Untitled

Applescript: trim spaces and return line
set some_file to "Macintosh HD:Users:Zade:Library:Application Support:Notational Data:Words.txt" as alias
set the_text to read some_file as string
set the text item delimiters of AppleScript to ", "
set the_lines to (every text item of the_text)
return some item of the_lines

set theFile to (choose file)
set theLines to paragraphs 28 thru -1 of (read theFile)

repeat -- forever

    set someLine to some item of theLines

    -- trim characters at the start
    if someLine is not "" then repeat until the first character of someLine is not in {space, tab, quote}
        if (count someLine) is 1 then
            set someLine to ""
            exit repeat
        end if
        set someLine to text 2 thru -1 of someLine
    end repeat

    -- trim characters at the end
    if someLine is not "" then repeat until the last character of someLine is not in {quote}
        if (count someLine) is 1 then
            set someLine to ""
            exit repeat
        end if
        set someLine to text 1 thru -2 of someLine
    end repeat

    if someLine is not "" then exit repeat
end repeat

return someLine

set the text item delimiters of AppleScript to return

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
return text items 2 thru -2 of some_string

set some_file to "Macintosh HD:Users:Zade:Library:Application Support:Notational Data:Words.txt" as alias
set the_text to read some_file as string
set the_lines to (every paragraph of the_text)
set this_line to some item of the_lines
if this_line is not "" then
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    set this_line to (text items 2 thru -2 of this_line) --remove the quotes
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to space
    set these_items to (every text item of this_code)
    set the this_line to (item 1 of these_items & this_line)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return this_line
end if

if paragraph i of some_text is not "" then do_something()

on trimWhiteSpace(aString)
    if aString is not "" then
        -- setup for no delimiter
        set savedTextItemDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
        -- start with the tail end by revering the list
        set these_items to reverse of (every text item of aString)
        -- keep peeling off 1st space
        repeat while item 1 of these_items is space
            set these_items to rest of these_items
        end repeat
        -- flip the list, now do the leading characters
        set these_items to reverse of these_items
        repeat while item 1 of these_items is space
            set these_items to rest of these_items
        end repeat
        -- reconstruct the string
        set these_items to these_items as string
        -- restore and return
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to savedTextItemDelimiters
        return these_items
    end if
end trimWhiteSpace