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Translation of a PHP Script to Python3 (Django)

I am attempting to convert from scratch the following PHP script into Python for my Django Project:
Note that it is my understanding that this script should handle values sent from a form, sign the data with the Secret_Key, encrypt the data in SHA256 and encode it in Base64
<?php
define ('HMAC_SHA256', 'sha256');
define ('SECRET_KEY', '<REPLACE WITH SECRET KEY>');
function sign ($params) {
return signData(buildDataToSign($params), SECRET_KEY);
}
function signData($data, $secretKey) {
return base64_encode(hash_hmac('sha256', $data, $secretKey, true));
}
function buildDataToSign($params) {
$signedFieldNames = explode(",",$params["signed_field_names"]);
foreach ($signedFieldNames as $field) {
$dataToSign[] = $field . "=" . $params[$field];
}
return commaSeparate($dataToSign);
}
function commaSeparate ($dataToSign) {
return implode(",",$dataToSign);
}
?>
Here is what I have done so far :
def sawb_confirmation(request):
if request.method == "POST":
form = SecureAcceptance(request.POST)
if form.is_valid():
access_key = 'afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c'
profile_id = 'E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B'
transaction_uuid = str(uuid.uuid4())
signed_field_names = 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency'
signed_date_time = datetime.datetime.now()
signed_date_time = str(signed_date_time.strftime("20%y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"))
locale = 'en'
transaction_type = str(form.cleaned_data["transaction_type"])
reference_number = str(form.cleaned_data["reference_number"])
amount = str(form.cleaned_data["amount"])
currency = str(form.cleaned_data["currency"])
# Transform the String into a List
signed_field_names = [x.strip() for x in signed_field_names.split(',')]
# Get Values for each of the fields in the form
values = [access_key, profile_id, transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,'',signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency]
# Insert the signedfieldnames in their place in the list (MUST BE KEPT)
values[3] = 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency'
# Merge the two lists as one
DataToSign = list(map('='.join, zip(signed_field_names, values)))
# Hash Sha-256
API_SECRET = 'bb588d4f96ac491ebd43cceb18xx149b79291f874f1a41fcbf5bc078bb6c8793af2df5ad4b174f80bd5f24a4e4eec6fdabdxxxxxc6c1410db40252deea613e0b976748539294438694ba08xx4ba831d3d850349cacfa445f9706aa57be7f8e61aab0be2288054dbe88ec6200ccd7c72888bcc0aa373f42059ec248d3c86b0f45'
message = '{} {}'.format(DataToSign, API_SECRET)
signature = hmac.new(bytes(API_SECRET , 'latin-1'), msg = bytes(message , 'latin-1'), digestmod = hashlib.sha256).hexdigest().upper()
base64string = base64.b64encode( bytes(signature, "utf-8") )
When printing the variables as they come, I obtain the following :
VALUES : ['afc10315b6aa3b2a8cfc91253812b94c', 'E25C4FE4-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B', '0b59b0ae-bd25-4421-a231-bb83dcfc91fa', 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency', '', '2021-03-06T22:07:30Z', 'en', 'authorization', '1615068450109', '100', 'USD']
DATATOSIGN : ['access_key=afc10315b6aa3b2a8cfc91253812b94c', 'profile_id=E25C4FE4-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B', 'transaction_uuid=0b59b0ae-bd25-4421-a231-bb83dcfc91fa', 'signed_field_names=access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency', 'unsigned_field_names=', 'signed_date_time=2021-03-06T22:07:30Z', 'locale=en', 'transaction_type=authorization', 'reference_number=1615068450109', 'amount=100', 'currency=USD']
SIGNATURE : 953C786EB9884CEC13C24118B00125BDCFE23AFF8AB02E7BEF29A83156C55C16
BASE64STRING : b'OTUzQzc4NkVCOTg4NENFQzEzQzI0MTE4QjAwMTI1QkRDRkUyM0FGRjhBQjAyRTdCRUYyOUE4MzE1NkM1NUMxNg=='
I think I am getting pretty close from the final result I would like to achieve since I would then simply have to post the Base64String to a specific URL.
However, I am unsure of a couple of things which may seem a bit off :
Is my "translation" of the PHP code into Python correct? Am I meant to merge my lists with a result in "DATATOSIGN"? I am not proficient in PHP so I might have misunderstood how to present the data.
The signature in Base64 should be 44 chars AT ALL TIME like "WrXOhTzhBjYMZROwiCug2My3jiZHOqATimcz5EBA07M=" when using the PHP Sample Code but mine way exceeds this limitation.
If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to ask.
Hope you can give me pointers !

