Is it possible to store data in a Python file in a way similar to Ruby's __END__ section?

[Christopher Roach]

I have a script that I am working on to process a bunch of data. A
good portion of the Tk-based GUI is driven by a large set of YAML data
and I'd love to store that data inside of the script so that I can
send just a single file to my colleague. Ruby has a mechanism for
doing this whereby I can load the data by doing a YAML.load(DATA)
which loads everything in the file after the __END__ keyword (for a
better explanation of this see http://bit.ly/V9w8m). I was wondering
if anyone knew of a way to do something similar in Python?

I guess it's probably a good idea to point out that I am not trying to
start a flame war or compare Ruby to Python in any way, shape, or
form. I'm simply wondering if there is something in Python that is
roughly equivalent to a feature that I find useful in Ruby. If so,
I'll use it, if not, it won't make me change my mind about using
Python for my implementation, I'm quite happy with my choice, with or
without this feature.

Thanks in advance for any help you all can offer.

Christopher

[Martin v. Loewis]

Christopher Roach wrote:
> I have a script that I am working on to process a bunch of data. A
> good portion of the Tk-based GUI is driven by a large set of YAML data
> and I'd love to store that data inside of the script so that I can
> send just a single file to my colleague. Ruby has a mechanism for
> doing this whereby I can load the data by doing a YAML.load(DATA)
> which loads everything in the file after the __END__ keyword (for a
> better explanation of this see http://bit.ly/V9w8m). I was wondering
> if anyone knew of a way to do something similar in Python?

The common approach is to write

DATA="""\
yaml data here
"""

If you want to process the data in the same file, you can't really put
them at the end of the file - in fact, putting them at the beginning is
more common.

Regards,
Martin

[Stephen Hansen]

On 2010-04-02 13:08:00 -0700, Christopher Roach said:

> I have a script that I am working on to process a bunch of data. A
> good portion of the Tk-based GUI is driven by a large set of YAML data
> and I'd love to store that data inside of the script so that I can
> send just a single file to my colleague. Ruby has a mechanism for
> doing this whereby I can load the data by doing a YAML.load(DATA)
> which loads everything in the file after the __END__ keyword (for a
> better explanation of this see http://bit.ly/V9w8m). I was wondering
> if anyone knew of a way to do something similar in Python?

If its just like a YAML file or such, the idiomatic thing to do is just
use a triple-quoted string, I think.

Such as:

DATA="""
My stuff
and stuff
and more stuff
and other stuff"""

If you're wanting to include binary stuff like images, that gets more
complicated. I've seen it done a couple different ways, but usually
storing as above but base64 encoding the strings first.

Anything more, and its usually time to start packaging the thing wiht
py2exe or similar things :)

Now, one concern you may have is order-- you may not want this stuff on
top of your script, but instead on the bottom so its sort of 'out of
the way'. For that, I'd do like:

import YAML

def random_thing(arg):
return arg + 1

def main():
config = YAML.load(DATA)

# Code ends

DATA="""
blah blah
blah"""

# Bootstrap

if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

--
--S

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