[Python-ideas] New explicit methods to trim strings

[Anders Hovmöller]

> On 2 Apr 2019, at 13:23, Paul Moore <p.f.moore at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> It would be really helpful if someone could go through the various use
> cases presented in this thread and classify them - filename
> manipulation, natural language uses, and "other". We could then focus
> on the "other" category to get a better feel for what use cases might
> act as a good argument for the feature. To me, it's starting to feel
> like a proposal that looks deceptively valuable because it's a
> "natural", or "obvious", addition to make, and there's a weight of
> people thinking of cases where they "might find it useful", but the
> reality is that many of those cases are not actually as good a fit for
> the feature as it seems at first glance. It would help the people in
> favour of the proposal to make their case if they could dispel that
> impression by giving a clearer summary of the expected use cases...



I found two instances of strip_prefix in the code base I work on: stripping "origin/" from git branch names, and "Author:" to get the author from log output, again from git. 

A good place to look for examples is this: https://github.com/search?utf8=✓&q=%22strip_prefix%28%22+extension%3Apy+language%3APython+language%3APython&type=Code&ref=advsearch&l=Python&l=Python <https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=%22strip_prefix(%22+extension:py+language:Python+language:Python&type=Code&ref=advsearch&l=Python&l=Python>  A pattern that one sees quickly is that there are lots and lots of functions that strip a specific and hardcoded prefix. There's a lot of path manipulation too. And of course, there's an enormous amount of copy paste (jsfunctions.py is everywhere!).

Some examples from the search above:

Removing "file:" prefix: https://github.com/merijn/dotfiles/blob/43c736c73c5eda413dc7b4615bb679bd43a18d1a/dotfiles/hg-data/hooks/bitbucket.py#L16 <https://github.com/merijn/dotfiles/blob/43c736c73c5eda413dc7b4615bb679bd43a18d1a/dotfiles/hg-data/hooks/bitbucket.py#L16>

This is a strange one, which seems to strip different things? https://github.com/imperodesign/paas-tools/blob/649372762a18acefed0a24a970b93eb494529df9/deis/prd/controller/registry/tests.py#L99 <https://github.com/imperodesign/paas-tools/blob/649372762a18acefed0a24a970b93eb494529df9/deis/prd/controller/registry/tests.py#L99>

Removing "master.": https://github.com/mithro/chromium-build/blob/98d83e124dc08510756906171922a22ba27b87fa/scripts/tools/dump_master_cfg.py#L67 <https://github.com/mithro/chromium-build/blob/98d83e124dc08510756906171922a22ba27b87fa/scripts/tools/dump_master_cfg.py#L67>

Also not path: https://github.com/BlissRoms-x86/platform_external_swiftshader/blob/01c0db17f511badb921efc53981849cdacb82793/third_party/subzero/bloat/bloat.py#L212 <https://github.com/BlissRoms-x86/platform_external_swiftshader/blob/01c0db17f511badb921efc53981849cdacb82793/third_party/subzero/bloat/bloat.py#L212>

Removing "Re:" from email subject lines: https://github.com/emersion/python-emailthreads/blob/0a56af7fd6de16105c27b7c149eeb0282e95e587/emailthreads/util.py#L21 <https://github.com/emersion/python-emailthreads/blob/0a56af7fd6de16105c27b7c149eeb0282e95e587/emailthreads/util.py#L21>

Removing "MAILER_": https://github.com/vitalk/flask-mailer/blob/c724643f13e51d2e57546164e3e4abf9eb5d8097/flask_mailer/util.py#L30 <https://github.com/vitalk/flask-mailer/blob/c724643f13e51d2e57546164e3e4abf9eb5d8097/flask_mailer/util.py#L30>

I'm giving up now, because I got tired :)

/ Anders
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