[Python-ideas] contextlib.maybe

[Mathias Panzenböck]

On 12/11/2011 06:07 AM, Julian Berman wrote:
> Twice recently I've found myself wanting to write the following code:
>
>      def fn(a_file=None):
>          responsible_for_closing = False
>
>          if a_file is None:
>              a_file = open(a_default_location)
>              responsible_for_closing = True
>
>          do_stuff(a_file)
>
>          if responsible_for_closing:
>              a_file.close()
>

What about this?

	def fn(a_file=None):
		if a_file is None:
			with open(a_default_location) as a_file:
				do_stuff(a_file)
		else:
			do_stuff(a_file)


That's how I do it when this comes up.

> which can be written slightly shorter I know, but it's still a tiny bit
> messy and repetitive. What I'd prefer to write is something more like:
>
>      def fn(a_file=None):
>          with contextlib.maybe(a_file, open, default) as a_file:
>              do_stuff(a_file)
>
> where `maybe` takes an object and conditionally runs a context manager
> if a check fails. Implementation would be:
>
>
>      @contextlib.contextmanager
>      def maybe(got, contextfactory, *args, checkif=bool, **kwargs):
>          if checkif(got):
>              yield got
>          else:
>              with contextfactory(*args, **kwargs) as got:
>                  yield got
>
>
> It's hard to gauge utility for such simple functions (though contextlib
> already has closing(), so I figured it'd be worth asking at least).
> Would this be useful to others? Or perhaps I'm completely missing
> something and you've got suggestions on how to better have an API where
> an argument can be fetched if not provided but a context manager would
> preferably need to be run to do so.