A file iteration question/problem

[tinnews@isbd.co.uk]

I want to iterate through the lines of a file in a recursive function
so I can't use:-

f = open(listfile, 'r')
for ln in f:

because when the function calls itself it won't see any more lines in
the file. E.g. more fully I want to do somthing like:-

def recfun(f)
while True:
str = readline(f)
if (str == "")
break;
#
# do various tests
#
if <something>:
recfun(f)

Is there no more elegant way of doing this than that rather clumsy
"while True" followed by a test?

--
Chris Green

[Arnaud Delobelle]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

On Apr 6, 4:40 pm, tinn...@isbd.co .uk wrote:

I want to iterate through the lines of a file in a recursive function
so I can't use:-
>
    f = open(listfile, 'r')
    for ln in f:
>
because when the function calls itself it won't see any more lines in
the file.  E.g. more fully I want to do somthing like:-
>
def recfun(f)
    while True:
        str = readline(f)
        if (str == "")
            break;
        #
        # do various tests
        #
        if <something>:
            recfun(f)
>
Is there no more elegant way of doing this than that rather clumsy
"while True" followed by a test?
>
--
Chris Green

You could use an iterator over the lines of the file:

def recfun(lines):
for line in lines:
# Do stuff
if condition:
recfun(lines)

lines = iter(open(filen ame))
recfun(lines)

Or if you want the filename to be the argument of you function, wrap
it in a non-recursive function:

def fun(filename):
lines = iter(open(filen ame))
def recfun():
for line in lines:
# Do stuff
if condition:
recfun()
recfun()

HTH

--
Arnaud

[tinnews@isbd.co.uk]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

Arnaud Delobelle <arnodel@google mail.comwrote:

On Apr 6, 4:40 pm, tinn...@isbd.co .uk wrote:

I want to iterate through the lines of a file in a recursive function
so I can't use:-

    f = open(listfile, 'r')
    for ln in f:

because when the function calls itself it won't see any more lines in
the file.  E.g. more fully I want to do somthing like:-

def recfun(f)
    while True:
        str = readline(f)
        if (str == "")
            break;
        #
        # do various tests
        #
        if <something>:
            recfun(f)

Is there no more elegant way of doing this than that rather clumsy
"while True" followed by a test?

--
Chris Green

>
You could use an iterator over the lines of the file:
>
def recfun(lines):
for line in lines:
# Do stuff
if condition:
recfun(lines)
>
lines = iter(open(filen ame))
recfun(lines)
>

Does that work though? If you iterate through the file with the "for
line in lines:" in the first call of recfun(lines) you surely can't do
"for line in lines:" and get any sort of sensible result in recursive
calls of recfun(lines) can you?

--
Chris Green

[Peter Otten]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

tinnews@isbd.co .uk wrote:

Arnaud Delobelle <arnodel@google mail.comwrote:

>You could use an iterator over the lines of the file:
>>
>def recfun(lines):
> for line in lines:
> # Do stuff
> if condition:
> recfun(lines)
>>
>lines = iter(open(filen ame))
>recfun(lines )

Does that work though? If you iterate through the file with the "for
line in lines:" in the first call of recfun(lines) you surely can't do
"for line in lines:" and get any sort of sensible result in recursive
calls of recfun(lines) can you?

Don't speculate, try it.

Peter

[Gabriel Genellina]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

En Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:09:13 -0300, <tinnews@isbd.c o.ukescribió:

Arnaud Delobelle <arnodel@google mail.comwrote:

>def recfun(lines):
> for line in lines:
> # Do stuff
> if condition:
> recfun(lines)
>>
>lines = iter(open(filen ame))
>recfun(lines )
>>

Does that work though? If you iterate through the file with the "for
line in lines:" in the first call of recfun(lines) you surely can't do
"for line in lines:" and get any sort of sensible result in recursive
calls of recfun(lines) can you?

Why not? Test and see what happens.

--
Gabriel Genellina

[Arnaud Delobelle]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

On Apr 7, 2:09 pm, tinn...@isbd.co .uk wrote:

Arnaud Delobelle <arno...@google mail.comwrote:

def recfun(lines):
    for line in lines:
        # Do stuff
        if condition:
            recfun(lines)

>

lines = iter(open(filen ame))
recfun(lines)

>
Does that work though?  If you iterate through the file with the "for
line in lines:" in the first call of recfun(lines) you surely can't do
"for line in lines:" and get any sort of sensible result in recursive
calls of recfun(lines) can you?

Try it! The keyword is iterator.

Here is an example of how this would work, but since you didn't
believe me I changed the context (strings not files) and I didn't make
it as simple as possible ;)

def reclist(string) :
chariter = iter(string + ' ')
def rec():
l = []
word = ''
for c in chariter:
if c.isalnum():
word += c
elif word and (c.isspace() or c in '[]'):
l.append(word)
word = ''
if c == ']':
return l
elif c == '[':
l.append(rec())
return l
return rec()

>>reclist('40 and 2 eggs but no spam')

['40', 'and', '2', 'eggs', 'but', 'no', 'spam']

>>reclist('[[40 and 2] eggs] but [no spam]')

[[['40', 'and', '2'], 'eggs'], 'but', ['no', 'spam']]

>>>

--
Arnaud

[John Nagle]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

tinnews@isbd.co .uk wrote:

I want to iterate through the lines of a file in a recursive function
so I can't use:-
>
f = open(listfile, 'r')
for ln in f:
>
because when the function calls itself it won't see any more lines in
the file. E.g. more fully I want to do somthing like:-
>
def recfun(f)
while True:
str = readline(f)
if (str == "")
break;
#
# do various tests
#
if <something>:
recfun(f)
>

Don't do that; Python doesn't have tail recursion and you'll hit the
stack limit.

John Nagle

[Arnaud Delobelle]

Re: A file iteration question/problem

On Apr 7, 11:40 pm, John Nagle <na...@animats. comwrote:

tinn...@isbd.co .uk wrote:

I want to iterate through the lines of a file in a recursive function
so I can't use:-

>

    f = open(listfile, 'r')
    for ln in f:

>

because when the function calls itself it won't see any more lines in
the file.  E.g. more fully I want to do somthing like:-

>

def recfun(f)
    while True:
        str = readline(f)
        if (str == "")
            break;
        #
        # do various tests
        #
        if <something>:
            recfun(f)

>
     Don't do that; Python doesn't have tail recursion and you'll hit the
stack limit.
>
                                John Nagle

This function is not tail recursive (the recursive call is in a loop).

--
Arnaud