Converting plain text data to json

Question

I have some data that I am trying to process with javascript.

DATA:
A.         Category one
1.          item one 
2.          item two
B.         Category two
3.          item three
4.          item four
C.         Category three
5.          item five
6.          item six

DESIRED OUTPUT:
[{
"Category one":["item one", "item two"],
"Category two":["item three", "item four"],
"Category three":["item five", "item six"]
}]

Is there a library that will help me with text parsing in javascript?

THIS IS AS FAR AS I GOT:

function parseFormat(str) {
var arr = [];
str.split('\n').forEach(function (line) {
    var obj = {};
     line.split('.').forEach(function (item) {
        if (isNaN(item)) {
            // ??
        } else {

        }
    });
    return ?;
});
}

Help? Thanks

Answer 1

Here is the complete function . Please have a look at the code below.

Function to parse the string

function parseFormat(strArg) { var category, output = {}, // Output str = strArg.trim(); // Remove unwanted space before processing str.split('\\n').forEach(function(line) { var item = line.split('.'); if (item[0].match(/\\d/)) { // Match a decimal number // Remove unwanted space & push output[category].push(item[1].trim()); } else if (item[0].match(/\\D/)) { // Match UPPERCASE alphabet // Remove unwanted space category = item[1].trim(); output[category] = [] } }); return output; }

Input string

// ES6 Template Strings to define multiline string var str = ` A. Category one 1. item one 2. item two B. Category two 3. item three 4. item four C. Category three 5. item five 6. item six `;

Function call

// Final output Array var finalOutput = []; // Parse input string var parseStr = parseFormat(str); finalOutput.push(parseStr); // Desired JSON output console.log(JSON.stringify(finalOutput));

You can look at the Browser Console for the desired JSON output.

Hope it helps!

Answer 2

This is a simple way to get the information out of the file format and into some variables. It isn't a complete solution. Though once you get the information into variables you can figure out how to json it.

var category;
var items;
var item = line.split('.'); //Don't use the forEach on the line split.
if (item[0].match(/\d/) ) {
        // match a decimal number
        items = item[1];
    } else if (item[0].match(/\D/) )  {
        //match a letter
        category = item[1];
    }