All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Trying to learn and use Perl!

eyidearie on 2005-07-07T15:04:02

Hello "use Perl" World! My name is Eyi, and I'm trying to learn Perl. I first started learning programming a year ago, and I learnt C++. Last Summer, I had to do my project in C# so I ended up learning that too. So I thought, I know C++ and C#, I'm good to go! Now I have to learn Perl. It's been pretty straighforward so far, and for that I'm grateful. But I've been stuck in a rut for two days and I need help! I've been using a book, "Perl: Your Visual BluePrint for Building Perl Scripts" and I think it is a good book. I ordered another book online but it hasnt come yet. Basically, my challenge right now is to find a way of * reading in the data in a particular column of the sheets of an excel file * searching through two lists of names for close matches, not exact matches. So if anyone happens to come by here and see this, and you have an answer, please please leave me a comment and I'd really really appreciate it! Thank you!

Welcome, eyidearie!

davebaker on 2005-07-07T15:26:45

The "use Perl;" site isn't the best place to get this kind of question answered; the journal system is used more for blog-type posts by individual users.

The FAQ for this site sorta tells you that but doesn't have a link to places where you can get answers to your kind of question.

What's this site for?

Thanks for asking. This site is intended (for now) to be a site where the Perl user community can get information about and discuss the latest news and issues related to Perl. This site is not (for now :) intended to be a help desk. General "how do I do $x?" questions can be answered in many other places online, including the many Perl mailing lists and news groups.

Please help us improve "use Perl;" by replying to this post and telling me what site or sites you've tried already in order to find a place to get an answer to your question.

Here's a good one, for example (though I'm curious to know if and how you found it already): http://faq.perl.org/

I'm not sure there's any way for me to contact you by email through "use Perl;" -- I don't think so, because your email address is set to be not shown publicly -- but feel free to email me directly at my email address (click on my name, elsewhere on this page) if you'd prefer.

Perl is a great language with a great community of users. Welcome!

Welcome Aboard The Crazy Train

Limbic Region on 2005-07-07T15:28:09

First, let me recommend you direct Perl related questions to PerlMonks http://perlmonks.org/ as that is the primary focus of that community

To give some pointers to the actual question at hand, a little more information is needed. Are you reading actual Excel files or do you have the option of reading a "save as" CSV?

If the former - consider Win32::OLE or Spreadsheet::ParseExcel

If the latter - consider Text::xSV (several more options are available, just search for CSV)

Next question - what do you mean by near match? It is likely that you can get by with String::Approx or Text::Levenshtein but more information is needed to know for sure.

Cheers,
L~R

Re:Welcome Aboard The Crazy Train

eyidearie on 2005-07-07T18:22:10

Hi L~R, I'm checking out PerlMonks.org.. About d Excel, It's the former so I downloaded the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module n I'll see how that works By 'close match" I meant, for example, if it compares Ann Palemoon and Anne Palemoon, it should return a match. I'll check the modules you mention out. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. Eyi.

Re:Welcome Aboard The Crazy Train

runrig on 2005-07-07T20:05:15

Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Simple might be easier to work with.

Books

cog on 2005-07-07T15:54:00

Hello, newcomer :-)

I've been doing Perl for some years now and I do own a bunch of Perl books...

That one you mention there... never heard of it :-\

If I had to recommend you just one book to start with, it would definitely be, without hesitation, "Learning Perl", by Randal Schwartz. [1]

Now *that* is a book.

Plus, everybody knows Randal. Those *three* authors of that book you mention? Never heard of them. I couldn't even find any of them on the CPAN or other Perl related sites, so...

But wait, there's more!

Have a look at all of Paul Whitehead's books.

That guy is no Perl expert... That guy is a writer.

Read Choosing a Perl Book, by Simon Cozens, run your book through the items there and tell us how it did ;-)

If you have the time, also see the One Minute Perl Book Reviews, by Michael G. Schwern, also on the same subject.

Also, I wouldn't trust a guy who writes books on Perl *and* books on PHP O;-)

Oh, and welcome aboard :-)

[1] - Oh, but do realize that the fourth edition of this book will be out in a couple of weeks, so... you might want to hold two more weeks and get yourself a revised book :-)

A note:

* Randal Schwartz, Simon Cozens, Michael G. Schwern? They're the good guys.

* Paul Whitehead, Eric Kramer, Ruth Maran Maran? Well... :-)

Re:Books

cog on 2005-07-07T15:55:44

and tell us how it did

I really mean that :-) Looking forward to the results :-)

Re:Books

eyidearie on 2005-07-07T18:16:41

Wow... that's some research you did right there! Thanks a lot, it's certainly helpful :-)