how to deal with space between numbers

Terry Reedy tjreedy at
Wed Aug 24 00:07:30 CEST 2005

Your input data file must be formatted in such a way that the program, 
knowing the format, can separate one number from another.  There are two 
basic ways to do this.

1. Separate the numbers with non-digit characters, such as spaces.  (Other 
characters such as commas are also used, but are more trouble when your 
data is just numbers.)

2. Put each number in a particular set of columns.  The columns make a 
*field*.  If the numbers in a field will be greater than 9, then your field 
needs more than one column.  For input to Python, numbers that do not 
require all the columns in the field should be padded with leading spaces 
rather than leading zeros.  Example with 3 fields, with the second needing 
2 columns.
1102 # 1 10 2
4 53 # 4  5 3
This usually requires an editor with fixed-pitch fonts.  And you have to 
tell the program the position of each field.

Unless you have enough fields or enough lines that you actually need to 
save display or disk space, I would stick with the first option.

Terry J. Reedy

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