[Tutor] how best to implement paginated data in CLI

[Rance Hall]

I'm using python 3.1 with py-postgresql (located at
http://python.projects.postgresql.org/

I need to work through how best to paginate larger sql result sets.

my SELECT statement returns a list, I can get its len() to find out
that X records were returned

What I want to do is print the first N records and include a
Previous/Next Choice at the bottom.

I know I'll be making some use of the start and stop optional
parameters in the for loop that processes the list.

I think that I'll need variables for the page size (#of records per
screen) and a start position for where to begin in the list.

I want to make this a function so that its reusable code

Here is a first draft of the idea: (untested)

def paginate_stuff(list,start)
    pagesize = 10
    for row in list[start:start+pagesize]
        print(row["column"])
    print ("\n")
    message = ""
    prompt = ""
    if not start == 0:
        message = message + "Previous"
        prompt = prompt + "P"
    if not start ==0 and not start+pagesize >= len(list):
        message = message + " or "
        prompt = prompt + " or "
     if not start+pagesize >= len(list):
         message = message + "Next"
         prompt = prompt + "N"
     print((message+"\n")
     choice = input(prompt+"? ")
     if choice == "n' or "N":
         paginate_stuff(list,start + pagesize)
     if choice == "p" or "P":
         paginate_stuff(list,start - pagesize)
return

I'm not certain at this writing of the proper syntax of the if
statement conditions, I will look that up to be sure the syntax is
right.

What I want to ask about is the logic flow, does this make sense?  Am
I thinking about the problem the right way? Is there a better way to
pull this off?