[Numpy-discussion] fromfile() -- aarrgg!

[Christopher Barker]

Christopher Barker wrote:
> static int
> @fname at _fromstr(char *str, @type@ *ip, char **endptr, PyArray_Descr 
> *NPY_UNUSED(ignore))
> {
>      double result;
>      result = NumPyOS_ascii_strtod(str, endptr);
>      *ip = (@type@) result;
>      return 0;
> }

OK, I've done the diagnostics, but not all of the fix. Here's the issue:

numpyos.c: NumPyOS_ascii_strtod()

Was incrementing the input pointer to strip out whitespace before 
passing it on to PyOS_ascii_strtod(). So the **endptr getting passed 
back to @fname at _fromstr didn't match.

I've fixed that -- so now it should be possible to check if str and 
*endptr are the same after the call, to see if a double was actually 
read -- I"m not suite sure what to do in that case, but a return code is 
a good start.

However, I also took a look at integers. For example:

In [39]: np.fromstring("4.5, 3", sep=',', dtype=np.int)
Out[39]: array([4])

clearly wrong -- it may be OK to read "4.5" as 4, but then it stops, I 
guess because there is a ".5" before the next sep. Anyway, not the best 
solution.

However, in this case, the function is here:

@fname at _fromstr(char *str, @type@ *ip, char **endptr, PyArray_Descr 
*NPY_UNUSED(ignore))
{
     @btype@ result;

     result = PyOS_strto at func@(str, endptr, 10);
     *ip = (@type@) result;
     printf("In int fromstr - result: %i\n", result );
     printf("In int fromstr - str: '%s', %p  %p\n", str, str, *endptr);

     return 0;
}

so it's calling PyOS_strtol(), which when called on "4.5" returns 4 -- 
which explains the abive behaviou -- but how to know that that wasn't a 
  proper reading? This really is a mess!

Since there was just some talk about a 1.4.1 -- I'd like to get some of 
this fixed before then

-Chris





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Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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