[Python-Dev] string.find() again (was Re: timsort for jython)

[Gordon McMillan]

On 5 Aug 2002 at 16:15, Tim Peters wrote:

> [Tim]
> > I'd like to see a plausible use case for
> >
> >     '' in str
> >
> > returning True, then.
> 
> [Gordon McMillan]
> > Any code that currently does
> >  str.find(x) >= 0
> 
> You're saying that you actually do that in cases
> where x may be an empty string, and that it's useful
> to get a True result in at least one such case? 

What I'm really saying is that I almost never use
 x in str
because it's semantics have always been peculiar.
Thus, I don't *really* care whether '' in str raises
an exception, because if it does, I won't train myself
to use it <wink>.

[...]

> Sure -- that's what .find() is for, after all.  But
> you're also saying that your algorithms expect to
> search for empty strings?  Like in:
> 
>     index = option_letter_string.find(letter)
>     if index >= 0:
>         list_of_option_functions[index]()
>     else:
>         raise UnknownOptionLetter(letter)
> 
> you make sure that list_of_option_functions[0] is
> suitable for processing both the first option in
> option_letter_string and an empty "option letter"?

Say we have a sequence of objects where obj.options
uses a string to hold (orthogonal) option codes. We're
selecting a subset based on the user's criteria, and
empty means "don't care".

Then
 for obj in seq:
   if obj.options.find(criteria):
     rslt.append(obj)

makes perfect sense.

I rather doubt I have code in that exact
form, because I'd probably special case
it if it were that obvious.

if not criteria:
  return seq
for obj in seq:
  .... 

OTOH, I use find() a lot, and since I can't
recall having been bit by find('') returning 0, I
have to conclude that the mystically / mathematically
correct answer is, in my case at least, also
the pragmatically correct one.

But you solved a similar problem once
already, by noting that a large quantity had
to have at least 537 objects in it.

-- Gordon
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/