(patch for Bash) adding Python features to Bash

[Padraig at Linux.ie]

William Park wrote:
> To Python and Bash users:
> 
> I got tired of going back and forth between Python and Bash.  So, I
> added few Python features to the shell.

A laudable goal.

>  Patch for Bash-2.05b is
> included at the end.  Use at your risk, and enjoy. :-)
> 
> I hope people won't get mad at me for posting to <comp.lang.python>.
> But, this may be of interest to other Python/Bash programmers, like
> myself.
> 
> 
> 1.  Integer sequence generator:
> 
> 	{5..10}	    -->  5 6 7 8 9 10
> 	{05..10}    -->  05 06 07 08 09 10
> 	{1..n}	    -->  1 2 3 4	(if n=4)
> 	{1..!m}	    -->  1 2 3		(if m='i' and i='3')

Hmm what has this to do with python?
Isn't range() the pythonic way?
Also note gcc C extension syntax for this is {5 ... 10} not {5..10}

> 2.  Multiple variables in for-loop:
> 	
> 	for  a,b,c  in  ... ; do
> 	    echo $a $b $c
> 	done
> 
>     Normally, only one variable can be used.  But, you can now follow
>     Python's for-loop syntax,
> 	for (a,b,c) in [ (...), (...), ... ]:
> 	    print a, b, c
>     as long as the variables are separated by ',' (comma) without any
>     spaces.  Their functions are identical, if you serialize the list
>     elements.

Isn't the bash way to do this like:

while read a b c; do
     echo $a $b $c
done

> 3.  Python's map() function:
> 
> 	arraymap command a b c ...
 >
> 4.  Python's filter() function:
>     
> 	arrayfilter filter name
> 
> 5.  Various list/dict operation in Python:
> 
> 	array [-kvlrs] [-i value] [-j sep] name [arg...]
> 
>     By default, print array indexes and values, separated by '\t',
>     mimicking dict.items() in Python.  Only one option is allowed, so
>     the last one takes effect.
> 	-k          Print only indexes.  --> dict.keys()
> 	-v          Print only values.  --> dict.values()
> 	-l          Print size of each array element.  -->  [ len(v) for v in list ]
> 	-i value    Print all indexes that have 'value'.  --> list.index(value), repeat...
> 	-j sep      Print all values with 'sep' separator.  --> sep.join()
>     The following operation changes the array in-place.
> 	-r          Reverse the array, keeping the same indexes.  --> list.reverse()
> 	-s          Sort the array, keeping the same indexes.  --> list.sort()
> 	-c          Collapse the array, so that there is no missing index.
> 
>     If one or more arguments are present, then append them sequentially to the
>     end of array, mimicking list.append(arg) or list.extend([arg,...]) in
>     Python.  It doesn't create new array, so create it manually.
> 	-j sep      Split each 'arg' string by 'sep' separator, and append each
> 		    segment to the end of array.  If 'sep' is null, then no
> 		    splitting is done.  --> list.extend(arg.split(sep)), repeat...
>