Parsing Large Files
The method above works well for relatively simple files, but what if you need to parse a large file with a basic structure that has a few subtle variations? One method is to use the ereg() function[1] to seek out patterns of data.
This next script parses a large text file and places its contents into a database. The file is a list of 789 multiple-choice questions that appear on the FAA's private-pilot written exam.[2]
[2] The questions are not under copyright and are freely available.
The document follows a basic structure, in that it has numbered questions followed by three possible answers. Some of the questions reference a figure, while other questions reference multiple ...
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