Challenging old LAS files with constant start/stop columns but overlapping in some cases

[VelizarVESSELINOV]

Some old software was written in pre-defined column format without assuming that two columns can touch each other and create reading overhead to parsers.

Excel has option to read files with fixed interval, LAS is not designed for this, but if you are looking to solve challenging LAS files this is one typical example.

Example of file:

  7690.000    67.930     0.144     0.406     7.491  2312.429    10.386     0.023  3933.536  4697.728    -0.035     4.331     2.056    19.630
  7689.500    67.695     0.142     0.368     8.005  2632.364    10.339     0.017  2748.889  3173.198    -0.046     4.233     2.118    32.280
  7689.000    66.953     0.137     0.286    10.920   500.294    10.388     0.022   524.575   675.178    -0.043     4.100     2.249    41.565
  7688.500    66.035     0.130     0.180    15.736   100.798    10.196     0.035   107.640   144.964    -0.022     3.987     2.420    22.323
  7688.000    64.277     0.118     0.146    22.688    51.593     9.965     0.031    51.131    68.895     0.006     3.957     2.475    22.118
  7687.500    62.832     0.108     0.207    23.239    43.447     9.964     0.016    44.684    62.518     0.047     4.101     2.376    15.425
  7687.000    63.633     0.113     0.322    18.866    59.974    10.659    -0.001    61.304    95.710     0.046     4.325     2.192    23.342
  7686.500    64.932     0.123     0.395    12.403   156.271    10.649    -0.005   193.223   327.902    -0.023     4.491     2.074    29.652
  7686.000    67.354     0.140     0.415     9.207  4648.011    10.609    -0.004  3778.709  1893.751    -0.048     4.513     2.041   291.910
  7685.500    69.004     0.151     0.412     7.020101130.188    10.560    -0.004 60000.000  2901.317    -0.047     4.492     2.046   310.119
  7685.000    68.809     0.150     0.411     7.330109508.961    10.424    -0.005 60000.000  2846.619    -0.042     4.538     2.049   376.968
  7684.500    68.633     0.149     0.402     7.345116238.453    10.515    -0.005 60000.000  2290.275    -0.051     4.543     2.063   404.972
  7684.000    68.008     0.144     0.386     7.682  4182.679    10.515    -0.004  3085.681  1545.842    -0.046     4.484     2.089   438.195
  7683.500    67.695     0.142     0.368     7.859  1340.012    10.555    -0.002  1147.204  1075.280    -0.036     4.382     2.118   330.848

[kinverarity1]

This has been half-fixed with PR #185. Leaving it open because the current situation replaces the conjoined values with NaN NaN. The code to detect the column spacing would be possible to add in. It's a pretty common issue with the files I work with.