It's common to need to convert data from one format to another. For example, we might have a complex web log that we'd like to convert to a simpler format.
See the Reading complex formats using regular expressions recipe for a complex web log format. We'd like to do this parsing just one time.
After that, we'd like to work with a simpler file format, more like the format shown in the Upgrading CSV from dict reader to namedtuple reader or Upgrading CSV from dict reader to namespace reader recipe. A file that's in CSV notation can be read and parsed with the csv module, simplifying the physical format considerations.
How can we convert from one format to another?
