[Python-Dev] other "magic strings" issues

[Brett C.]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
<SNIP>
> Anyway, I've been nearly convinced that the various constants should
> be part of the str class.  But should corresponding constants be added
> to the Unicode class???  Some would be very large.  If not, I'm less
> convinced that they belong on the str class.
> 
> Also, perhaps the locale-dependent variables should perhaps be moved
> into the locale module?  That would avoid the Unicode question above,
> because the locale module doesn't apply to Unicode.
> 

How about a strtools module?  I was thinking that constants like 
ascii_letters could go there along with an implementation of join() that 
took arguments in an obvious way (or at least the way everyone seems to 
request it).  Barry's string replacement function could also go there 
(the one using $; wasn't it agreed that interpolation was the wrong term 
to use or something?).

This would prevent polluting the str type too much plus remove any 
hindrance that there necessarily be a mirror value for Unicode since the 
docs can explicitly state it only works for str in those cases.

-Brett