Formatting multiple columns of data in a text file

Question

I am learning python as of right now so I am still new. I have made an encryption system that outputs the initial password, encrypted password, and date to a text file. The method right now is very simple:

now = datetime.now()
date = ('%s/%s/%s %s:%s:%s' % (now.day, now.month, now.year, now.hour, now.minute, now.second))
writePass = finalPass.translate(passSwap)
with open("capec_dictionary.txt", "a") as text_file:
    print(initialPass.format(), "      -      ", writePass.format(), "      -      ", date, file=text_file)
    print("Password has been saved to dictionary.")

The result is as shown:

hi       -       *******       -       18/9/2015 17:55:15
hello       -       **********       -       18/9/2015 17:55:20
test       -       **********       -       18/9/2015 17:55:23
testing       -       **********       -       18/9/2015 17:55:28
password       -       *************       -       18/9/2015 17:55:34
passwords       -       **************       -       18/9/2015 17:55:45
myspecialpassword       -       ************************       -       18/9/2015 17:55:57
myspecialpass       -       *******************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:2
imlearningpython       -       *******************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:15
imlearning       -       ***************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:21
sillypass      -       **************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:29
lamepass       -       *************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:38
testcomplete       -       ******************       -       18/9/2015 17:56:56
test       -       *********       -       18/9/2015 17:57:0
testing       -       ************       -       18/9/2015 17:57:6
goodbye       -       ************       -       18/9/2015 17:57:9
bye       -       ********       -       18/9/2015 17:57:17

This is really messy and I want to clean in up. First.. can I append something in python to make a header of "Pass" "Encryption" and "date"? Secondly I want to generate code in which it can be better formatted. For example, the longest string to to be five spaces between.

Something like this:

Password                  Encryption                       Date

hi                        *******                          18/9/2015 17:55:15
hello                     **********                       18/9/2015 17:55:20
test                      **********                       18/9/2015 17:55:23
testing                   **********                       18/9/2015 17:55:28
password                  *************                    18/9/2015 17:55:34
passwords                 **************                   18/9/2015 17:55:45
myspecialpassword         ************************         18/9/2015 17:55:57
myspecialpass             *******************              18/9/2015 17:56:2
imlearningpython          *******************              18/9/2015 17:56:15
imlearning                ***************                  18/9/2015 17:56:21
sillypass                 **************                   18/9/2015 17:56:29
lamepass                  *************                    18/9/2015 17:56:38
testcomplete              ******************               18/9/2015 17:56:56
test                      *********                        18/9/2015 17:57:0
testing                   ************                     18/9/2015 17:57:6
goodbye                   ************                     18/9/2015 17:57:9
bye                       ********                         18/9/2015 17:57:17

Chad S. · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-18 23:41:40Z

3

You need to use the .format() method of the string object. E.g.

date = datetime.now().strftime('%m/%d/%y %H:%M:%S')

with open("capec_dictionary.txt", "a") as text_file:
    template = '{:24s} {:24s} {:18s}\n'
    text_file.write(template.format('Pass', 'Encryption', 'Date'))

    writePass = finalPass.translate(passSwap)
    text_file.write(template.format(finalPass, writePass, date))

edited Sep 18, 2015 at 23:41

answered Sep 18, 2015 at 22:32

Chad S.

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7 Comments

Gavin Youker Over a year ago

Thank you. Is there anything I can do about the header (Password, Encrypt, Date)?

Chad S. Over a year ago

I added that also.. See the print(template.format('Pass', 'Encryption', 'Date')) line

Gavin Youker Over a year ago

I'm sorry I did not see this. Unfortunatly using this method gives me an error "invalid format string"

Gavin Youker Over a year ago

else: date = datetime.now().strftime('%D %T') with open("capec_dictionary.txt", "a") as text_file: template = '{:24s} {:24s} {:18s}' print(template.format('Pass', 'Encryption', 'Date')) writePass = finalPass.translate(passSwap) print(template.format(finalPass, writePass, date)) print("Password has been saved to dictionary.")

Gavin Youker Over a year ago

Sorry.. didn't know it would look that messed up on here. Yes I believe I typed it correctly.

|

Chad Kennedy · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-18 22:28:48Z

2

You're looking for something like

print('{:8s}'.format(my_str))

This will pad your string on the right with spaces to ensure it's 8 characters wide.

As for the header, you can just put that in the file as a fixed string.

answered Sep 18, 2015 at 22:28

Chad Kennedy

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