To approach this problem, it might be good to get an idea of what your final PHP result would be for given parameters.
Here are the parameters I'm using for this with your given PHP code:
$params = [
'access_key' => 'afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c',
'profile_id' => 'E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B',
'transaction_uuid' => '12345',
'signed_field_names' => 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency',
'unsigned_field_names' => '',
'signed_date_time' => '2021-03-06 16:14:00',
'locale' => 'en',
'transaction_type' => 'credit',
'reference_number' => '12345',
'amount' => '50',
'currency' => 'usd'
];
When I run the original PHP code with these parameters, and these lines for outputting the code:
<?php
echo "build data to sign:\n";
print_r(buildDataToSign($params));
echo "\n";
echo "sign data:\n";
echo signData(buildDataToSign($params), 'secret');
?>
I get the following output:
build data to sign:
access_key=afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c,profile_id=E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B,transaction_uuid=12345,signed_field_names=access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency,unsigned_field_names=,signed_date_time=2021-03-06 16:14:00,locale=en,transaction_type=credit,reference_number=12345,amount=50,currency=usd
sign data:
6V0iIqu3smGmadPK4KvRuHm1nNkuIVLBPbLg7VkA7M8=
So with your new Python version of this PHP code, you'll probably want to have a similar sign data value of 6V0iIqu3smGmadPK4KvRuHm1nNkuIVLBPbLg7VkA7M8= at the end with these parameters!
Because your Python example does not seem to get the same result as-is, after adding a return base64string to the end of your Python def, I get the following output:
sign_data:
b'NThFMjU4QTQyRjU2MkVDRDgzM0RCOEIwM0VDODczQTExNjc3MUNDMEM2OURGMDFGMjdFQkU3MEMzMDAyNjA3RQ=='
In order to match the PHP version of your code, I wanted to try to find out what was going on between the PHP and Python approaches in regard to the hmac and base64 parts.
When I broke down your PHP code example into steps relating to the hmac value and then later the base64 value, here is what I found (using a data message of 'hello' and a key of 'secret' to keep it simple):
Example PHP Code:
<?php
$hash_value = hash_hmac('sha256', 'hello', 'secret', true);
$base64_value = base64_encode($hash_value);
echo "hash value:\n";
echo $hash_value;
echo "\n";
echo "base64 value:\n";
echo $base64_value;
echo "\n";
?>
Example PHP Code Output:
;▒▒▒▒▒C▒|
base64 value:
iKqz7ejTrflNJquQ07r9SiCDBww7zOnAFO4EpEOEfAs=
That looks like some crazy binary-type data! Then, I wanted to try to make sure that the base64 value could be reproduced in Python. To do that, I used a simple approach in Python using the same values as earlier.
Example Python Code:
import base64
import hashlib
import hmac
# Based on your Python code example
hash_value = hmac.new(bytes('secret' , 'latin-1'), msg = bytes('hello', 'latin-1'), digestmod = hashlib.sha256).hexdigest().upper()
base64_value = base64.b64encode(bytes(hash_value, 'utf-8'))
print("hash value:")
print(hash_value)
print("base64 value:")
print(base64_value)
Example Python Code Output:
hash value:
88AAB3EDE8D3ADF94D26AB90D3BAFD4A2083070C3BCCE9C014EE04A443847C0B
base64 value:
b'ODhBQUIzRURFOEQzQURGOTREMjZBQjkwRDNCQUZENEEyMDgzMDcwQzNCQ0NFOUMwMTRFRTA0QTQ0Mzg0N0MwQg=='
So, like you found out earlier, something is causing this base64 value result on the Python side to be longer than the PHP version.
After looking into things more (especially seeing the strange data result in the PHP test code above), I found out that the hash_hmac() function in PHP has the option to return a result in binary form (with the true value at the end of the hash_hmac() in your PHP code example). On the Python side, it looks like you decided to use hmac.hexdigest() which I think I've used before in the past when I wanted a string-like value. For this case, however, I think you might want to get the value back as a binary value. To do this, it looks like you'll want to use hmac.digest() instead.
Modified Example Python Code:
import base64
import hashlib
import hmac
# Based on your Python code example
hash_value = hmac.new(bytes('secret' , 'latin-1'), msg = bytes('hello', 'latin-1'), digestmod = hashlib.sha256).digest()
base64_value = base64.b64encode(bytes(hash_value))
print("hash value:")
print(hash_value)
print("base64 value:")
print(base64_value)
Modified Example Python Code Output:
hash value:
b'\x88\xaa\xb3\xed\xe8\xd3\xad\xf9M&\xab\x90\xd3\xba\xfdJ \x83\x07\x0c;\xcc\xe9\xc0\x14\xee\x04\xa4C\x84|\x0b'
base64 value:
b'iKqz7ejTrflNJquQ07r9SiCDBww7zOnAFO4EpEOEfAs='
Now, the final base64 results appear to match between the example PHP and Python code.
In order for me to better understand what was different between the PHP and Python code, I ended up writing a simple translation of your PHP code into Python (and partly based on your Python code as well).
Here is what the related Python code looks like on my side (with example params):
import base64
import hmac
params = {
'access_key': 'afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c',
'profile_id': 'E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B',
'transaction_uuid': "12345",
'signed_field_names': 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency',
'unsigned_field_names': '',
