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Processing Address Lists in Icon
Ralph E. Griswold
Department of Computer Science, The University of Arizona
Introduction
Version 8.1 of the Icon program library contains a collection
of programs for processing address lists. These programs check
the correctness of address lists, filter them for designated
entries, sort them, and format mailing labels.
The format of addresses lists processed by these programs is
loosely structured. This allows such lists to be created and
maintained using any text editor and allows them to be used for a
variety of purposes (not just for addresses, although that term
is used here for simplicity). The lack of structure, on the other
hand, allows ambiguities and the possibility of incorrectly
organized data. These programs are no substitute for a database
system or an application specifically dedicated to the handling
of mailing lists.
Address_List_Format
An address list, in the sense the term is used here, is a
sequence of entries. Each entry begins with a header line, in
which the first character is a #. Subsequent lines contain the
address information in a natural format with a few constraints
that are necessary if some of the programs described in the next
section are to be used. For example, an address list might look
like this:
#
Mr. Fred Burfle
1010 Wayside Lane
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
#
Prof. M. Elwood Mork
5235 Courtland Blvd., Apt. 23
Minneapolis, MN 55432
.
.
.
Since a # at the beginning of a line constitutes a header, a #
cannot appear as the first character of a line in an entry. One
work-around for this problem is to put a blank in front of a #
that otherwise would appear at the beginning of a line in an
entry.
Within an entry, a line whose first character is a * is con-
sidered to be a comment and is not treated as significant text.
For example, such comment lines are ignored when formatting
IPD171 - 1 - September 4, 1991
mailing labels. Comment lines can be used for information like
telephone numbers.
The # that starts a header line can be followed by one or more
designator characters. Several of the programs can select only
those entries with specific designators.
The choice of designator characters is up to the user. For
example, #a might be used to designate active accounts, while #b
might be used to designate bad addresses.
Organization_of_Entry_Information
Some of the programs that process address lists expect the
entries to be in a specific form. For example, the first line of
an entry (after the header) is expected to be a name if the entry
is an actual address.
Similarly, for addresses in the United States, the last line
of an entry is expected to be the city, followed by a comma, fol-
lowed by the postal-code abbreviation for the state, followed by
one or more blanks, followed by the ZIP code. See the examples
above.
For an address outside the United States, the last line is
expected to consist only of the country name, in all uppercase
letters.
Programs
The following programs are available for processing address
lists:
adlcheck Checks lists for bad data. Options include checking
the state and ZIP code (U.S. only), country name,
and for fitting in the confines of a standard one-
up mailing label.
adlcount Counts the number of labels in a list with optional
restriction to entries with specified designators.
adlfiltr Filters a list, outputting only those entries with
specified designators.
adllist Lists ``fields'' of address list entries, including
addressee name, city, state, ZIP code, and country.
adlsort Sorts address list entries by addressee name, ZIP
code, or country.
labels Produces one-up mailing labels for designated
entries.
See the programs themselves for detailed documentation.
IPD171 - 2 - September 4, 1991
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