Import[] - limited from a pipe?
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg103959] Import[] - limited from a pipe?
- From: Jason Ledbetter <jasonbrent at gmail.com>
- Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:21:55 -0400 (EDT)
Folk,
I'm looking into various methods of importing data into mathematica from a
piece of perl middleware (that talks to a database). Right now, the perl
script is outputting CSV that I'm pulling in with Import[....,"CSV"] or
"List" in some cases.
In investigating other options (like Get) it seems that there are some
limitations on Import[] that I don't quite understand.
As a test, I'm looking at two components:
1 - a perl script that outputs "List[1,2,3,4]" (no newlines) and then
exits.
2 - the output from that perl script redirected to a file "foo"
In the first case:
In[17]:= Import["!/full/path/test.pl", "Elements"]
Import::fmtnosup: $Failed is not a supported Import format.
Out[17]= $Failed
In the second case:
In[24]:= Import["/full/path/to/foo", "Elements"]
Out[24]= {Comments, ExpressionList, Get, HeldExpressions}
(* changing Elements to Get in the file version results in an appropriate
List[1,2,3,4,5] being imported *)
Is this a bug or expected behavior?
If it is expected, where can I find/generate more information on the
limitations of Import with a pipe?
Thanks,
-jbl