NFLDraft.py

######################
## Reads in NFL Draft Data, Sorts, then Writes to a file
## Data file using data copied/pasted from Wikipedia
## http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NFL_Draft
## http://drafthistory.com/
######################

# Column Headers
header = ("Round","Pick","NFL Team","Player","Position","College","Conference")

# draftList will contain a matrix (list of lists) Each outer list will represent
# a row read from the file, and each inner list a column from that row
draftList = []

#Open the file and read/split
with open("NFLDraft.txt","r") as draftFile:

  # Read entire text file into a temporary list with each row as a new member of the list
  draftRows = draftFile.read().splitlines()

  # Loop through each row and split it into a list
  for row in draftRows:

    # The data was copied from a table in Wikipedia and separates each column with tabs
    rowList = row.split("\t")

    # Verify that the data is what we expect
    if len(rowList)>6 and rowList[0].isdigit() and rowList[1].isdigit():

      # First two columns are numbers so we need to convert them
      # from strings to integers in order for sorting to work
      rowList[0] = int(rowList[0])
      rowList[1] = int(rowList[1])

      # Append the list row to our list of lists
      draftList.append(rowList)

    else:

      print "(!) Invalid row read. Data possibly corrupt?: {}".format(row)

# If no valid rows read, bail out
if len(draftList)==0:
  print "No valid data read"
  quit()

# Start the output
print
print "NFL Draft Results Sorter"
print

# Set up variables we'll use in the while loop
choice = -1
oldChoice = -1
reverseSort = False

# We will display the data and sort until they enter "9" to save and exit
while choice <> 9:

    # Column header names and numbers. Numbers are what the user will sort by
    # Formatting ensures that the output is aligned.
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13451989/pythons-many-ways-of-string-formatting-are-the-older-ones-going-to-be-deprec?lq=1
    headerText = " {:5} {:4} {:25} {:25} {:8} {:20} {:10} ".format(header[0],header[1],header[2],header[3],header[4],header[5],header[6])
    headerTextNum = " {:5} {:4} {:<25} {:<25} {:<8} {:<20} {:<10} ".format(0,1,2,3,4,5,6)

    # Print headers
    print headerText
    print headerTextNum
    print "="*len(headerText)

    # Loop through each row and print it out
    # Formatting ensures that the output is aligned.
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13451989/pythons-many-ways-of-string-formatting-are-the-older-ones-going-to-be-deprec?lq=1
    for row in draftList:
          print " {:5} {:4} {:25} {:25} {:8} {:20} {:10} ".format(row[0],row[1],row[2],row[3],row[4],row[5],row[6])
    print

    # Ask which column to sort by
    print "Which column do you want to sort by? (Enter column header number or 9 to save and exit)"
    strChoice = raw_input(": ")

    # Only proceed if they enter a number
    if strChoice.isdigit():

        # Store a copy of the previous choice
        oldChoice = choice

        # Convert the raw input to an int
        choice = int(strChoice)

        # Figure out if they are trying to sort the same column in reverse
        if choice==oldChoice:
            reverseSort = (not reverseSort)
        else:
            reverseSort = False
    else:
        # If the menu choice is bad data, reset the choice variable so it won't accidentally resort
        choice = -1

    # If they picked a proper column, sort it by the column selected. Since we
    # have a list of lists, we need to tell the sort function how to sort. In
    # this case we sort by the value of the column selected. We sort the list of
    # lists (the outer list) by using a specific value in each inner list.
    # Kind of like sorting a list of words using the third letter in each word.
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3121979/how-to-sort-list-tuple-of-lists-tuples/3121985#3121985
    if choice >=0 and choice < len(header):
        draftList.sort(key=lambda x:x[choice], reverse=reverseSort)

# When they enter "9" the loop ends and we save the new list of lists in a new file
with open("NFLDraftSorted.txt","w") as draftFile:

  # Loop through each row
  for row in draftList:

    # We split() the data when we read the file, now we need to join() when we save
    # We use the generator to join because join() only works on strings.
    # http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3590165/joining-list-has-integer-values-with-python
    rowOut = ",".join(str(x) for x in row)

    # Write the row to the file along with a CR/LF character
    draftFile.write(rowOut+"\r\n")