[vox-tech] simple parsing of multiple-line records...?

[Dylan Beaudette]

Hi everyone,

this might be a really simple question, but :


i have a text file with multiple-line records in a format like this:

----------------------------
easting:      661674.9375
	northing:     4035004.0000
	elevation:         968.8617
distance along surface:               15.9540

	easting:      661683.7500
	northing:     4034946.7500
	elevation:         961.4768
distance along surface:               58.4077
-----------------------------


I am familiar with single-line records, and work with them in AWK quite 
frequently. However, i have yet to come upon an elegant solution to 
parsing something like the above file, such that i can assign each 
field in a multi-line record to a unique variable. a solution in AWK 
would be ideal, but i am open to tackle this problem with something 
like python.


any ideas?

thanks!

Dylan