Extract Text Information from a Binary File - Python Programming Exercise

# Python program to extract alphabetic characters from a binary file and dump them into a separate file

def extract_alphabetic_characters(input_file_path, output_file_path):
    try:
        # Open the input binary file in read mode
        with open(input_file_path, 'rb') as input_file:
            # Open the output text file in write mode
            with open(output_file_path, 'w') as output_file:
                # Read the binary file byte by byte
                byte = input_file.read(1)
                
                # Process each byte
                while byte:
                    # Convert byte to integer (ASCII value)
                    ascii_value = ord(byte)
                    
                    # Check if the byte is a printable ASCII character, newline, or carriage return
                    if (32 <= ascii_value <= 126) or ascii_value in [10, 13]:
                        # Write the valid character to the output file
                        output_file.write(byte.decode('ascii', errors='ignore'))
                    
                    # Read the next byte
                    byte = input_file.read(1)
                
                print(f"Alphabetic characters have been extracted and saved to '{output_file_path}'.")
    
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print(f"Error: The file '{input_file_path}' was not found.")
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error: {str(e)}")

# Example usage
extract_alphabetic_characters('input_file.bin', 'output_file.txt')

 Output

Example Input (input_file.bin):

Hello, World! This is a test.
12345!@#$%^&*()_+[]{}|;:,.<>?/
Some binary content: \x01\x02\x03

Newline character follows:

This is another line.
Example Output (output_file.txt):

Hello, World! This is a test.
12345!@#$%^&*()_+[]{}|;:,.<>?/

Some binary content: 

Newline character follows:

This is another line.

Error Scenarios:

File Not Found:

Error: The file 'input_file.bin' was not found.

General Errors:

Error: Error message