[Tutor] Is there a way to store and later use comparison operators (<, <=, =, >=, >) ?

[boB Stepp]

Python 2.4.4, Solaris 10.

I have some functions that I believe I could collapse into a single
function if I only knew how:

def choose_compare(operator, value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color):
    """
    Perform the comparison indicated by operator. Return pass_color if
true, fail_color if false.
    """
    if operator == '<':
            return less_than(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color)
    elif operator == '<=':
        return less_than_or_equal(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color)
    elif operator == '=':
        return equal(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color)
    elif operator == '>':
        return greater_than(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color)
    elif operator == '>=':
        return greater_than_or_equal(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color)
    else:
        print 'WarningMessage = "Invalid comparison operator in
function, choose_compare(). at Please contact script administrator for
assistance.";'

def less_than(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color):
    """
    See if value0 is less than value1. If true, return pass_color. If
false, return fail_color.
    """
    if value0 < value1:
        return pass_color, True
    else:
        return fail_color, False

def less_than_or_equal(value0, value1, pass_color, fail_color):
    """
    See if value0 is less than or equal to value1. If true, return
pass_color. If false, return fail_color.
    """
    if value0 <= value1:
        return pass_color, True
    else:
        return fail_color, False

... 3 more functions ...

I won't give the remaining functions for the other comparison
operators. The string variable, operator, is originally populated from
a data file, which tells what type of comparison needs to be made. The
last two functions I gave (and the ones I omitted giving) all follow
the same exact pattern. I know there has to be some way to replace
these 5 functions with 1, but what experimentation I have done to date
has not worked.

Also, what about the first function above? I could use 2 dictionaries,
1 for calling the 5 functions and one to pass the arguments, but is it
worth doing this? Or, I would not be surprised if there is a much
better way! ~(:>))

Thanks!

-- 
boB