Kata Four: Data Munging. >> http://codekata.pragprog.com/2007/01/kata_four_data_.html

datamuging.exs

defmodule DataMuging do

  def processLines [], result, _cols do
    result
  end
	
  def processLines [head | tail], result, { fst, scd, thd } do
    if Regex.match?(%r/^\s*\d+.?\s+/, head) do
      s = String.split head
      processLines tail, [ { Enum.at(s, fst),
        Enum.at(s, scd) |> String.replace("*", ""), 
        Enum.at(s, thd) |> String.replace("*", "") } | result ], { fst, scd, thd }
    else
      processLines tail, result, { fst, scd, thd }
    end		
  end

  def evalTriple data do
    data |> Enum.min_by (fn( { _x, y, z } ) -> abs(binary_to_integer(y) - binary_to_integer(z)) end)
  end
	
  def main file, cols do
    case File.read file do
      { :ok, contents } -> String.split(contents, "\n") |> processLines([], cols) |> evalTriple
      { :error, reason } -> reason
    end
  end	

end