xphyle 0.7.4

Utilities for working with files.

[](https://coveralls.io/github/jdidion/xphyle?branch=master)

# xphyle: easier access to compressed files

xphyle is a small python (3.3+) library that makes it easy to open compressed
files for the highest-possible performance available on your system. It also
provides some convenience methods for working with file paths.

xphyle is organized as follows:

* The `xphyle` module (i.e. \_\_init\_\_.py) provides `xopen()`, a drop-in replacement for the python `open()` method that tries to automatically and transparently handle common compression and archive formats. In addition, `open_()` transparently makes both paths and open file objects work with `wait`.
* The `xphyle.utils` module provides some useful methods on top of `xopen()/open_()` for reading and writing files.
* The `xphyle.formats` module implements the details of different file formats. The goal of this module is to try to use the system-level program/library (which is generally the fastest) when possible, and fall back to a pure-python module.
* The `xphyle.paths` module offers useful functions for locating and resolving files and directories.

# Installation

```
pip install git+git://github.com/jdidion/xphyle.git
```

# Example usages:

```python
from xphyle import *

# Open a compressed file
myfile = xopen('infile.gz')

# Print all lines in a compressed file
with open_('infile.gz') as myfile:
for line in myfile:
print(line)

# Transparently handle paths and file objects
def dostuff(path_or_file):
with open_(path_or_file) as myfile:
for line in myfile:
print(line)

# Read all lines in a compressed file into a list
from xphyle.utils import safe_file_iter
lines = list(safe_iter('infile.gz'))

# Sum the rows in a compressed file where each line is an integer value
total = sum(i for i in safe_iter('infile.gz', convert=int))
```

# TODO

## 0.8

* Documentation

## 0.9

* Formalize the plug-in interface for alternative compression formats
* Consider natively supporting other popular compression formats:
* LZW: the only decent library is python-lzw, and it doesn't provide an open method
* Snappy (via python-snappy): this is problematic since it depends on libsnappy, with no pure python fallback

## 1.0

* Add support for archive formats
* tar, zip
* Recognize .tgz, .tbz2, and .tlz extensions
* Support 7zip archives: this is problematic as it depends on 7zip being installed, with no pure python fallback
* Consider using libarchive (if installed) via one of the several available python packages. Will have to do performance testing to determine whether this should be the first option or the second to try.
* Many other archive formats that might be supported - which are most important? arc, cab (windows-specific), dmg (mac-specific), iso9660, lzh, rar, xar, zz