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Using a dict to call functions from a string

I would like the first two words of a user input string to be read as function arguments for where to save the string. I've settled on using a dict instead of many if statements, but I'm not sure how to structure the dict.
I believe this is a correct start:
input: "question physics What happens to atoms when they are hit by photons?"
result: program saves the input in location questions\physics
raw_entry = input("Enter text in the following format: type subtype text")
instructions = raw_entry.split()[:2]
The two words (each being a "get_id" in the example) will designate where to save the text. This example seems to be what I'm looking for, but I'm not sure how to change it for my case.
function_dict = {'get_id':
(
# function
requests.get,
# tuple of arguments
(url + "/users/" + user,),
# dict of keyword args
{'headers': self.headers}
)
}
Let me know if I'm going about this logically or if it doesn't make sense. Thanks!

You will need to define the functions separately from the dictionary
For example:
def get_id():
... the function's code ...
function_dict = { "get_id":get_id, ... }
you can then call the function with its keyword:
function_dict["get_id"]()
but you can also do this without a dictionary if the keyword is the same as the function name:
globals()["get_id"]()

Python: Running function to append values to an empty list returns no values

This is probably a very basic question but I haven't been able to figure this out.
I'm currently using the following to append values to an empty list
shoes = {'groups':['running','walking']}
df_shoes_group_names = pd.DataFrame(shoes)
shoes_group_name=[]
for type in df_shoes_group_names['groups']:
shoes_group_name.append(type)
shoes_group_name
['running', 'walking']
I'm trying to accomplish the same using a for loop, however, when I execute the loop the list comes back as blank
shoes_group_name=[]
def list_builder(dataframe_name):
if 'shoes' in dataframe_name:
for type in df_shoes_group_names['groups']:
shoes_group_name.append(type)
list_builder(df_shoes_group_names)
shoes_group_name
[]
Reason for the function is that eventually I'll have multiple DF's with different product's so i'd like to just have if statements within the function to handle the creation of each list
so for example future examples could look like this:
df_shoes_group_names
df_boots_group_names
df_sandals_group_names
shoes_group_name=[]
boots_group_name=[]
sandals_group_name=[]
def list_builder(dataframe_name):
if 'shoes' in dataframe_name:
for type in df_shoes_group_names['groups']:
shoes_group_name.append(type)
elif 'boots' in dataframe_name:
for type in df_boots_group_names['groups']:
boots_group_name.append(type)
elif 'sandals' in dataframe_name:
for type in df_sandals_group_names['groups']:
sandals_group_name.append(type)
list_builder(df_shoes_group_names)
list_builder(df_boots_group_names)
list_builder(df_sandals_group_names)
Not sure if I'm approaching this the right way so any advice would be appreciated.
Best,

You should never call or search a variable name as if it were a string.
Instead, use a dictionary to store a variable number of variables.
Bad practice
# dataframes
df_shoes_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
df_boots_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
df_sandals_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
def foo(x):
if shoes in df_shoes_group_names: # <-- THIS WILL NOT WORK
# do something with x
Good practice
# dataframes
df_shoes_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
df_boots_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
df_sandals_group_names = pd.DataFrame(...)
dfs = {'shoes': df_shoes_group_names,
'boots': df_boots_group_names,
'sandals': df_sandals_group_names}
def foo(key):
if 'shoes' in key: # <-- THIS WILL WORK
# do something with dfs[key]

Dynamically creating a class

I have a function which returns me two lists, symbols and data where the corresponding values are with the same index. For example symbols[i] gives the variable name and data[i] gives the actual value (int).
I would like to use these two lists to dynamically create a class with static values of the following format:
class a:
symbols[i] = data[i]
symbols[i+1] = data[i+1]
and so on so that I could later refer to the values like this:
a.symbols[i]
a.symbols[i+1]
where symbols[i] and symbols[i+1] should be replaced with the wanted variable name, like a.var1 or a.var2
How could this be achieved?
Edit: added detail below
So I have a main program lets say def main() which should read in a list.dat of this style:
dimension1;0.1
dimension2;0.03
dimension3;0.15
and separate the values to symbols and data lists.
So I don't know how many values there are exactly in these lists. I want to create a class dynamically to be able to refer to the values in the main program and to give the class to sub functions as an argument like def sub1(NewClass, argument1, argument2) etc. At the moment I am using a manually created simple python list (list.py) of the following format:
dimension1 = 0.1
dimension2 = 0.03
dimension3 = 0.15
and then using from list import * in the main program and also in the sub functions, which causes a SyntaxWarning telling me that import * only allowed at module level. So what I actually want is a smart and consistent way of handling the parameters list and transferring it to another functions

You can create a class dynamically with type. If I understand what you want to achieve here, your code will look like:
my_classes = []
for i in range(0, len(data), 2):
my_classes.append(
type('A%d' % i, (), {'var1': data[i], 'var2': data[i+1]})
)

I suspect what you actually want, re-reading the description, is to use type as follows:
NewClass = type('NewClass', (object,), dict(zip(symbols, data)))
Given a minimal example:
>>> symbols = 'foo bar baz'.split()
>>> data = range(3)
The outcome would be:
>>> NewClass.foo
0
>>> NewClass.bar
1
>>> NewClass.baz
2
Using zip allows you to easily create a dictionary from a list of keys and a list of associated values, which you can use as the __dict__ for your new class.
However, it's not clear why you want this to be a class, specifically.

