Python to combine lines in a txt file

Question

a question regarding combine lines in a txt file.

file contents as below (movie subtitles). I want to combine the subtitles, those English words and sentences in each paragraph into 1 line, instead of now showing either 1, 2 or 3 lines separably.

could you please advise which method is feasible in Python? many thanks.

1
00:00:23,343 --> 00:00:25,678
Been a while since I was up here
in front of you.

2
00:00:25,762 --> 00:00:28,847
Maybe I'll do us all a favour
and just stick to the cards.

3
00:00:31,935 --> 00:00:34,603
There's been speculation that I was
involved in the events that occurred
on the freeway and the rooftop...

4
00:00:36,189 --> 00:00:39,233
Sorry, Mr Stark, do you
honestly expect us to believe that

5
00:00:39,317 --> 00:00:42,903
that was a bodyguard
in a suit that conveniently appeared,

6
00:00:42,987 --> 00:00:45,698
despite the fact
that you sorely despise bodyguards?

7
00:00:45,782 --> 00:00:46,907
Yes.

8
00:00:46,991 --> 00:00:51,662
And this mysterious bodyguard
was somehow equipped

Answer 1

Intuitive solution

A simple solution based on the 4 types of lines you can have:

• an empty line
• a number indicating the position (no letters)
• a timing for the subtitle (with a specific pattern; no letters)
• text

You can just loop over each line, classifying them, and then act accordingly.

In fact, the "action" for a non-text not-empty line (timeline and numeric) is the same. Thus:

import re

with open('yourfile.txt') as f:
    exampleText = f.read()

new = ''

for line in exampleText.split('\n'):
    if line == '':
        new += '\n\n'
    elif re.search('[a-zA-Z]', line):  # check if there is text
        new += line + ' ' 
    else:
        new += line + '\n' 

Result:

>>> print(new)
1
00:00:23,343 --> 00:00:25,678
Been a while since I was up here in front of you. 

2
00:00:25,762 --> 00:00:28,847
Maybe I'll do us all a favour and just stick to the cards. 
...

Regex explained:

• [] indicates any of the characters inside
• az indicates the range of characters az
• AZ indicates the range of characters AZ

Answer 2

The pattern seems to be:

1. a line with just a number,
2. the next line with timing information, and
3. one or more lines of text, separated by a blank line.

I would write a loop that reads lines 1) and 2), and then a nested loop that reads lines 3) until it finds a blank line. This nested loop could join those lines into a single line.

Answer 3

Still working on the 1st line..rest is what you expected.

with open('/home/cam/Documents/1.txt','rb') as f:
    f_out=open('mytxt','w+')


    lines=f.readlines()
    new_lines=[line.strip() if line == '\n' else line for line in lines]
    #print new_lines



    space_index=[i for i, x in enumerate(new_lines) if x == ""]
    new_list=[0]+space_index

    for i in range(len(new_list)):
        try:
            mylist=new_lines[new_list[i]:new_list[i+1]]
        except IndexError, e:
            mylist=new_lines[new_list[i]:]


        mylist=mylist[1:]

        mylist1=[i.strip() for i in mylist]


        mylist1[2] = " ".join(mylist1[2:])
        final=mylist1[:3]

        finallines=[i+"\n" for i in final]
        print finallines

        for i in finallines:
            f_out.write(i)

Answer 4

Loading requirements:

import re

with open('yourfile.txt') as f:
    exampleText = f.read()

Concise one-liner

re.sub('\n([0-9]+)\n', '\n\n\g<1>\n', re.sub('([^0-9])\n', '\g<1> ', exampleText))

The first replacement replaces all text ending with a newline with the text ending with a space:

tmp = re.sub('([^0-9])\n', '\g<1> ', exampleText)

The previous replacement means we lose the newline at the end of the last part of the texts. Then the second replacement adds a newline in front of these numeric lines:

re.sub('\n([0-9]+)\n', '\n\n\g<1>\n', tmp)