converting a python string to a variable - python-3.x

I have read almost every similar question but none of them seems to solve my current problem.
In my python code, I am importing a string from my bashrc and in the following, I am defining the same name as a variable to index my dictionary. Here is the simple example
obs = os.environ['obs']
>> obs = 'id_0123'
id_0123 = numpy.where(position1 == 456)
>> position1[id_0123] = 456
>> position2[id_0123] = 789
But of course, when I do positions[obs], it throws an error since it is a string rather than an index (numpy.int64). So I have tried to look for a solution to convert my string into a variable but all solution suggesting to either convert into a dictionary or something else and assign the string to an integer, But I can not do that since my string is dynamic and will constantly change. In the end, I am going to have about 50 variables and I need to check the current obs corresponding to which variable, so I could use it as indices to access the parameters.
Edit:
Position1 and Position 2 are just bumpy arrays, so depending on the output of os.environ (which is 'id_0123' in this particular case), they will print an array element. So I can not assign 'id_0123' another string or number since I am using that exact name as a variable.
The logic is that there are many different arrays, I want to use the output of os.environ as an input to access the element of these arrays.

If you wanted to use a dictionary instead, this would work.
obs = 'id_0123'
my_dict = {obs: 'Tester'}
print (my_dict [obs])
print (my_dict ['id_0123'])

You could use the fact that (almost) everything is a dictionary in Python to create storage container that you index with obs:
container = lambda:None
container.id_0123 = ...
...
print(positions[container.__dict__[obs]])
Alternatively, you can use globals() or locals() to achieve the desired behavior:
import numpy
import os
def environment_to_variable(environment_key='obs', variable_values=globals()):
# Get the name of the variable we want to reference from the bash environment
variable_name = os.environ[environment_key]
# Grab the variable value that matches the named variable from the environment. Variable you want to reference must be visible in the global namespace by default.
variable_value = variable_values[variable_name]
return variable_value
positions = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13]
id_0123 = 2 # could use numpy.where here
id_0456 = 4
index = environment_to_variable(variable_values=locals())
print(positions[index])
If you place this in a file called a.py, you can observe the following:
$ obs="id_0123" python ./a.py
5
$ obs="id_0456" python ./a.py
11
This allows you to index the array differently at runtime, which is what it seems like your intention is.

Related

How may I dynamically create global variables within a function based on input in Python

I'm trying to create a function that returns a dynamically-named list of columns. Usually I can manually name the list, but I now have 100+ csv files to work with.
My goal:
Function creates a list, and names it based on dataframe name
Created list is callable outside of the function
I've done my research, and this answer from an earlier post came very close to helping me.
Here is what I've adapted
def test1(dataframe):
# Using globals() to get dataframe name
df_name = [x for x in globals() if globals()[x] is dataframe][0]
# Creating local dictionary to use exec function
local_dict = {}
# Trying to generate a name for the list, based on input dataframe name
name = 'col_list_' + df_name
exec(name + "=[]", globals(), local_dict)
# So I can call this list outside the function
name = local_dict[name]
for feature in dataframe.columns:
# Append feature/column if >90% of values are missing
if dataframe[feature].isnull().mean() >= 0.9:
name.append(feature)
return name
To ensure the list name changes based on the DataFrame supplied to the function, I named the list using:
name = 'col_list_' + df_name
The problem comes when I try to make this list accessible outside the function:
name = local_dict[name].
I cannot find away to assign a dynamic list name to the local dictionary, so I am forced to always call name outside the function to return the list. I want the list to be named based on the dataframe input (eg. col_list_df1, col_list_df2, col_list_df99).
This answer was very helpful, but it seems specific to variables.
global 'col_list_' + df_name returns a syntax error.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Assigning specific dictionary values to variables

