StringCases functionality on a varying rows of data

Question

There is a string in this form:

<12> cfg <15.21>  bhg    v<(24)>    e<65>   True
<12> cfg <15.21>  bhg    v<33>      e<(77)> False
<83> fff <67>     bhg     < >       e<(43)> True
<11> fff <14.21>  bff    v<(1.42)>  e<44>   True
<76> cfg <76.3>   fff     < >       e<21>   True
<98> cff <34>     rrs    v<33>       < >    True

The point is the numbers in the parenthesis indicate negative numbers and there are as well some missing values. I need to refine this string in a form to get a vector of output in this form:

{{12,15.21,-24,65,T},{12,15.21,33,-77,F},{83,67,-43,-43,T},
{11,14.21,-1.42,44,T},{76,76.3,NA,21,T},{98,NA,33,NA,T}}

What I did is to apply this:

Partition[StringCases[list, NumberString],4]

But as some rows have different structure then it is not working. And also this is not able to capture the negative numbers, and even this is neglecting the last column!!

How is it possible to manage this?

Answer 1

Here is one approach.

StringReplace[string,
  {"< >" -> "NA", "(" -> "-", "e<" | "v<" | "<" | ">" | ")" -> " "}
]

ImportString[%, "Table"][[All, {1, 3, 5, 6, 7}]] /. {"True" -> True, "False" -> False}

{{12, 15.21, -24, 65, True}, {12, 15.21, 33, -77, False}, {83, 67, "NA", -43, True},
 {11, 14.21, -1.42, 44, True}, {76, 76.3, "NA", 21, True}, {98, 34, 33, "NA", True}}

Answer 2

One way using string patterns and StringCases like this:

string = ImportString["<12> cfg <15.21>  bhg    v<(24)>    e<65>   True
  <12> cfg <15.21>  bhg    v<33>      e<(77)> False
  <83> fff <67>     bhg     < >       e<(43)> True
  <11> fff <14.21>  bff    v<(1.42)>  e<44>   True
  <76> cfg <76.3>   fff     < >       e<21>   True
  <98> cff <34>     rrs    v<33>       < >    True", "Lines"];
StringCases[string, {
  "<" ~~ p : NumberString ~~ ">" :> ToExpression[p],
  "<(" ~~ n : NumberString ~~ ")>" :> -ToExpression[n],
  "<" ~~ Whitespace.. ~~ ">" -> "NA",
  b : "True" | "False" :> b /. {"True" -> "T", "False" -> "F"}
  }]

{{12, 15.21, -24, 65, "T"}, {12, 15.21, 33, -77, "F"}, {83, 67, 
  "NA", -43, "T"}, {11, 14.21, -1.42, 44, "T"}, {76, 76.3, "NA", 21, 
  "T"}, {98, 34, 33, "NA", "T"}}