'signed_date_time': "2021-03-06 16:14:00",
'locale': 'en',
'transaction_type': "credit",
'reference_number': "12345",
'amount': "50",
'currency': "usd"
}
SECRET_KEY = 'secret'
def sign(params):
return sign_data(build_data_to_sign(params), SECRET_KEY)
def sign_data(data, secret_key):
return base64.b64encode(bytes(hmac.new(bytes(secret_key, 'latin-1'), msg=bytes(data, 'latin-1'), digestmod='sha256').digest()))
def build_data_to_sign(params):
data_to_sign = []
signed_field_names = params['signed_field_names'].split(',')
for field in signed_field_names:
data_to_sign.append(field + "=" + params[field])
return comma_separate(data_to_sign)
def comma_separate(data_to_sign):
return ','.join(data_to_sign)
When I use my code translation to check your Python code, I checked the values for the variables signed_field_names and DataToSign in your code, and I got the following results:
signed_field_names:
['access_key', 'profile_id', 'transaction_uuid', 'signed_field_names', 'unsigned_field_names', 'signed_date_time', 'locale', 'transaction_type', 'reference_number', 'amount', 'currency']
DataToSign:
['access_key=afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c', 'profile_id=E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B', 'transaction_uuid=12345', 'signed_field_names=access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency', 'unsigned_field_names=', 'signed_date_time=2021-03-06 16:14:00', 'locale=en', 'transaction_type=credit', 'reference_number=12345', 'amount=50', 'currency=usd']
When I check the values with my code translation attempt, I get these values:
signed_field_names:
['access_key', 'profile_id', 'transaction_uuid', 'signed_field_names', 'unsigned_field_names', 'signed_date_time', 'locale', 'transaction_type', 'reference_number', 'amount', 'currency']
DataToSign:
access_key=afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c,profile_id=E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B,transaction_uuid=12345,signed_field_names=access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency,unsigned_field_names=,signed_date_time=2021-03-06 16:14:00,locale=en,transaction_type=credit,reference_number=12345,amount=50,currency=usd
So it looks like your DataToSign = list(map('='.join, zip(signed_field_names, values))) line is specifying a list whereas my code attempt is specifying a string based on your original PHP example.
Because of this, I think you'll want to turn the result back into a string like this (though the variable name could also be written differently if you so choose):
DataToSignString = ','.join(DataToSign)
To save time in this long post, I also found that your message variable was different than my translation of your PHP code. To work around this, I made the message variable in your Python code set to the previously mentioned DataToSignString:
# Commenting out previous message line for now
# message = '{} {}'.format(DataToSignString, API_SECRET)
message = DataToSignString
Also, the following changes seem to be needed for your Python example:
signature = hmac.new(bytes(API_SECRET , 'latin-1'), msg = bytes(message , 'latin-1'), digestmod = hashlib.sha256).digest()
base64string = base64.b64encode(bytes(signature))
This way, you have a binary version of the hmac object. Also, it looks like the utf-8 part might not be needed for now in the base64encode part.
Finally, I added a return to return the calculated base64string while also converting it to a string before base64string is returned:
return str(base64string, 'utf-8')
When put together, here is what the modified code from your Python example looks like:
import base64
import datetime
import hashlib
import hmac
import pprint
import uuid
def sign():
access_key = 'afc10315b6aaxxxxxcfc912xx812b94c'
profile_id = 'E25C4XXX-4622-47E9-9941-1003B7910B3B'
transaction_uuid = "12345"
signed_field_names = 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency'
signed_date_time = "2021-03-06 16:14:00"
locale = 'en'
transaction_type = "credit"
reference_number = "12345"
amount = "50"
currency = "usd"
# Transform the String into a List
signed_field_names = [x.strip() for x in signed_field_names.split(',')]
# Get Values for each of the fields in the form
values = [access_key, profile_id, transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,'',signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency]
# Insert the signedfieldnames in their place in the list (MUST BE KEPT)
values[3] = 'access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency'
# Merge the two lists as one
DataToSign = list(map('='.join, zip(signed_field_names, values)))
DataToSignString = ','.join(DataToSign)
# Hash Sha-256
API_SECRET = 'secret'
message = DataToSignString
signature = hmac.new(bytes(API_SECRET , 'latin-1'), msg = bytes(message , 'latin-1'), digestmod = hashlib.sha256).digest()
base64string = base64.b64encode(bytes(signature))
return str(base64string, 'utf-8')
result = sign()
print("sign_data:")
print(result)
The output for this code (with the given parameters) is:
sign_data:
6V0iIqu3smGmadPK4KvRuHm1nNkuIVLBPbLg7VkA7M8=
The value part of this output should be the same as the PHP output from earlier in this post. The earlier value was 6V0iIqu3smGmadPK4KvRuHm1nNkuIVLBPbLg7VkA7M8= and the latest output showed a result of 6V0iIqu3smGmadPK4KvRuHm1nNkuIVLBPbLg7VkA7M8=.

