Command output parsing in Python2.7

Question

There is a system command which gives output like this:

 OUTPUT HDMI2 123.123.123
(OUTPUT) * HDMI1 124.124.124

How can I parse it? I need to parse, and I need data from the line with () and *, this is in used. When I got the in-used line I need the HDMI part and the numbers part.

Answer 1

Check if the line contains the string VGA, then return the numbers:

if 'VGA' in line:
 return line.split('VGA')[1]

if "VGA" should be part of the result:

if 'VGA' in line:
 return "VGA " + line.split('VGA')[1]

and, if you just want the numbers, individually:

if 'VGA' in line:
 return map(int, line.split('VGA')[1].split('.'))

Update: solution for updated requirements.

To find the line marked with () and *, a regular expression might be better, e.g.:

for line in input_lines:
 m = re.match(r'''
 ^\( # at the beginning of the line look for a (
 [A-Z]+ # then a group of upper-case letters, i.e. OUTPUT
 \) # followed by a )
 \s* # some space
 \* # a literal *
 \s* # more space
 (?P<tag>[A-Z0-9]+) # create a named group (tag) that matches HDMI1, ie. upper case letters or numbers
 \s* # more space
 (?P<nums>[\d\.]+) # followed by a sequence of numbers and .
 $ # before reaching the end of the line
 ''', line, re.VERBOSE)
 if m: 
 break
else: # note: this else goes with the for-loop
 raise ValueError("Couldn't find a match")
# we get here if we hit the break statement
tag = m.groupdict()['tag'] # HDMI1
nums = m.groupdict()['nums'] # 124.124.124

• tmsblgh: I edited my question, I think you don't understand it, but its my fault. Sorry
• thebjorn: Normally when asking a question on Stack Overflow, you need to (a) provide the input - which you have done, (b) the output you expect, and (c) the code you have tried. Right now I'm uncertain if you want 123.123.123 returned or 124.124.124?
• tmsblgh: I have these two line, these line are the output of an system command. I need to parse it and then I need the data of that line what is the active. The active line is always marked with * and (). The output what I want is this: "HDM1" or "124.124.124"