Moving data to tab-delimited file python

Question

I need to move these three lists of data to a tab-delimited text file. I only know how to print them consecutively (as I have done below).

import requests
import datetime as dt
import xmltodict
url='http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=47.6062&lon=-122.3321&FcstType=digitalDWML'
r = requests.get(url)

with open('KBFI_2.txt','wb') as outfile:
    result = xmltodict.parse(r.text)
    pop = result['dwml']['data']['parameters']['probability-of-precipitation']['value']
    pop = '\n'.join(pop)
    hqpf = result['dwml']['data']['parameters']['hourly-qpf']['value']
    hqpf = '\n'.join(hqpf)
    d = result['dwml']['data']['time-layout']['start-valid-time']
    for dte in d:
        date = dt.datetime.strptime(dte.rsplit("-",1)[0],"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S")
        print >>outfile, date
    print >>outfile, pop
    print >>outfile, hqpf
    outfile.close()

I'm sure this is a really easy fix, but I'm a newbie so I'm lost. All help is appreciated!

You don't need to outfile.close(), as that is handled automatically by the with statement. — lsowen
– lsowen, Commented Aug 3, 2015 at 18:51

Scott Hunter · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-04 01:46:32Z

2

You seem to know how to combine things into multiple lines in one string ('\n'.join); to make lines tab-delimited, use '\t'.join for each line.

The other piece is to take your 3 lists and turn them into a list of triplets, so that you can use join to make each triplet into a tab-delimited line. Something like this:

for a,b,c in zip(list1, list2, list3):
    print >>outfile, "\t".join([a,b,c])

Finally, you can make a list of your dates using:

[dt.datetime.strptime(x.rsplit("-",1)[0],"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S") for x in dte]

edited Aug 4, 2015 at 1:46

answered Aug 3, 2015 at 18:50

Scott Hunter

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4 Comments

sfischer3394 Over a year ago

Isn't this just how you make one list tab delimited? I need to print my three lists so I have a column of dates, a column of 'pop' and a column of 'hqpf'. I'm not sure how to do this with '\t'.join

sfischer3394 Over a year ago

This does not work, I get the error TypeError: zip argument #1 must support iteration. I think this is happening because the value of 'date' changes when it exits its loop. Also, if I just complete your answer using 'pop' and 'hqpf', the data looks all funky in the output file. If you would like to see for yourself, you should be able to run my code because my xml doc is online.

Scott Hunter Over a year ago

They have to be lists: don't join pop or hqpf (that gets done in the zip loop), and collect your dates into a list. And tab-separated files are allowed to look "funky".

sfischer3394 Over a year ago

Oh I see. I can make it work with pop and hqpf now. However, I'm having trouble converting date to a list. When I ask Python what Type it is, it gives me <type 'type'> and I'm not sure how to work with this. Can you shed a little light on it?

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