#summea You are god sent ! Thanks a ton ! I cannot believe how much of an effort you made, I am baffled !
If anyone is attempted to Implement Secure Acceptance / CyberSource and see this message, note that you would not be able to pass value="{{ signed_field_names }} in your front end as it is since the data looks like ['access_key','profile_id'].
You would need to either tweak it before sending it (which somehow gives out a Signature Mismatched on CYBS end) or simply hardcode the input field in payment_confirmation like so : value="access_key,profile_id,transaction_uuid,signed_field_names,unsigned_field_names,signed_date_time,locale,transaction_type,reference_number,amount,currency"/>

How to get details of a JSON Server response parsed into list/dictionary in Python

I am new to Python. I have been trying to parse the response sent as parameter in a function.
I have been trying to convert a function from Perl to Python.
The Perl block looks something like this:
sub fetchId_byusername
{
my ($self,$resString,$name) =#_;
my $my_id;
my #arr = #{$json->allow_nonref->utf8->decode($resString)};
foreach(#arr)
{
my %hash = %{$_};
foreach my $keys (keys %hash)
{
$my_id = $hash{id} if($hash{name} eq $name);
}
}
print "Fetched Id is : $my_id\n";
return $my_id;
The part where JSON data is being parsed is troubling me. How do i write this in python3.
I tried something like
def fetchID_byUsername(self, resString, name):
arr = []
user_id = 0
arr = resString.content.decode('utf-8', errors="replace")
for item in arr:
temp_hash = {}
temp_hash = item
for index in temp_hash.keys():
if temp_hash[name] == name:
user_id = temp_hash[id]
print("Fetched ID is: {}".format(user_id))
return user_id
Now I am not sure, if this is the right way to do it.
The json inputs are something like:
[{"id":12345,"name":"11","email":"11#test.com","groups":[{"id":6967,"name":"Test1"},{"id":123456,"name":"E1"}],"department":{"id":3863,"name":"Department1"},"comments":"111","adminUser":false},{"id":123457,"name":"1234567","email":"1234567#test.com","groups":[{"id":1657,"name":"mytest"},{"id":58881,"name":"Service Admin"}],"department":{"id":182,"name":"Service Admin"},"comments":"12345000","adminUser":true}]
Thanks in advance.

