Re: Import syntax question
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg85470] Re: Import syntax question
- From: David Bailey <dave at Remove_Thisdbailey.co.uk>
- Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:16:31 -0500 (EST)
- References: <fomk40$hv9$1@smc.vnet.net>
Mark Fisher wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I find Import wonderful but frustrating. For example, I can get
> individual items such as "Author" and "Title" in separate calls:
>
> Import["file.pdf", "Author"]
> Import["file.pdf", "Title"]
>
> but I can't get a list as in
>
> Import["file.pdf", {"Author", "Title"}]
>
> Instead I get an error message that say "Title" is not present (which
> seems misleading at best, since I already accessed it above). Is that
> syntax supposed to work or not? (Frankly, I'm having a hard time
> figuring out what the proper generic syntax is for Import, especially
> since there are so few examples in the documentation.)
>
> BTW, I found out I can use
>
> {"Author", "Title"} /. Import["file.pdf", "Rules"]
>
> Is that what I "should" be doing? (It seems like overkill since Import
> has to import a bunch more stuff that I don't want, at least in this
> example.)
>
> --Mark
>
I agree with your general comment. It seems to me that an enormous
amount of development work has gone into both Import and Export at
version 6, but the corresponding documentation is fragmentary and vague,
with far too few examples. I sense that there are all sorts of
possibilities hidden in these two functions that are unused because they
are effectively undocumented.
David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk