I don't even know what it's called...

[Thomascountz]

I'm completely new to python, I just started about 3 days ago. I've requested some books from my library on python, so I hope I'm headed in the right direction. I hate to ask this because I'm sure it's been asked before, but I don't know what it is called so I don't even know where to begin. Is it possible to edit the code of a python program, while executing it.

if loop == 2:    
    def menu(list,question):
        for entry in list:
            print 1+list.index(entry),
            print ") " + entry

        return input (question) - 1

CEF = ['CURRENT OBJECTIVES','CURRENT TARGET','CURRENT MISSION','Exit']

name = raw_input("Please insert your name: ")
print "Hello", name,"Welcome to the Information Desk"
print ""
while loop == 2:
    choice = menu(CEF, "Please Select: ")
    if choice == 0:
        Print "There is no information"
    if choice == 1:
        print "There is no information"
    if choice == 2:
        print "There is no information"
    if choice == 3:
        print "Thank You",name
        sleep(2)
        loop = 4

I want to change the places where it says "there is no information" to whatever I want, without having to edit the code manually, instead I would like to enter the information with the program itself. Almost like changing the value of a variable, except, making it permanent, so it will be like that next time I run the program.

Again, sorry if this has already been asked, but What is this called and How do I do it?

[jlm699]

if loop == 2:    
    def menu(list,question):
        for entry in list:
            print 1+list.index(entry),
            print ") " + entry

        return input (question) - 1

CEF = ['CURRENT OBJECTIVES','CURRENT TARGET','CURRENT MISSION','Exit']

name = raw_input("Please insert your name: ")
print "Hello", name,"Welcome to the Information Desk"
print ""
while loop == 2:
    choice = menu(CEF, "Please Select: ")
    if choice == 0:
        Print "There is no information"
    if choice == 1:
        print "There is no information"
    if choice == 2:
        print "There is no information"
    if choice == 3:
        print "Thank You",name
        sleep(2)
        loop = 4

A possibility would be to initialize variables before your while loop. Let's say:
choice0 = choice1 = choice2 = choice3 = 'There is no information'
Then during the loop you simply put print choice0 or print choice1...

During the loop Then you could store some kind of input with:
usr_input = raw_input('Ente r some text: ')

Then you could assign one of your choices to the same value like
choice0 = usr_input

This might be what you're looking for. There's not really any specific name for this, it's just dynamic variables.

[Thomascountz]

That's not exactly what I was wondering how to do. Let me rephrase:

Lets say I have a variable: a
in the code it would be written:
a = 0
When I run the code: print a
The output would be: 0
When running the program, I tell it: a = 1
in the code it would now be written:
a = 1

The actually code has changed.
How would I do this, if it is possible.

hope this makes sense.

[Dekudude]

You want it to remain as "a = 1" inside the actual code, so if you were to open it in Notepad, you would see "a = 1"?

[Thomascountz]

Yes. Exactly...is that possible?

[jlm699]

You could open the .py file, scan it, find the variable and then replace the value with some simple string manipulation.

[Thomascountz]

how do you scan for the variables?

[jlm699]

how do you scan for the variables?

You would have to write your own utility for parsing the file, but it would probably be something like this:
[code=python]
f = open( my_prog.py, 'r' )

for line in f:
data = line.split('=')
if len( data ) == 2:
var_name = data[0]
try:
var_val = int( data[1] )
# Now you can change the value to whatever you want
except:
# Either a non-integer value or a string
pass[/code]
Simple file reading/writing and basic text parsing is all it is.