dynamically naming fields?

[Scott David Daniels]

Darren Dale wrote:

> I want to load data from a file, and I want to use the header to name my 
> fields... for example, I have a file containing "time counter" in the 
> header, how do I create Sample.time and Sample.counter? In Matlab it 
> would be Sample.(string)
> 
> thanks,
> Darren

setattr(anobject, name, value) sets the name field to value.
getattr(anobject, name) retrieves that value.


I find the following class useful for interactive work:

class Data(object):
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         self.__dict__.update(kwargs)
     def __repr__(self):
         return '%s(%s)' % (self.__class__.__name__, ', '.join(
             ['%s=%r' % keyval for keyval in self.__dict__.items()]))

# This class allows me to see data in the object.  Either printing
# the object or viewing it as a value with idle or the interactive
# interpreter will now display data added to the object.

sample = Data(version=1)  # illustrating fields built at creation

setattr(sample, 'time', [1,3,5])
setattr(sample, 'counter', [12,55,93])

print sample  # illustrate the __repr__ magic to see the data


-- 
-Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org