Data formatting

formatter.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

# unicode_literals + unittest2 will give you handy diffs when the test methods fail.
from __future__ import unicode_literals

try:
    import unittest2 as unittest
except ImportError:
    import unittest

def formatter(data):
    return "%9d%5d%5d%5d%5d%5d  %.11E  %.11E %.11E  %.11E  %.11E %.0F %3.0F\n" % tuple(data)                                                                                       

class Test(unittest.TestCase):
    cases = [
        [
            # An array of the actual data.
            [         -1,  -1,   0,   0,   0, 501, 0.0,               0.0,              -52.872156547,      52.872156547,      0.0,              0.0,1.0],
            # The desired string representation.
            """       -1   -1    0    0    0  501  0.00000000000E+00  0.00000000000E+00 -0.52872156547E+02  0.52872156547E+02  0.00000000000E+00 0.  1.\n"""
        ]
    ]

# Add a test method for each (data, result) pair in Test.cases.
for i, case in enumerate(Test.cases):
    (data, result) = case
    def test_formatter(self):
        self.assertEqual(result, formatter(data))
    setattr(Test, "test_data_%03d" % i, test_formatter)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Run the test.
    unittest.main()

results.txt

python formatter.py
F
======================================================================
FAIL: test_data_000 (__main__.Test)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/devin.py", line 28, in test_formatter
    self.assertEqual(result, formatter(data))
AssertionError: u'       -1   -1    0    0    0  501  0.00000000000E+00  0.00000000000E+00 -0.52 [truncated]... != u'       -1   -1    0    0    0  501  0.00000000000E+00  0.00000000000E+00 -5.28 [truncated]...
-        -1   -1    0    0    0  501  0.00000000000E+00  0.00000000000E+00 -0.52872156547E+02  0.52872156547E+02  0.00000000000E+00 0.  1.
?                                                                           ^ -             ^^^^ -             ^                     ^   -
+        -1   -1    0    0    0  501  0.00000000000E+00  0.00000000000E+00 -5.28721565470E+01  5.28721565470E+01  0.00000000000E+00 0   1
?                                                                           ^           +   ^^^^           +   ^                     ^


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 1 test in 0.004s

FAILED (failures=1)

So, results.txt suggests I'm close. I can't get the stuff towards the end to work, but you should be able to use the above to test alternatives and different data. Good luck!