textfsm – Python module for parsing semi-structured text into Python tables (code.google.com)

Quick link into the introductory documentation: http://code.google.com/p/textfsm/wiki/TextFSMHowto — one specifies a state machine in a text template file that can include regexes and has a simple "->" syntax for state transitions.

> clitable

I'm sure im not the only one that misread that.

INTO TABLES should be added to the title, because otherwise it's not clear how this differs from expect.

to save others time - you could use it parsing things like the output from smartctl, or ifconfig.

On one hand, cool! On the other hand, uncool, if it encourages more people to have their programs interact with other programs via CLI parsing. We should be using APIs and libraries instead of working around the lack of them.