Fwd: Re: Comparing Dictionaries

[Kenneth Love]

>From: "Steven D'Aprano" <steve at REMOVE.THIS.cybersource.com.au>
>Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
>Subject: Re: Comparing Dictionaries
>Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:21:14 +1000
>To: python-list at python.org
>
>On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:11:02 -0500, Kenneth Love wrote:
>
> > The published recipe (based on ConfigParser) did not handle my INI
> > files.  I have periods in both the section names and the key names.
> > The INI files contents were developed according to an internally
> > defined process that other non-Python programs rely on.  The published
> > recipe *did not work* with this scenario.
>
>I think you have made a mistake. ConfigParser as published certainly DOES
>accept periods in section and option names. It just *works*.

The recipe I'm using is based upon ConfigParser and creates a dictionary
that is based on the contents of the INI file.  The dictionary's key is
based on the section name and the key name from the INI file.  The two
are concatenated with a separator.

In the original recipe, the separator is a period.  To use your example
(deleted as an attempt at brevity), the dictionary would be:

{ "SECTION.FRED.option.wilma" : "45" }

As originally written, the section name is now "SECTION" when you write
the INI file back out.  The key is "FRED.option.wilma".

Here is the original recipe:

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/65334

My version replaces the period with a dollar sign giving:

{ "SECTION.FRED$option.wilma" : "45" }

I also removed the "import string" and put both the load() and save()
functions in a file with proper comments and the Python equivalent of
Javadoc comments.

>Even if the existing ConfigParser doesn't do what you want, the right way
>to fix the problem is not to recreate the entire module from scratch, but
>to subclass it:
>[snip]

In no way did I rewrite ConfigParser.  I have a real job with time
pressures and I'm not so arrogant as to think I could whip something
up in an hour that would be anywhere close to correct.

I see that I wasn't as clear as I thought I was in my original post
as you are second person to think I was developing my own INI solution.

All I wanted to know was "How do I compare two dictionaries to see if
they are equal?".  It turns out that this functionality is built-in
and it is my own stupid fault that my unit test was failing (modifying
working code and writing a unit test at the same time is a recipe for
failure).

Oh well.  Next time I'll spend two hours trying to figure it out instead
of one before I post.  :-\

>--
>Steven.
>
>--
>http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Kenneth Love                   |         Oklahoma Tax Commission
DP Programmer/Analyst          |         Information Technology
(405) 522 - 5864               |         http://www.tax.ok.gov/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-