# Group several lines into one line

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 27, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608 "2009-04-27T20:25:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/1 "2009-04-27T20:25:34Z")

</div>

After sitting at this problem for hours without much progress, now is  
the time that I need your help. Btw. I’m quite new to ruby.

I have a file that looks like this:

00-04-00;Austragungssystem für längliche oder  
00-04-00;quadratische Lagerräume inklusive 3-  
00-04-00;poligen Wielandstecker/Gegenstecker  
00-04-00;Technische Daten:  
00-04-00;Elektrischer Anschluss: 230V / 50Hz  
00002274;Wilo Temperaturfühler TF  
00002274;Temperaturschalter mit Einstellknopf  
00002274;einschließlich 2 Stück Federspannbändern  
00002274;zum Anlegen an Rohre bis DN 100.  
00002274;Max. Betriebsspannung: 250 V  
00002274;Max. Schaltleistung: 4 A  
00002274;Schutzart: IP 43  
00002274;Schaltbereich: 30 oC bis 90 oC  
00002274;Fabrikat: WILO  
00002274;Typ: Temperaturschalter TF

what i need is to group lines with the same serialnumber  
(eg. 00-04-00, 00002274) into one line like this:

00-04-00;Austragungssystem für längliche oder quadratische Lagerräume  
inklusive 3-poligen Wielandstecker/Gegenstecker Technische Daten:  
Elektrischer Anschluss: 230V / 50Hz

I need several lines combined to one line with the matching serialnumber  
in front.

I searched for several hours on the internet and in several forums.  
Maybe I was looking for the wrong search terms. But I’m at a loss here.

Thanks in advance.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/2 "2009-04-27T20:52:20Z")

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Dirk D. wrote:

> I need several lines combined to one line with the matching serialnumber  
> in front.  
> I’m not good at coming up with the code examples off the top of my head  
> but maybe a regex matching the serial numbers and then a split to pull  
> off the portion you want then combining the matched portion.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/3 "2009-04-27T21:00:33Z")

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On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 8:25 PM, Dirk D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> 00002274;Wilo Temperaturfühler TF  
> what i need is to group lines with the same serialnumber  
> (eg. 00-04-00, 00002274) into one line like this:
> 
> 00-04-00;Austragungssystem für längliche oder quadratische Lagerräume  
> inklusive 3-poligen Wielandstecker/Gegenstecker Technische Daten:  
> Elektrischer Anschluss: 230V / 50Hz

Something like this (untested) might get you started:

s = “00-40…” #your string  
h = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = “”}  
s.each do |line|  
key, value = line.split(“;”)  
h[key] \<\< value.chomp  
end

This will give you a hash where the keys are the serial numbers and  
the values, the concatenated parts that correspond to that serial  
number.

Jesus.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/4 "2009-04-27T21:24:00Z")

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Jesús Gabriel y Galán wrote:

> > 00-04-00;Elektrischer Anschluss: 230V / 50Hz
> 
> s = “00-40…” #your string  
> h = Hash.new {|h,k| h[k] = “”}  
> s.each do |line|  
> key, value = line.split(";")  
> h[key] \<\< value.chomp  
> end

That won’t quite work if there is a second semicolon on the line. Try:

key, value = line.scan(/([^;]_);(._)/).first

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/5 "2009-04-28T02:36:31Z")

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Thanks a lot to all.

Rob,  
your solution works like a charme.

Now i’ll just do some heavy commenting, to understand it all and for  
reference.

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**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/6 "2009-04-27T21:37:30Z")

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On Apr 27, 2009, at 2:59 PM, Jesús Gabriel y Galán wrote:

> > 00-04-00;Elektrischer Anschluss: 230V / 50Hz
> 
> s = “00-40…” #your string  
> Jesus.  
> current\_serial = nil  
> texts = []  
> File.open(outputfilename, ‘w’) do |out|  
> File.foreach(filename) do |line|  
> serial, text = line.chomp.split(‘;’, 2)  
> if current\_serial && serial != current\_serial  
> out.puts “#{current\_serial};#{texts.join(’ ')}”  
> texts = []  
> end  
> current\_serial = serial  
> texts \<\< text  
> end  
> if current\_serial  
> out.puts “#{current\_serial};#{texts.join(’ ')}”  
> end  
> end

Two things of note: The second argument to split(‘;’, 2) limits the  
result to 2 items so if there happens to be a ‘;’ later in the line it  
isn’t considered a place to split. Keeping the items in a hash  
doesn’t guarantee the order on the way back out, but I’m also assuming  
that all the lines with a given serial number are together.

You have to initialize your filename and outputfilename, of course.  
-Rob

Rob B. [http://agileconsultingllc.com](http://agileconsultingllc.com)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@dad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dad)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/group-several-lines-into-one-line/166608/7 "2009-05-01T03:04:44Z")

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The desired output cannot be achieved unless your log preserves  
trailing spaces. Thus:

00002274;Temperaturschalter mit Einstellknopfeinschließlich 2  
Stück Federspannbändernzum Anlegen an Rohre bis DN 100.Max.  
Betriebsspannung: 250 VMax. Schaltleistung: 4 ASchutzart: IP  
43Schaltbereich: 30 oC bis 90 oCFabrikat: WILOTyp: Temperaturschalter TF

My suggestion is to pad with a space unless the line ends in a hyphen.

Picayune perhaps, but aesthetics (readability) counts.

Bob Schaaf