Convert an ACE file in ASCII format (Type 1) to binary format (Type 2)

convert_ace_binary.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

from __future__ import division

from struct import pack
import sys


def ascii_to_binary(ascii_file, binary_file):
    """Convert an ACE file in ASCII format (type 1) to binary format (type 2).

    Parameters
    ----------
    ascii_file : str
        Filename of ASCII ACE file
    binary_file : str
        Filename of binary ACE file to be written

    """

    # Open ASCII and binary files
    ascii = open(ascii_file, 'r')
    binary = open(binary_file, 'wb')

    # Set default record length
    record_length = 4096

    # Read data from ASCII file
    lines = ascii.readlines()
    ascii.close()

    idx = 0
    while idx < len(lines):
        # Read/write header block
        hz = lines[idx][:10].encode('UTF-8')
        aw0 = float(lines[idx][10:22])
        tz = float(lines[idx][22:34])
        hd = lines[idx][35:45].encode('UTF-8')
        hk = lines[idx + 1][:70].encode('UTF-8')
        hm = lines[idx + 1][70:80].encode('UTF-8')
        binary.write(pack('=10sdd10s70s10s', hz, aw0, tz, hd, hk, hm))

        # Read/write IZ/AW pairs
        data = ' '.join(lines[idx + 2:idx + 6]).split()
        iz = list(map(int, data[::2]))
        aw = list(map(float, data[1::2]))
        izaw = [item for sublist in zip(iz, aw) for item in sublist]
        binary.write(pack('=' + 16*'id', *izaw))

        # Read/write NXS and JXS arrays. Null bytes are added at the end so
        # that XSS will start at the second record
        nxs = list(map(int, ' '.join(lines[idx + 6:idx + 8]).split()))
        jxs = list(map(int, ' '.join(lines[idx + 8:idx + 12]).split()))
        binary.write(pack('=16i32i{0}x'.format(record_length - 500), *(nxs + jxs)))

        # Read/write XSS array. Null bytes are added to form a complete record
        # at the end of the file
        n_lines = (nxs[0] + 3)//4
        xss = list(map(float, ' '.join(lines[idx + 12:idx + 12 + n_lines]).split()))
        extra_bytes = record_length - ((len(xss)*8 - 1) % record_length + 1)
        binary.write(pack('={0}d{1}x'.format(nxs[0], extra_bytes), *xss))

        # Advance to next table in file
        idx += 12 + n_lines

    # Close binary file
    binary.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Check for proper number of arguments
    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
        sys.exit('Usage: {0} ascii_file binary_file'.format(sys.argv[0]))

    # Convert ASCII file
    ascii_to_binary(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])