Collect output to string

[MRAB]

On 23/11/2010 20:59, Burton Samograd wrote:
> Chris Rebert<clp2 at rebertia.com>  writes:
>
>> On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Burton Samograd<burton at userful.com>  wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I was wondering if there is any way in python to 'collect output to
>>> string' as in some lisps/schemes.  Output being, printed output to the
>>> console using print.
>>
>> Rebind sys.stdout to a StringIO object.
>> http://docs.python.org/library/sys.html#sys.stdout
>> http://docs.python.org/library/stringio.html
>
> Thanks for the tip.  Here's my function:
>
> def with_output_to_string(f, args):
>       oldstdout = sys.stdout
>       buffer = StringIO.StringIO()
>       sys.stdout = buffer
>       apply(f, args)
>       sys.stdout = oldstdout
>       return buffer.getvalue()
>
> Any way I could improve it?
>
Use a try...finally block in an exception occurs:

     try:
        apply(f, args)
     finally:
         sys.stdout = oldstdout

and possibly also replace the older:

     apply(f, args)

with the newer:

     f(*args)

You might also want to handle keyword arguments.