Null-terminated strings with struct module?

[Peter Otten]

Roy Smith wrote:

> I need to generate packed binary data which includes null-terminated
> strings mixed in with binary numbers.  For example, the Python string
> "foo" needs to become the 4-character binary string "foo\0", just like a
> C string (don't ask, I didn't design the protocol).
> 
> What's the best way to do this?  The "s" format specifier in struct
> gives me fixed-length, non-null-terminated strings.  Right now I'm doing:
> 
>         s1 = self.directory + "\0"
>         s2 = self.fileName + "\0"
>         s3 = self.dateString + "\0"
>         s4 = self.name + "\0"
>         s5 = struct.pack ("!IB", self.id, self.perTargetFlag)
>         data = s1 + s2 + s3 + s4 + s5
> 
> which is pretty ugly.  Is there a neater way to do this?
> 
> I know the string addition isn't the most efficient way to go, but for
> this application, I prefer the clarity and don't mind the minor speed
> hit.

Does that rule out the following?

data = "\0".join([self.directory, self.fileName, ..., struct.pack(...)])

Or perhaps you could mangle attribute names (untested):

def __getattr__(self, name):
    flag, name = name[0], name[1].lower() + name[2:]
    value = getattr(self, name) 
    if flag == "Z":
        return  value + "\0"
    else:
        return struct.pack("!" + flag, value)

data = self.ZDirectory + ... + self.ZName + self.IId + self.BPerTargetFlag

Peter