adding columns to a text file

numpy, python

Solution

This should do it, assuming your columns are space separated, but it does not use `numpy`:

with open('data_file.dat') as in_file, open('output', 'w') as out_file:
    for line in in_file:
         data = float(line.strip())
         print >> outfile "'w040_0731.QR'", '1666.000', data, '0.10000', '7'

Problem

I have a data file that is just one column. I want to add 2 columns to the left and 2 columns to the right of it. I thought that an easy way to do this would be be using numpy arrays, and here is what I tried: ``` z = np.loadtxt('data_file.dat') new = np.zeros((z.shape[0],5)) for i in range(z.shape[0]): new[i,0] = 'w040_0731.QR' new[i,1] = 1666.000 new[i,2] = z[i] new[i,3] = 0.10000 new[i,4] = 7 z.close() ``` But it didn't work - I think because a numpy array is not designed to have a mixture of numbers and strings? I got the error message: ``` could not convert string to float: w040_0731.QR ``` Could someone please suggest the most efficient way to add 2 columns to the left and 2 columns to the right of a text file that I have?

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