Newbie: splitting dictionary definition across two .py files

[Karthik Gurusamy]

Ben Cartwright wrote:
> kar1107 at gmail.com wrote:
> > I like to define a big dictionary in two
> > files and use it my main file, build.py
> >
> > I want the definition to go into build_cfg.py and build_cfg_static.py.
> >
> > build_cfg_static.py:
> > target_db = {}
> > target_db['foo'] = 'bar'
> >
> > build_cfg.py
> > target_db['xyz'] = 'abc'
> >
> > In build.py, I like to do
> > from build_cfg_static import *
> > from build_cfg import *
> >
> > ...now use target_db to access all elements. The problem looks like, I
> > can't
> > have the definition of target_db split across two files. I think they
> > reside in different name spaces?
>
> Yes.  As it stands, build_cfg.py will not compile to bytecode
> (NameError: name 'target_db' is not defined).
>
> Unless you're doing something ugly like exec() on the its contents, .py
> files need to be valid before they can be imported.
>
> > Is there any way I can have the same
> > dictionary definition split across two files?
>
> Try this:
>
> # build_cfg_static.py:
> target_db = {}
> target_db['foo'] = 'bar'
>
> # build_cfg.py:
> target_db = {}
> target_db['xyz'] = 'abc'
>
> # build.py:
> from build_cfg_static import target_db
> from build_cfg import target_db as merge_db
> target_db.update(merge_db)
>

Thanks; it works great.

I also found using import inside build_cfg.py also works.

#build_cfg_static.py:
target_db = {}
#.. other dict entry definitions

#build_cfg.py:
from build_cfg_static import *
#.. more dict entry definitions

But I think using two different dictionaries and merging as you have
suggested is a better approach than the above way of an import file
importing another file. But doing the dictionary merge may incur
additional performance cost; but for my dataset size, it should be
okay.

Karthik

> --Ben