I have a series of dictionaries which each contain the same keys but their values are different i.e Age in dictionary 1 = 2, Age in dictionary 2 = 4 etc etc but they are broadly identical in structure.
what I would like to do is to randomly select one of these dictionaries and then assign specific values with the dictionary to variables. i.e python randomly chooses Dictionary 1 and then I then want to fill the dictAge variable with the age value from Dictionary 1.
import random
dictList = ['myDict', 'otherDict']
mydict = {
'age' : 10,
'other': "dummy data"
}
.
.
.
randomDict = random.choice(dictList)
dictAge = randomDict['age']
print(dictAge)
In the case of the code above what should happen is:
randomDict is assigned a random value from the distList variable (at the top). This sets which dictionary's values will be used going forward.
I next want the dictAge variable to then be assigned the age value from the selected dictionary. In this case (as mydict is was the only dictionary available) it should be assigned the age value of 10.
The error I am getting is:
TypeError: string indices must be integers
I know this is such a common error but my brain can't quite work out what the best solution is.
(Disclaimer: I haven't used python in ages so I know I am doing something really obviously silly but I can't quite work out what to do).
Right now, you are not actually using the definition of your dicts.
This is because dictList is comprised of strings: ['myDict', 'otherDict'].
So, when doing randomDict = random.choice(dictList), randomDict will either be the string 'myDict', or the string 'otherDict'.
Then you are doing randomDict['age'], which means you are trying to slice a string, with a string. As the error suggests, this can't be done and indices can only be ints.
What you want to do, is move the definition of the dictList to be after the definitions of your dicts, and include references to the dicts themselves, not strings. Something like:
mydict = {
'age' : 10,
'other': "dummy data"
}
.
.
.
dictList = [myDict, otherDict]
In the following piece of code:
dictAge = randomDict['age']
You are trying to index the name of dictionary variable (a string) returned by random.choice function.
To make it work you would need to do it using locals:
locals()[randomDict]['age']
or rather correct the dictList to contain the dictionaries instead of their names:
dictList = [myDict, otherDict]
In the latter case please note that myDict and otherDict should be declared before dictList.

loop through a list with a function and store as variable

I have a list of variables I need to run though a function to produce a json table. I want to loop through this list (list_db) and create a new variable to look through them manually in spyder. I am having trouble creating those new variables from the for loop. I thought i could use the name of the items in list as the new variable name, but i cant get it to work. Here is what I have:
for i in list_db:
p = str(i)
p = getDF(i) #function to run
What am I missing? What is the more standard way of doing this i cant think of?
It seems variable names don't really act how you are expecting. When you do p = str(i), you are assigning to the variable p. And then your next line, p = getDF(i) overwrites the value of p. It does not write to a variable whose name is str(i) like you are expecting.
If you want to store values into named slots, you can use a dictionary:
p = {}
for i in list_db:
p[i] = getDF(i)

How can I add to Python dictionary value using string keys

I want to add string dictionary keys like this:
x = "%s-%s-%s %s:%s:00"%(dt.year,dt.month,dt.day,dt.hour,dt.minute)
dict[x] +=a1
But it gives me an error like this:
KeyError: '2015-11-26 8:47:00'
If I try print type(x) it prints str
But if i try this:
dict = {}
x = "abc"
dict[x] = 1
print dict
it print to this:
{'abc': 1}
I don't understand what is the difference.
First error is that you named your dictionary dict. That name's
already being used; it's the name of the dictionary type. Overwriting an
existing name like this is called "shadowing". Don't do it, it will mess
you up.
You're using +=. This implies that there's already a value associated
with the key, which can be incremented. If that key isn't in the dict
yet, you get a KeyError.
You probably want to set a default value of zero. This can be done in
various ways. The simplest is:
d[x] = d.get(x, 0) + a1
Also see the collections standard library, which has a defaultdict
type.

Updating dictionary - Python

total=0
line=input()
line = line.upper()
names = {}
(tag,text) = parseLine(line) #initialize
while tag !="</PLAY>": #test
if tag =='<SPEAKER>':
if text not in names:
names.update({text})
I seem to get this far and then draw a blank.. This is what I'm trying to figure out. When I run it, I get:
ValueError: dictionary update sequence element #0 has length 8; 2 is required
Make an empty dictionary
Which I did.
(its keys will be the names of speakers and its values will be how many times s/he spoke)
Within the if statement that checks whether a tag is <SPEAKER>
If the speaker is not in the dictionary, add him to the dictionary with a value of 1
I'm pretty sure I did this right.
If he already is in the dictionary, increment his value
I'm not sure.
You are close, the big issue is on this line:
names.update({text})
You are trying to make a dictionary entry from a string using {text}, python is trying to be helpful and convert the iterable inside the curly brackets into a dictionary entry. Except the string is too long, 8 characters instead of two.
To add a new entry do this instead:
names.update({text:1})
This will set the initial value.
Now, it seems like this is homework, but you've put in a bit of effort already, so while I won't answer the question I'll give you some broad pointers.
Next step is checking if a value already exists in the dictionary. Python dictionaries have a get method that will retrieve a value from the dictionary based on the key. For example:
> names = {'romeo',1}
> print names.get('romeo')
1
But will return None if the key doesn't exist:
> names = {'romeo',1}
> print names.get('juliet')
None
But this takes an optional argument, that returns a different default value
> names = {'romeo',2}
> print names.get('juliet',1)
1
Also note that your loop as it stands will never end, as you only set tag once:
(tag,text) = parseLine(line) #initialize
while tag !="</PLAY>": #test
# you need to set tag in here
# and have an escape clause if you run out of file
The rest is left as an exercise for the reader...

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