Print out a elite dangerous journal as a csv file

journal2csv.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
Load a journal file from disk and turn the Scan events into a CSV File
"""

import os
import json
import sys


def run(filename):
    """
    Make a csv of scan items and save it as a CSV
    :param filename:
    :return:
    """
    table_cols = set()
    table_data = list()

    with open(filename, "r") as inputfile:
        for line in inputfile:
            journal_item = json.loads(line)
            if journal_item.get("event", None) == "Scan":
                for itemname in journal_item:
                    ## build up our table header
                    if itemname not in table_cols:
                        table_cols.add(itemname)
                    table_data.append(journal_item)

    # we now have a list of headings and some scan rows we can print out
    sorted_heading = sorted(table_cols)
    print ", ".join(sorted_heading)

    for row in table_data:
        rowvalues = list()
        for heading in sorted_heading:
            if heading in row:
                value = str(row[heading])
                if "," in value:
                    value = "'{}'".format(value)
                rowvalues.append(value)
            else:
                # not all things have all values
                rowvalues.append("")

        print ", ".join(rowvalues)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print >> sys.stderr, "Usage: makecsv.py JOURNAL_FILE\n"
        sys.exit(1)
    else:
        run(sys.argv[1])

Sample output

AbsoluteMagnitude, Age_MY, BodyName, DistanceFromArrivalLS, Eccentricity, OrbitalInclination, OrbitalPeriod, Periapsis, Radius, Rings, RotationPeriod, SemiMajorAxis, StarType, StellarMass, SurfaceTemperature, event, timestamp
9.95282, 10000, Crucis Sector NN-T b3-1 A, 0.0, 0.091033, 48.048252, 1.16454449152e+11, 108.257957, 315254560.0, , 150062.453125, 1.08498790646e+13, M, 0.332031, 2639.0, Scan, 2017-05-09T21:37:10Z
9.95282, 10000, Crucis Sector NN-T b3-1 A, 0.0, 0.091033, 48.048252, 1.16454449152e+11, 108.257957, 315254560.0, , 150062.453125, 1.08498790646e+13, M, 0.332031, 2639.0, Scan, 2017-05-09T21:37:10Z
9.95282, 10000, Crucis Sector NN-T b3-1 A, 0.0, 0.091033, 48.048252, 1.16454449152e+11, 108.257957, 315254560.0, , 150062.453125, 1.08498790646e+13, M, 0.332031, 2639.0, Scan, 2017-05-09T21:37:10Z
9.95282, 10000, Crucis Sector NN-T b3-1 A, 0.0, 0.091033, 48.048252, 1.16454449152e+11, 108.257957, 315254560.0, , 150062.453125, 1.08498790646e+13, M, 0.332031, 2639.0, Scan, 2017-05-09T21:37:10Z

You should be able to run this in a cmd window like so:

c:\python2.7\python journal2csv.py "C:\users\inb\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Journal.170509221031.01.log"

If you want to save the file it creates rather than printing it to the screen do:

c:\python2.7\python journal2csv.py "C:\users\inb\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Journal.170509221031.01.log" > c:\tmp\scans.csv

And the file should appear in c:\tmp\scans.csv