Python textfile formatting -

here text file

apple1 apple2 apple3 date apple flower1 flower2 flower3 flower4 date flower dog1 dog2 date dog 

i need python code helps me turn file this

apple1|date apple apple2|date apple apple3|date apple flower1|date flower flower2|date flower flower3|date flower flower4|date flower dog1|date dog dog2|date dog 

it need nested loop, 1 counts until line.startswith "date" when gets there appends every line before counter starts on while x between range of 0 , total line count. ideas?

my solution requires list contains things not start date.

f = open('apple.txt') lines = f.readlines() f.close() things = [] printtofile = [] in lines:     things.append(i)     if i.startswith('date'):         things.pop()         x in things:             if i[:-1] == '\n':                 printtofile.append(x[:-1]+'|'+i[:-1])             else:                  printtofile.append(x[:-1]+'|'+i)         things = [] print printtofile writefile = open('file.txt', 'w') writefile.writelines(printtofile) writefile.close() 

hope helps, python 2.7