Your json input should be valid python I changed false to False and true to True. If it is json formatted string you can do
import json
data=json.loads(json_formatted_string_here) #data will be python dictionary herer
And tried like this it just iterates and when match found returns id
data=[{"id":12345,"name":"11","email":"11#test.com","groups":[{"id":6967,"name":"Test1"},{"id":123456,"name":"E1"}],"department":{"id":3863,"name":"Department1"},"comments":"111","adminUser":False},{"id":123457,"name":"1234567","email":"1234567#test.com","groups":[{"id":1657,"name":"mytest"},{"id":58881,"name":"Service Admin"}],"department":{"id":182,"name":"Service Admin"},"comments":"12345000","adminUser":True}]
def fetch_id_by_name(list_records,name):
for record in list_records:
if record["name"] == name:
return record["id"]
print(fetch_id_by_name(data,"11"))

First of all import the the json library and use json.loads() like:
import json
x = json.loads(json_feed) #This converts the json feed to a python dictionary
print(x["key"]) #values to "key"

Selecting values from a JSON file in Python

I am getting JIRA data using the following python code,
how do I store the response for more than one key (my example shows only one KEY but in general I get lot of data) and print only the values corresponding to total,key, customfield_12830, summary
import requests
import json
import logging
import datetime
import base64
import urllib
serverURL = 'https://jira-stability-tools.company.com/jira'
user = 'username'
password = 'password'
query = 'project = PROJECTNAME AND "Build Info" ~ BUILDNAME AND assignee=ASSIGNEENAME'
jql = '/rest/api/2/search?jql=%s' % urllib.quote(query)
response = requests.get(serverURL + jql,verify=False,auth=(user, password))
print response.json()
response.json() OUTPUT:-
http://pastebin.com/h8R4QMgB

From the the link you pasted to pastebin and from the json that I saw, its a you issues as list containing key, fields(which holds custom fields), self, id, expand.
You can simply iterate through this response and extract values for keys you want. You can go like.
data = response.json()
issues = data.get('issues', list())
x = list()
for issue in issues:
temp = {
'key': issue['key'],
'customfield': issue['fields']['customfield_12830'],
'total': issue['fields']['progress']['total']
}
x.append(temp)
print(x)
x is list of dictionaries containing the data for fields you mentioned. Let me know if I have been unclear somewhere or what I have given is not what you are looking for.
PS: It is always advisable to use dict.get('keyname', None) to get values as you can always put a default value if key is not found. For this solution I didn't do it as I just wanted to provide approach.
Update: In the comments you(OP) mentioned that it gives attributerror.Try this code
data = response.json()
issues = data.get('issues', list())
x = list()
for issue in issues:
temp = dict()
key = issue.get('key', None)
if key:
temp['key'] = key
fields = issue.get('fields', None)
if fields:
customfield = fields.get('customfield_12830', None)
temp['customfield'] = customfield
progress = fields.get('progress', None)
if progress:
total = progress.get('total', None)
temp['total'] = total
x.append(temp)
print(x)

How we convert string into json

I want to convert ansible-init file into json. So, I just use this code:
common_shared file:
[sql]
x.com
[yps_db]
y.com
[ems_db]
c.com
[scc_db]
d.com
[all:vars]
server_url="http://x.com/x"
app_host=abc.com
server_url="https://x.com"
[haproxy]
1.1.1.1 manual_hostname=abc instance_id=i-dddd
2.2.2.2 manual_hostname=xyz instance_id=i-cccc
For converting Ansible INI file in JSON:
import json
options= {}
f = open('common_shared')
x = f.read()
config_entries = x.split()
for key,value in zip(config_entries[0::2], config_entries[1::2]):
cleaned_key = key.replace("[",'').replace("]",'')
options[cleaned_key]=value
print json.dumps(options,indent=4,ensure_ascii=False)
But it will print this result:
{
"scc_db": "xxx",
"haproxy": "x.x.x.x",
"manual_hostname=xxx": "instance_id=xx",
"ems_db": "xxx",
"yps_db": "xxx",
"all:vars": "yps_server_url=\"xxx\"",
"1.1.1.5": "manual_hostname=xxx",
"sql": "xxx",
"xxx": "scc_server_url=xxxx\""
}
But I wanted to print result in proper JSON format but not able to understand how. I tried config parser but didn't get help to print it in desired format.

