parse_asf.py

"""
Extracting information from a Massive Simulation File (asf file)
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/python_inside_maya/_jm4m-bSbUQ/1XUgdPbz26EJ
"""

def parse_apf(filename):
    agents = {}
    name = ''

    # a 'with' context will make sure
    # to close the file no matter what
    # when the 'with' block is done
    with open(filename) as f:

        # you can loop over a file handle
        # to get each line
        for line in f:
            line = line.strip()
            # we dont care about blank lines
            if not line:
                continue

            # just split the line on white space
            # into a list
            tokens = line.split()

            # are we starting a new agent?
            if line.startswith("BEGIN"):
                # the name value is hte last item in the list
                name = tokens[-1]
                # and start a fresh dict to store the attributes
                agents[name] = {}

            # otherwise we are parsing attributes for
            # the last name we saw
            else:
                attr = tokens[0]
                # list comprehension:
                # convert each string value into a float
                vals = [float(val) for val in tokens[1:]]
                # use the name of the last parsed agent
                # and store the attribute as the key,
                # and the list of floats as the value
                agents[name][attr] = vals

    return agents


agents = parse_apf("frame.1.apf")