Possible improvements to repository header processing script

Revised header script

https://gist.github.com/markfullmer/cb1cb58924a89650ea5abbb1baf78757

Move the checking for .txt files out of process_file() and into process_files()

This reduces indentation & unnecessary debugging.

 def process_directory(directory_name):
     cwd = os.getcwd()
     for dirpath, dirnames, files in os.walk(directory_name):
         for filename in files:
+            ext = os.path.splitext(filename)
+            if ext[1] != ".txt":
+                continue
             process_file(os.path.join(cwd, dirpath, filename))

Use "continue" syntax in conditionals to avoid indentation

Before

for line in textfile:
    this_line = re.sub(r'\r?\n', r'\r\n', line)
-    if this_line != '\r\n':
        new_line = re.sub(r'\s+', r' ', this_line)
        new_line = new_line.strip()
        print(new_line, file = output_file)

After

for line in textfile:
    this_line = re.sub(r'\r?\n', r'\r\n', line)
+    if this_line == '\r\n':
+        continue
    new_line = re.sub(r'\s+', r' ', this_line)
    new_line = new_line.strip()
    print(new_line, file = output_file)

Reference: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/python-continue-statement/

Prompt for whether to do debugging:

question="Do you want to include debugging?"
reply = str(input(question +' (Y/n): ')).lower().strip()
debug = True
if reply == 'n':
    debug = False

Reference: https://gist.github.com/garrettdreyfus/8153571

Put filename and filepath parts into dictionary:

    filename_keys = ["Course Number", "Assignment", "Document Type", "Instructor", "Institution"]
    relative_filename = os.path.split(filename)[1]
    # Split filename on underscore character: 106_VA_LP_1342_UA => ('106', 'VA', 'LP', '1342', 'UA')
    filename_parts = os.path.splitext(relative_filename)[0].split('_')
    # Merge parts into dictionary.
    data = dict(zip(filename_keys, filename_parts))
    if debug:
        print()
        print('FILENAME COMPONENTS:')
        print()
        for key, value in data.items():
            print(key, '-->', value)
        print()
        x = input('Press enter to continue')

FILENAME COMPONENTS:

Course Number --> 106
Assignment --> VA
Document Type --> LP
Instructor --> 1354
Institution --> UA

Components can then be assigned by key, rather than numerically (e.g., data['Assignment']):

print("<" + key + ": " + value + ">", file=output_file)

Count backwards from end of path parts, rather than forward

This avoids problems with operating system differences and unexpected subdirectories.

# Split filepath: /User/me/Desktop/ENGL106/Fall 2017/Language_Awareness/<filename> 
# => ('User', 'me, 'Desktop', 'ENGL106', 'Fall 2017', '1011', 'Language Awareness', '<filename>')
all_filepath_parts = splitall(filename)
# Get the last 4 items from the end of the directory structure, excluding the final filename.
end_filepath_parts = all_filepath_parts[-5:-1]
# => ('ENGL106', 'Fall 2017', '1011', 'Language Awareness')

Reference: https://www.learnpython.dev/03-intermediate-python/20-advanced-looping/50-slicing/