How to create a dictionary based on variable value in Python

I am trying to create a dictionary where the name comes from a variable.
Here is the situation since maybe there is a better way:
Im using an API to get attributes of "objects". (Name, Description, X, Y, Z) etc. I want to store this information in a way that keeps the data by "object".
In order to get this info, the API iterates through all the "objects".
So what my proposal was that if the object name is one of the ones i want to "capture", I want to create a dictionary with that name like so:
ObjectName = {'Description': VarDescrption, 'X': VarX.. etc}
(Where I say "Varetc..." that would be the value of that attribute passed by the API.
Now since I know the list of names ahead of time, I CAN use a really long If tree but am looking for something easier to code to accomplish this. (and extensible without adding too much code)
Here is code I have:
def py_cell_object():
#object counter - unrelated to question
addtototal()
#is this an object I want?
if aw.aw_string (239)[:5] == "TDT3_":
#If yes, make a dictionary with the object description as the name of the dictionary.
vars()[aw.aw_string (239)]={'X': aw.aw_int (232), 'Y': aw.aw_int (233), 'Z': aw.aw_int (234), 'No': aw.aw_int (231)}
#print back result to test
for key in aw.aw_string (239):
print 'key=%s, value=%s' % (key, aw.aw_string (239)[key])
here are the first two lines of code to show what "aw" is
from ctypes import *
aw = CDLL("aw")
to explain what the numbers in the API calls are:
231 AW_OBJECT_NUMBER,
232 AW_OBJECT_X,
233 AW_OBJECT_Y,
234 AW_OBJECT_Z,
239 AW_OBJECT_DESCRIPTION,
231-234 are integers and 239 is a string

I deduce that you are using the Active Worlds SDK. It would save time to mention that in the first place in future questions.
I guess your goal is to create a top-level dictionary, where each key is the object description. Each value is another dictionary, storing many of the attributes of that object.
I took a quick look at the AW SDK documentation on the wiki and I don't see a way to ask the SDK for a list of attribute names, IDs, and types. So you will have to hard-code that information in your program somehow. Unless you need it elsewhere, it's simplest to just hard-code it where you create the dictionary, which is what you are already doing. To print it back out, just print the attribute dictionary's repr. I would probably format your method more like this:
def py_cell_object():
#object counter - unrelated to question
addtototal()
description = aw.aw_string(239)
if description.startswith("TDT3_"):
vars()[description] = {
'DESCRIPTION': description,
'X': aw.aw_int(232),
'Y': aw.aw_int(233),
'Z': aw.aw_int(234),
'NUMBER': aw.aw_int (231),
... etc for remaining attributes
}
print repr(vars()[description])
Some would argue that you should make named constants for the numbers 232, 233, 234, etc., but I see little reason to do that unless you need them in multiple places, or unless it's easy to generate them automatically from the SDK (for example, by parsing a .h file).

If the variables are defined in the local scope, it's as simple as:
obj_names = {}
while True:
varname = read_name()
if not varname: break
obj_names[varname] = locals()[varname]

This is actual code I am using in my production environment
hope it helps.
cveDict = {}
# StrVul is a python list holding list of vulnerabilities belonging to a report
report = Report.objects.get(pk=report_id)
vul = Vulnerability.objects.filter(report_id=report_id)
strVul = map(str, vul)
# fill up the python dict, += 1 if cvetype already exists
for cve in strVul:
i = Cve.objects.get(id=cve)
if i.vul_cvetype in cveDict.keys():
cveDict[i.vul_cvetype] += 1
else:
cveDict[i.vul_cvetype] = 1

Use a string to call function in Python [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Calling a function of a module by using its name (a string)
(18 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
Some days ago I was searching on the net and I found an interesting article about python dictionaries. It was about using the keys in the dictionary to call a function. In that article the author has defined some functions, and then a dictionary with key exactly same as the function name. Then he could get an input parameter from user and call the same method (something like implementing case break)
After that I realised about the same thing but somehow different. I want to know how I can implement this.
If I have a function:
def fullName( name = "noName", family = "noFamily" ):
return name += family
And now if I have a string like this:
myString = "fullName( name = 'Joe', family = 'Brand' )"
Is there a way to execute this query and get a result: JoeBrand
For example something I remember is that we might give a string to exec() statement and it does it for us. But I’m not sure about this special case, and also I do not know the efficient way in Python. And also I will be so grateful to help me how to handle that functions return value, for example in my case how can I print the full name returned by that function?

This does not exactly answer your question, but maybe it helps nevertheless:
As mentioned, eval should be avoided if possible. A better way imo is to use dictionary unpacking. This is also very dynamic and less error prone.
Example:
def fullName(name = "noName", family = "noFamily"):
return name + family
functionList = {'fullName': fullName}
function = 'fullName'
parameters = {'name': 'Foo', 'family': 'Bar'}
print functionList[function](**parameters)
# prints FooBar
parameters = {'name': 'Foo'}
print functionList[function](**parameters)
# prints FoonoFamily

You could use eval():
myString = "fullName( name = 'Joe', family = 'Brand' )"
result = eval(myString)
Beware though, eval() is considered evil by many people.

I know this question is rather old, but you could do something like this:
argsdict = {'name': 'Joe', 'family': 'Brand'}
globals()['fullName'](**argsdict)
argsdict is a dictionary of argument, globals calls the function using a string, and ** expands the dictionary to a parameter list. Much cleaner than eval. The only trouble lies in splitting up the string. A (very messy) solution:
example = 'fullName(name=\'Joe\',family=\'Brand\')'
# Split at left parenthesis
funcname, argsstr = example.split('(')
# Split the parameters
argsindex = argsstr.split(',')
# Create an empty dictionary
argsdict = dict()
# Remove the closing parenthesis
# Could probably be done better with re...
argsindex[-1] = argsindex[-1].replace(')', '')
for item in argsindex:
# Separate the parameter name and value
argname, argvalue = item.split('=')
# Add it to the dictionary
argsdict.update({argname: argvalue})
# Call our function
globals()[funcname](**argsdict)