"[SOLVED] Importing: text with fixed length attributes"

Hello,

I have looked through the import components and Googled but cannot find a way to
read in a simple text file with fixed length attributes. How can one do this?

Apologies if this is a "no brainer" but I could not find a simple direct way to do this.

TIA,
Hugo

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Skirzynski

Hey,

You probably need the "Read CSV" operator. This operator can read a structured data set from a text file. Use the wizard to import and configure this operator correctly. For instance it is important to specify the separator so the operator knows where the value for an attribute begins and stops.

Best regards
Marcin

Ugo

Hi Marcin,

I already had a look at the CSV reader but it requires the use of a delimiter.
The file I have has no such delimiters. As an example, assume I have a line:

AABBCCCC

In this case I have 3 attributes with lengths 2, 2 and 3 respectively.
The attribute value would be AA, BB and CCCC. Note that no separator
exists.

Write now I am preparing AWK scripts to deal with this but I assumed
Rapidminer can deal with this type of data easily.

Thanks for the feedback.

Andrew2

Hello

You could read the text file using the regular expression "\r\n" to read each complete line.

Then use the operator Generate Extract to split each line into the required components using regular expressions.

Here's an example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<process version="5.3.000">
  <context>
    <input/>
    <output/>
    <macros/>
  </context>
  <operator activated="true" class="process" compatibility="5.3.000" expanded="true" name="Process">
    <process expanded="true" height="679" width="841">
      <operator activated="true" class="read_csv" compatibility="5.3.000" expanded="true" height="60" name="Read CSV" width="90" x="112" y="75">
        <parameter key="csv_file" value="C:\logs\fixedwidth.txt"/>
        <parameter key="column_separators" value="&quot;\r\n&quot;"/>
        <parameter key="first_row_as_names" value="false"/>
        <list key="annotations"/>
        <parameter key="encoding" value="windows-1252"/>
        <list key="data_set_meta_data_information">
          <parameter key="0" value="att1.true.polynominal.attribute"/>
        </list>
      </operator>
      <operator activated="true" class="text:generate_extract" compatibility="5.3.000" expanded="true" height="60" name="Generate Extract" width="90" x="246" y="75">
        <parameter key="source_attribute" value="att1"/>
        <parameter key="query_type" value="Regular Expression"/>
        <list key="string_machting_queries"/>
        <list key="regular_expression_queries">
          <parameter key="a1" value="(.{2})"/>
          <parameter key="a2" value="(?:.{2})(.{3})"/>
          <parameter key="a3" value="(?:.{5})(.{3})"/>
        </list>
        <list key="regular_region_queries"/>
        <list key="xpath_queries"/>
        <list key="namespaces"/>
        <list key="index_queries"/>
      </operator>
      <connect from_op="Read CSV" from_port="output" to_op="Generate Extract" to_port="Example Set"/>
      <connect from_op="Generate Extract" from_port="Example Set" to_port="result 1"/>
      <portSpacing port="source_input 1" spacing="0"/>
      <portSpacing port="sink_result 1" spacing="0"/>
      <portSpacing port="sink_result 2" spacing="0"/>
    </process>
  </operator>
</process>

The text file contains this

AABBCCCC
ABCDBBDS
ABDBQBDD
AASHHFGU

and the result looks like this

a1	a2	a3
AA	BBC	CCC
AB	CDB	BDS
AB	DBQ	BDD
AA	SHH	FGU

regards

Andrew

Ugo

Hi Andrew,

Exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you.
Hugo F.