Question

I am really new to Ruby and could use some help with a program. I need to open a zip file that contains multiple text files that has many rows of data (eg.)

CDI|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|2008|XXXXX4791|0.00|0.00
CDI|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|2008|XXXXX5648|0.00|0.00
CHO|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|2114|XXXXX3276|0.00|0.00
CHO|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|2114|XXXXX4342|0.00|0.00
MITR|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|0000|XXXXX7832|0.00|0.00
HR|3|3|20100515000000|20100515153000|1114|XXXXX0238|0.00|0.00

I first need to extract the zip file, read the text files located in the zip file and write only the complete rows that start with (CDI and CHO) to two output files, one for the rows of data starting with CDI and one for the rows of data starting with CHO (basically parsing the file). I have to do it with Ruby and possibly try to set the program to an auto function for arrival of continuous zip files of the same stature. I completely appreciate any advice, direction or help via some sample anyone can give.

Answer 1

One means is using the ZipFile library.

require 'zip/zip'

# To open the zip file and pass each entry to a block
Zip::ZipFile.foreach(path_to_zip) do |text_file|
   # Read from entry, turn String into Array, and pass to block
   text_file.read.split("\n").each do |line|
      if line.start_with?("CDI") || line.start_with?("CHO")
         # Do something
      end
   end
end