You can use ConfigParser to read in your file, and then do the conversion to a dict to dump.
from ConfigParser import ConfigParser
from collections import defaultdict
config = ConfigParser()
config.readfp(open('/path/to/file.ini'))
def convert_to_dict(config):
config_dict = defaultdict(dict)
for section in config.sections():
for key, value in config.items(section):
config_dict[section][key] = value
return config_dict
print convert_to_dict(config)
EDIT
As you stated in your comment, some line items are just 'things' with no value, the below might work for you.
import re
from collections import defaultdict
SECTION_HEADER_RE = re.compile('^\[.*\]$')
KEY_VALUE_RE = re.compile('^.*=.*$')
def convert_ansible_to_dict(filepath_and_name):
ansible_dict = defaultdict(dict)
with open(filepath_and_name) as input_file:
section_header = None
for line in input_file:
if SECTION_HEADER_RE.findall(line.strip()):
section_header = SECTION_HEADER_RE.findall(line.strip())[0]
elif KEY_VALUE_RE.findall(line.strip()):
if section_header:
# Make sure you have had a header section prior to the line
key, value = KEY_VALUE_RE.findall(line.strip())[0].split('=', 1)
ansible_dict[section_header][key] = value
else:
if line.strip() and section_header:
# As they're just attributes without value, assign the value None
ansible_dict[section_header][line.strip()] = None
return ansible_dict
This is a naive approach, and might not catch all corner cases for you, but perhaps it's a step in the right direction. If you have any 'bare-attributes' prior to your first section header, they will not be included in the dictionary as it would not know where to apportion it to, and the regex for key=value pairs is working on the assumption that there will be only 1 equals sign in the line. I'm sure there might be many other cases I'm not seeing right now, but hopefully this helps.

Christian's answer is the correct one: Use ConfigParser.
Your issue with his solution is that you have an incorrectly formatted INI file.
You need to change all your properties to:
key=value
key: value
e.g.
[sql]
aaaaaaa: true
https://wiki.python.org/moin/ConfigParserExamples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file#Keys_.28properties.29

How do I access a dictionary value for use with the urllib module in python?

Example - I have the following dictionary...
URLDict = {'OTX2':'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=OTX2&action=view_all',
'RAB3GAP':'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=RAB3GAP1&action=view_all',
'SOX2':'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=SOX2&action=view_all',
'STRA6':'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=STRA6&action=view_all',
'MLYCD':'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=MLYCD&action=view_all'}
I would like to use urllib to call each url in a for loop, how can this be done?
I have successfully done this with with the urls in a list format like this...
OTX2 = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=OTX2&action=view_all'
RAB3GAP = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=RAB3GAP1&action=view_all'
SOX2 = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=SOX2&action=view_all'
STRA6 = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=STRA6&action=view_all'
MLYCD = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=MLYCD&action=view_all'
URLList = [OTX2,RAB3GAP,SOX2,STRA6,PAX6,MLYCD]
for URL in URLList:
sourcepage = urllib.urlopen(URL)
sourcetext = sourcepage.read()
but I want to also be able to print the key later when returning data. Using a list format the key would be a variable and thus not able to access it for printing, I would lonly be able to print the value.
Thanks for any help.
Tom

Have you tried (as a simple example):
for key, value in URLDict.iteritems():
print key, value

Doesn't look like a dictionary is even necessary.
dbs = ['OTX2', 'RAB3GAP', 'SOX2', 'STRA6', 'PAX6', 'MLYCD']
urlbase = 'http://lsdb.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/variants.php?select_db=%s&action=view_all'
for db in dbs:
sourcepage = urllib.urlopen(urlbase % db)
sourcetext = sourcepage.read()

I would go about it like this:
for url_key in URLDict:
URL = URLDict[url_key]
sourcepage = urllib.urlopen(URL)
sourcetext = sourcepage.read()
The url is obviously URLDict[url_key] and you can retain the key value within the name url_key. For exemple:
print url_key
On the first iteration will printOTX2.