specific searching in python?

Question

Is there any way to search and replace certain strings, but also watch out for similar strings, and not replace those?

for example, if i have

self.a
self.b
self.c
self.d
self.e
self.f
self.g

and i wanted

self.a
self.__b
self.c
self.__d
self.__e
self.f
self.g

and i want to add __ to some of the variables to make them private, but not others, how would i do it, short of changing each individually, or changing all of them and then undoing the ones i dont want? my program has a large number of variables and uses each of them very often, so i dont want to go through the code myself.

Isn't this an editing problem more than a Python problem? For example, you could use your editor to replace all "self.b" with "self.__b", or use sed in a similar way. — Christian
– Christian, Commented Jan 6, 2011 at 18:39

Rafe Kettler · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 18:37:01Z

3

Regular expressions?

Python's re module has a function called re.sub which will replace everything matching a pattern with something else.

You can also use regular expressions from Perl, awk, sed, etc. depending on your preferences. Just search and replace based on whatever patterns you might want to match and change.

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 18:37

Rafe Kettler

77.2k21 gold badges160 silver badges151 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Hollister Over a year ago

+1 for sed. A one-liner would probably work and be easier than writing a Python script.

user407896 · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 18:37:02Z

1

Back up your script. Create a new script and import re, then re.sub() your original script. Run a unit test on the regex'd script to ensure functionality.

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 18:37

user407896

9501 gold badge8 silver badges12 bronze badges

Comments

Andrew Clark · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06 18:56:08Z

1

In addition to creating another script to perform the replacement, you can probably do this in your editor. For example if you use Vim typing the following should do what you want:

:%s/self\.\(b\|d\|e\)/self.__\1/g

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 18:56

Andrew Clark

210k36 gold badges286 silver badges310 bronze badges

1 Comment

Eric Wilson Over a year ago

If you don't use Vim, but use a Unix/Linux command line, try sed 's/self\.\(b\|d\|e\)/self.__\1/g' your_python_module.py

mklauber · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-07 15:23:55Z

1

Regular expressions are your friend here. They are a little intensive to the beginner, though. To accomplish the goal in the above example use the python command:

import re
pattern = r'(self\.)(b|d|e)\s'
result = re.sub(pattern, '\1__\2', source)

This takes every instance of a string starting with 'self.' followed by b, d, or e, and replaces it with a 'self.__' followed by the correct string.

edited Jan 7, 2011 at 15:23

answered Jan 6, 2011 at 18:51

mklauber

1,14411 silver badges21 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

specific searching in python?

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

1 Comment

Comments

1 Comment

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related