValueError: not enough values to unpack (expected 2, got 1)
What I expect is when I define something like:
x = data["DEVICE"]
it should output its value which is obviously "Test"
Answers:
First, could you try print what is in line?
If it is as expected (i.e. contain DEVICE: Test), make sure the whitespace handled correctly as follows.
for line in fh:
if line.strip(): # Ignore blank lines
key, value = [x.strip() for x in line.strip().split(':', 1)]
...
Your problem lies in the format of your text file.
The empty lines between your value lines make key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1) crash. Simply reformat your text file or handle empty lines accordingly.
This is one option:
item = 'DEVICE'
filepath = '/home/will/testing/stuff.txt'
with open(filepath) as f:
data = f.read().splitlines()
data = [line for line in data if line != '']
data_dict = {line.split()[0][:-1]:line.split()[1] for line in data}
print(data_dict[item])
# Test
You are not skipping the empty lines.
If the example you posted is correct between to “entries” there is an empty line that you are trying to split:
try:
for line in fh:
if line:
key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1)
data[key] = value
This is my Example list for you which is stored in a textfile:
DEVICE: Test
HW-RELEASE: Test
SERIAL-NUMBER: Test
MAC-ADDRESS: Test
IP-ADDRESS: Test
IP-NETMASK: Test
INTRANET-ADDRESS: Test
INTRANETMASK: Test
VERSION: Test
NAME: Test
CONFIG-STATUS: Test
FIRMWARE-STATUS: Test
HW-MASK: Test
FEATUREWORD: Test
REGISTERED-WORD: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
FEATURE-LIST: Test
TIME: Test
HTTP-PORT: Test
HTTPS-PORT: Test
TELNET-PORT: Test
TELNET-SSL-PORT: Test
SSH-PORT: Test
SNMP-PORT: Test
TFTP-PORT: Test
LOCATION: Test
COUNTRY-CODE: Test
COMMENT: Test
MYVPN: Test
MYVPN-HOSTNAME: Test
EXTENDED-NAME: Test
So I want to output the data behind the colon but always only one line of it. I want to define this line via a dictionary in the script so that I can for example only enter "Device" and it gives me the name after the colon so that the names in front of the colon should act as a key. As I do the whole instead I only know roughly what I have thought up so far. Unfortunately this code doesn’t work as I would like it to:
data = {}
with open('C:/example/example/example/example/example.txt') as fh:
for line in fh:
key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1)
data[key] = value
for x in data:
print(x)
Output from this code is:
ValueError: not enough values to unpack (expected 2, got 1)
What I expect is when I define something like:
x = data["DEVICE"]
it should output its value which is obviously "Test"
First, could you try print what is in line?
If it is as expected (i.e. contain DEVICE: Test), make sure the whitespace handled correctly as follows.
for line in fh:
if line.strip(): # Ignore blank lines
key, value = [x.strip() for x in line.strip().split(':', 1)]
...
Your problem lies in the format of your text file.
The empty lines between your value lines make key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1) crash. Simply reformat your text file or handle empty lines accordingly.
This is one option:
item = 'DEVICE'
filepath = '/home/will/testing/stuff.txt'
with open(filepath) as f:
data = f.read().splitlines()
data = [line for line in data if line != '']
data_dict = {line.split()[0][:-1]:line.split()[1] for line in data}
print(data_dict[item])
# Test
You are not skipping the empty lines.
If the example you posted is correct between to “entries” there is an empty line that you are trying to split:
try:
for line in fh:
if line:
key, value = line.strip().split(':', 1)
data[key] = value