[Python-Dev] Remove str.find in 3.0?

[Raymond Hettinger]

> Can str.find be listed in PEP 3000 (under builtins) for removal?


FWIW, here is a sample code transformation (extracted from zipfile.py).
Judge for yourself whether the index version is better:


Existing code:
--------------
    END_BLOCK = min(filesize, 1024 * 4)
    fpin.seek(filesize - END_BLOCK, 0)
    data = fpin.read()
    start = data.rfind(stringEndArchive)
    if start >= 0:     # Correct signature string was found
        endrec = struct.unpack(structEndArchive, data[start:start+22])
        endrec = list(endrec)
        comment = data[start+22:]
        if endrec[7] == len(comment):     # Comment length checks out
            # Append the archive comment and start offset
            endrec.append(comment)
            endrec.append(filesize - END_BLOCK + start)
            return endrec
    return      # Error, return None


Revised code:
-------------
    END_BLOCK = min(filesize, 1024 * 4)
    fpin.seek(filesize - END_BLOCK, 0)
    data = fpin.read()
    try:
        start = data.rindex(stringEndArchive)
    except ValueError:
        pass
    else:
        # Correct signature string was found
        endrec = struct.unpack(structEndArchive, data[start:start+22])
        endrec = list(endrec)
        comment = data[start+22:]
        if endrec[7] == len(comment):     # Comment length checks out
            # Append the archive comment and start offset
            endrec.append(comment)
            endrec.append(filesize - END_BLOCK + start)
            return endrec
    return      # Error, return None