Read in numbers and arrays from txt file

Question

Lets assume I have a .txt file with the following content:

New entry.
R 445.24
Z 4713.5
Data
-218.474 -1127.02 261.511
-268.049 -1384.29 245.665
-275.05 -1420.62 243.428
-285.106 -1472.8 240.214
-301.545 -1558.11 234.959
-366.24 -1893.84 214.281
-380.351 -1967.07 209.771
-436.455 -2258.21 191.838
-493.221 -2552.79 173.694
-652.165 -3377.61 122.891
-724.069 -3750.75 99.9089
-806.379 -4177.89 73.6002
Result -85.4974 -436.954 304.014
New entry.
R 2600
Z 3428.47
Data
-218.474 -1127.02 261.511
-268.049 -1384.29 245.665
-275.05 -1420.62 243.428
-285.106 -1472.8 240.214
-301.545 -1558.11 234.959
-366.24 -1893.84 214.281
-380.351 -1967.07 209.771
-436.455 -2258.21 191.838
-493.221 -2552.79 173.694
-652.165 -3377.61 122.891
-724.069 -3750.75 99.9089
-806.379 -4177.89 73.6002
Result -493.221 -2552.79 173.694
...

I would now like to read in the values and save the R, Z, Data and Result values and keep them connected so I can access them easily. The data and result entries are 3D vectors and while Result, R and Z always have exactly one entry, the number of entries in Data can vary. What is the best way to do this? Thanks!

Answer 1

Assuming I understand your data structure correctly, you could do something based on the following:

SplitBy[Import["file.txt", "List"], StringMatchQ["New entry."]][[2 ;; ;; 2]]

This imports the file as a list of strings, and then splits the list into sublists everytime an element is "New Entry.". You can then take every other element (starting with the second element).

I would personally try to put this into a collection of Associations. If you have a really large number of data points this might not be the best way, but it should still be illustrative. Here is a helper function:

readBlock[
  r_List] := <|
    "R" -> Interpreter["Number"]@StringExtract[r[[1]], 2], 
    "Z" -> Interpreter["Number"]@StringExtract[r[[2]], 2], 
    "Data" -> Interpreter[DelimitedSequence["Number"]]/@r[[4 ;; -2]], 
    "Result" -> Interpreter["Number"] /@ StringExtract[r[[-1]], 2 ;; 4]
     |> 

which can be used like so:

readBlock /@ (SplitBy[Import["file.txt", "List"],StringMatchQ["New entry."]][[2 ;; ;; 2]])

(* {<|"R" -> 445.24, "Z" -> 4713.5, 
  "Data" -> {{-218.474, -1127.02, 261.511}, {-268.049, -1384.29, 
     245.665}, {-275.05, -1420.62, 243.428}, {-285.106, -1472.8, 
     240.214}, {-301.545, -1558.11, 234.959}, {-366.24, -1893.84, 
     214.281}, {-380.351, -1967.07, 209.771}, {-436.455, -2258.21, 
     191.838}, {-493.221, -2552.79, 173.694}, {-652.165, -3377.61, 
     122.891}, {-724.069, -3750.75, 99.9089}, {-806.379, -4177.89, 
     73.6002}}, 
  "Result" -> {-85.4974, -436.954, 304.014}|>, <|"R" -> 2600, 
  "Z" -> 3428.47, 
  "Data" -> {{-218.474, -1127.02, 261.511}, {-268.049, -1384.29, 
     245.665}, {-275.05, -1420.62, 243.428}, {-285.106, -1472.8, 
     240.214}, {-301.545, -1558.11, 234.959}, {-366.24, -1893.84, 
     214.281}, {-380.351, -1967.07, 209.771}, {-436.455, -2258.21, 
     191.838}, {-493.221, -2552.79, 173.694}, {-652.165, -3377.61, 
     122.891}, {-724.069, -3750.75, 99.9089}, {-806.379, -4177.89, 
     73.6002}}, "Result" -> {-493.221, -2552.79, 173.694}|>} *)

If you wanted, you could make this into one function that imports and does the processing.