perl text file processing using hash

Hi Experts,

I have this requirement to process large files (200MB+).Format of files is like:

recordstart
val1               1
val2               2
val3               4
recordstart
val1               5
val2               6
val3               1
val4               1
recordstart
val1               1 
val2               3
val3               6

Final output required is

val1,val2,val3
1,2,4
5,6,1
1,3,6

My existing AWK script does the job but its very slow.
val1, val2,val3 are repeating values and i have "recordstart" before each set of values

I would like to process these files using perl. Idea is to

1. split file into hashes by using "recordstart" as delimiter.
2. process each hash separately.
3. values in 2nd column also need some regular expression job.

:wall:
I know how to read a normal file into hash. My problem here is to split file into chunks and then handle those hash by common variable.

Any hints !
Thanks in advance.

could you show your awk script? just rewriting in a new language won't make it faster, but maybe the logic can be improved.

@corona awk approach is pretty simple

awk '{if ( $1 == "recordstart" )                                        
              print " ";                                                           
              else                                                                 
              printf $2 ",";}' filename.txt.   

Issue is with values like
4E598102'H
255'D
I need to remove 'H and 'D from these values. Sometimes change from HEX to decimal.
processing these value takes much time.

I am under impression that perl will make it bit fast. Also, Using hashes, I can choose fields easily. I dont need to print everything

It is not a given that Perl will be any faster than Awk. In most cases it won't be.

Here is a code snippet that will get you started with multi-line records from a file:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

$i=0;
$throw_away=<DATA>;   # read the first record delim...
while (defined($record=<DATA>)) {
    if ($record !~ /recordstart/) {
        $record .= <DATA>; 
        redo unless eof(DATA);
    }
    $record =~ s/^recordstart\Z//m;
    # now you have the full record...
    print "====record $i:\n$record\n";
    $i++;
}
    
__DATA__
recordstart
val1               1
val2               2
val3               4
recordstart
val1               5
val2               6
val3               1
val4               1
recordstart
val1               1 
val2               3
val3               6

An alternate is to use the Perl record separator to help you:

{ 
    local $/="recordstart\n";
    $throw_away=<DATA>;
    $i=0;
    while ($record=<DATA>) {
        chomp $record;
        $i++;
        # now you have the individual records:
        print "record $i:\n$record";
    }
}

When strictly processing flat files, very often awk is faster than perl, depending on many factors.

One might suggest that you try a different version of awk on the platform you are using.

With an example input file:

sunt2000/user777$ cat ./test.in
 recordstart
val1               1
val2               2
val3               4
recordstart
val1               5
val2               6
val3               1
val4               1
recordstart
val1               1 
val2               3
val3               6

Your adjusted awk script with some adjustments:

sunt2000/user777$ cat ./test.sh
awk '
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine=="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; print "" }
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine!="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; FirstLine="No" }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar=="No" { FirstChar="No" ; printf "," $2 }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar!="No" { FirstChar="No" ; printf $2 }
END { print "" }' test.in

The output would look like this:

sunt2000/user777$ ./test.sh
1,2,4
5,6,1,1
1,3,6

If you are running on a real POSIX compliant platform, you will have multiple versions of awk. The "nawk" tool has more functionality in regard to some built-in variables than "awk" and "/usr/xpg4/bin/awk" has the ability to hold open more simultaneous file handles.

I took the sample data set provided in the thread, repeated it until the input file was 364 lines long, and processed the file 260 times on the "*awk" command line. The aggregate size of all data sets was 1.7MB.

On a slow box, I get the following performance results:

awk: real: 0m4.21s, 0m4.21s, 0m4.24s
awk: user: 0m4.17s, 0m4.18s, 0m4.21s
awk: sys: 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s

/usr/xpg4/bin/awk: real: 0m3.37s, 0m3.45s, 0m3.40s
/usr/xpg4/bin/awk: user: 0m3.33s, 0m3.42s, 0m3.38s
/usr/xpg4/bin/awk: sys: 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s

nawk real: 0m1.75s, 0m1.66s, 0m1.72s
nawk user: 0m1.71s, 0m1.63s, 0m1.69s
nawk sys: 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s

You can get a 2x-3x boost in speed, by merely adjusting which "*awk" you use.

Removing the 'H and 'D is a simple step in awk. Let's adjust your sample datafile, and repeat it the same number of times in the previous timing example:

sunt2000/user777$ cat ./test.in3
recordstart
val1               1'H
val2               2'D
val3               4
recordstart
val1               5
val2               6
val3               1'H
val4               1'H
recordstart
val1               1
val2               3
val3               6
...

sunt2000/user777$ cat ./test3.awk
/'H/ { gsub("'H","") }
/'D/ { gsub("'D","") }
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine=="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; print "" }
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine!="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; FirstLine="No" }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar=="No" { FirstChar="No" ; printf "," $2 }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar!="No" { FirstChar="No" ; printf $2 }
END { print "" }

Now, we will adjust the nawk script to remove them, and time the results against over 200 files where each file has thousands of lines:

sunt2000/user777$ time nawk -f test3.awk test.in3 test.in3 test.in3 ...
 
nawk real: 0m2.39s, 0m2.40s, 0m2.26s
nawk user: 0m2.35s, 0m2.36s, 0m2.24s
nawk sys: 0m0.03s, 0m0.02s, 0m0.02s

The results were just slightly slower adding the stripping.

You can shave off 0.10s more regularly, by avoiding the compares and just force the "gusb" for the 'H and 'D just before the "printf", all time.

sunt2000/user777$ cat test.awk4
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine=="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; print "" }
$1 == "recordstart" && FirstLine!="No" { FirstChar="Yes" ; FirstLine="No" }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar=="No" { FirstChar="No" ; gsub("'H","") ; gsub("'D","") ; printf "," $2 }
$1 != "recordstart" && FirstChar!="No" { FirstChar="No" ; gsub("'H","") ; gsub("'D","") ; printf $2 }
END { print "" }

sunt2000/user777$ time nawk -f test4.awk test.in3 test.in3 test.in3 ...

nawk real: 0m2.21s, 0m2.26s, 0m2.26s
nawk user: 0m2.18s, 0m2.24s, 0m2.24s
nawk sys: 0m0.02s, 0m0.03s, 0m0.02s

In total, "nawk" is faster than "/usr/xpg4/bin/awk", which is faster than "awk".
Global substitutions can be easily managed in awk.