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author | Fred Drake <fdrake@acm.org> | 1998-04-04 04:20:51 (GMT) |
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committer | Fred Drake <fdrake@acm.org> | 1998-04-04 04:20:51 (GMT) |
commit | 35ca0d69e1dfa58fba878b35c3923acd7604f37e (patch) | |
tree | 49972c451f6c8ea5e2eff55589723bca27bfd4f0 /Doc/libfileinput.tex | |
parent | a8e262b0b242c4978eebcc3be34f4d5ee22cfc0a (diff) | |
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Document fileinput.
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diff --git a/Doc/libfileinput.tex b/Doc/libfileinput.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c0e81b --- /dev/null +++ b/Doc/libfileinput.tex @@ -0,0 +1,124 @@ +% Documentation heavily adapted from module docstring. + +\section{Standard Module \module{fileinput}} +\stmodindex{fileinput} +\label{module-fileinput} + +This module implements a helper class and functions to quickly write a +loop over standard input or a list of files. + +The typical use is: + +\begin{verbatim} +import fileinput +for line in fileinput.input(): + process(line) +\end{verbatim} + +This iterates over the lines of all files listed in +\code{sys.argv[1:]}, defaulting to \code{sys.stdin} if the list is +empty. If a filename is \code{'-'}, it is also replaced by +\code{sys.stdin}. To specify an alternative list of filenames, pass +it as the first argument to \function{input()}. A single file name is +also allowed. + +All files are opened in text mode. If an I/O error occurs during +opening or reading a file, \exception{IOError} is raised. + +If \code{sys.stdin} is used more than once, the second and further use +will return no lines, except perhaps for interactive use, or if it has +been explicitly reset (e.g. using \code{sys.stdin.seek(0)}). + +Empty files are opened and immediately closed; the only time their +presence in the list of filenames is noticeable at all is when the +last file opened is empty. + +It is possible that the last line of a file does not end in a newline +character; lines are returned including the trailing newline when it +is present. + +The following function is the primary interface of this module: + +\begin{funcdesc}{input}{\optional{files\optional{, + inplace\optional{, backup}}}} + Create an instance of the \class{FileInput} class. The instance + will be used as global state for the functions of this module, and + is also returned to use during iteration. +\end{funcdesc} + + +The following functions use the global state created by +\function{input()}; if there is no active state, +\exception{RuntimeError} is raised. + +\begin{funcdesc}{filename}{} + Return the name of the file currently being read. Before the first + line has been read, returns \code{None}. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{lineno}{} + Return the cumulative line number of the line that has just been + read. Before the first line has been read, returns \code{0}. After + the last line of the last file has been read, returns the line + number of that line. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{filelineno}{} + Return the line number in the current file. Before the first line + has been read, returns \code{0}. After the last line of the last + file has been read, returns the line number of that line within the + file. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{isfirstline}{} + Return true iff the line just read is the first line of its file. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{isstdin}{} + Returns true iff the last line was read from \code{sys.stdin}. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{nextfile}{} + Close the current file so that the next iteration will read the + first line from the next file (if any); lines not read from the file + will not count towards the cumulative line count. The filename is + not changed until after the first line of the next file has been + read. Before the first line has been read, this function has no + effect; it cannot be used to skip the first file. After the last + line of the last file has been read, this function has no effect. +\end{funcdesc} + +\begin{funcdesc}{close}{} + Close the sequence. +\end{funcdesc} + + +The class which implements the sequence behavior provided by the +module is available for subclassing as well: + +\begin{classdesc}{FileInput}{\optional{files\optional{, + inplace\optional{, backup}}}} + Class \class{FileInput} is the implementation; its methods + \method{filename()}, \method{lineno()}, \method{fileline()}, + \method{isfirstline()}, \method{isstdin()}, \method{nextfile()} and + \method{close()} correspond to the functions of the same name in the + module. In addition it has a \method{readline()} method which + returns the next input line, and a \method{__getitem__()} method + which implements the sequence behavior. The sequence must be + accessed in strictly sequential order; random access and + \method{readline()} cannot be mixed. +\end{classdesc} + +\strong{Optional in-place filtering:} if the keyword argument +\code{\var{inplace}=1} is passed to \function{input()} or to the +\class{FileInput} constructor, the file is moved to a backup file and +standard output is directed to the input file. +This makes it possible to write a filter that rewrites its input file +in place. If the keyword argument \code{\var{backup}='.<some +extension>'} is also given, it specifies the extension for the backup +file, and the backup file remains around; by default, the extension is +\code{'.bak'} and it is deleted when the output file is closed. In-place +filtering is disabled when standard input is read. + +\strong{Caveat:} The current implementation does not work for MS-DOS +8+3 filesystems. |