[Python-Dev] Dafanging the find() gotcha

[Andrew Koenig]

Tim> I don't count that as "a practical fear" unless you actually
Tim> search for empty strings, and I don't believe that you do (or at
Tim> least not on purpose -- you can change my mind in a hurry by
Tim> posting your Python code that does do so, though!).

A hypothetical example for you.

Imagine an interactive program that rummages through a pile of
files to find files with particular properties.  Such a program
might allow one to request a search by presenting a form to fill
out.  Suppose that form has a fragment that looks like this:

                                                +-------------------+
     Search only files containing this string:  |                   |
                                                +-------------------+

If the user doesn't type anything into this part of the form, we would
like the search to cover all files.

If (s in t) yields true whenever s is null, this example just works.
Otherwise, the code needs a special case.

-- 
Andrew Koenig, ark@research.att.com, http://www.research.att.com/info/ark