How to make an empty generator?

[Robert Kern]

On 2010-02-18 16:25 PM, Stephen Hansen wrote:
> This has to be a stupid question, but :)
>
> I have some generators that do stuff, then start yielding results. On
> occasion, I don't want them to yield anything ever-- they're only really
> "generators" because I want to call them /as/ a generator as part of a
> generalized system.
>
> The only way I can figure out how to make an empty generator is:
>
>      def gen():
>          # do my one-time processing here
>
>          return
>          yield
>
> Is there a better way? The return/yield just makes me flinch slightly. I
> tried just raising StopIteration at the end, but of course that didn't work.

class once(object):
     def __init__(self, func, *args, **kwds):
         self.func = func
         self.args = args
         self.kwds = kwds

     def __iter__(self):
         return self

     def next(self):
         self.func(*self.args, **self.kwds)
         raise StopIteration()


Then write regular functions with the one-time processing code (not 
generators!). When you go to pass them into your system that wants an iterator, 
just wrap it with once(func).

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco