# Trying to add threading to parse a .txt file **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [June 9, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985 "2008-06-09T20:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985/1 "2008-06-09T20:32:45Z")
Hi All, I have code that will parse a text file line by line and then send the variable I want to a sub routine to send pages to people. My question is can I use threads to parse that text file with out duplicating the output. Below is the code it may make more sense to look at it. #!/usr/bin/ruby trap(‘SIGHUP’,‘IGNORE’) i = 0 def autopage(pagenum,count) begin `snpp -s SERVER ADDRESS -f 'EOC Notify' -m 'test' #{pagenum}` rescue puts “#{pagenum} has NOT been paged.” else puts "#{pagenum} has been paged. #{count} " end end File.open(’//var//lib//asterisk//agi-bin//pager\_list.txt’, ‘r’) do | f1| while line = f1.gets result = {} pagenum,fname,lname=line.split(" ") if line.split.empty? else if pagenum == “####” else count = (i += 1) autopage(pagenum,count) end end end end Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985/2 "2008-06-09T22:13:25Z")
On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 2:30 PM, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi All, > > I have code that will parse a text file line by line and then send the > variable I want to a sub routine to send pages to people. My question > is can I use threads to parse that text file with out duplicating the > output. Below is the code it may make more sense to look at it. Why do you want to use threads? – Avdi Home: [http://avdi.org](http://avdi.org) Developer Blog: [Avdi Grimm, Code Cleric](http://avdi.org/devblog/) Twitter: [http://twitter.com/avdi](http://twitter.com/avdi) Journal: [http://avdi.livejournal.com](http://avdi.livejournal.com) ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985/3 "2008-06-09T22:39:51Z")
On Jun 9, 3:35 pm, Avdi G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > – > Avdi > > Home:[http://avdi.org](http://avdi.org) > Developer Blog:[Avdi Grimm, Code Cleric](http://avdi.org/devblog/) > Twitter:[http://twitter.com/avdi](http://twitter.com/avdi) > Journal:[http://avdi.livejournal.com](http://avdi.livejournal.com) As this .txt file is 200 lines long. I can send 200 individual pages now in 3:min33sec i would like to cut that time by a forth by using 4 threads. I just don’t think I know enough enough about threads yet to do so. The closest thing I have come up with so far is to have 2 threads parsing two .txt file with 100 lines each in them. ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985/4 "2008-06-10T01:05:22Z")
On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 4:34 PM, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > As this .txt file is 200 lines long. I can send 200 individual pages > now in 3:min33sec i would like to cut that time by a forth by using 4 > threads. I just don’t think I know enough enough about threads yet to > do so. The closest thing I have come up with so far is to have 2 > threads parsing two .txt file with 100 lines each in them. Chances are, with the MRI threading model, you’re not going to get any speed increase from threading this. Ruby IO tends to block the entire interpreter. – Avdi Home: [http://avdi.org](http://avdi.org) Developer Blog: [Avdi Grimm, Code Cleric](http://avdi.org/devblog/) Twitter: [http://twitter.com/avdi](http://twitter.com/avdi) Journal: [http://avdi.livejournal.com](http://avdi.livejournal.com) ---
**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trying-to-add-threading-to-parse-a-txt-file/139985/5 "2008-06-10T01:28:12Z")
On Jun 9, 2:29 pm, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > ``` > puts "#{pagenum} has been paged. #{count} " > if pagenum == "####" > else > count = (i += 1) > autopage(pagenum,count) > end > end > end > end > > ``` > > Thanks!! The parsing of the file itself, should not be threaded. What you should do is every time you read a line and determine that you need to send a page, put the paging information into a Queue. Then you can creat four, ten, or some other number of threads to consume the paging information from the queue. After pulling something from the queue, they’ll use the information to call your autopage method. For a good example, see the the short producer/consumer program created by Robert Kellner that appears in the ‘thread’ library section of the Pick Axe book (2nd ed). In my version of the book it’s on page 722, but page numbers seem to vary b/w printings and format. If you don’t mind my offering some additional unsolicited notes on your code: You have a few "if"s with empty "then"s. Ruby has an “unless” which is essentially the opposite of “if” that would make this code cleaner (IMHO). You can put a “rescue” at the top level inside a method without having a begin/end block. But you’re right in that in other cases you do need the begin/end block. Hope that’s helpful, Eric ==== [LearnRuby.com](http://LearnRuby.com) offers Rails & Ruby HANDS-ON public & ON-SITE workshops. Ruby Fundamentals Wkshp June 16-18 Ann Arbor, Mich. Ready for Rails R. Wkshp June 23-24 Ann Arbor, Mich. Ruby on Rails Wkshp June 25-27 Ann Arbor, Mich. Ruby Plus Rails Combo Wkshp June 23-27 Ann Arbor, Mich Please visit [http://LearnRuby.com](http://LearnRuby.com) for all the details.