[New-bugs-announce] [issue16567] Implementing .= for variable operator

[Erik VanderWerf]

New submission from Erik VanderWerf:

I don't know if this has been suggested before, none of my searches returned anything. Sorry if it has been rejected already.

Anyone who has used Python at least a little bit will know that you can use +=, -=, *=, and /= to apply a change to a variable and store it in the same variable in one step. (a = a + 1) == (a += 1)

Would it be possible to add a fifth operator, .= (period-equals) to apply a method to a variable in one step? ex:

>> a = "SPAM"
>> a .= lower()
>> a
'spam'

It would make code look a lot better, and easier to write for any longer-named variables. I can see where passing a method of an object by itself would cause an error, but might it be possible for the .= to override this?

----------
components: None
messages: 176519
nosy: yos233
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Implementing .= for variable operator
type: enhancement
versions: Python 3.4

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue16567>
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