yet-another-config-parser 0.3.0

Unified argument and configuration parser

Yet another python config library

This library is designed to unify configuration parser, environment variables and argument parser.

Usage:

parser = ArgumentParser()
section = parser.add_section("my_section")
section.add_argument("--my-arg", dest="my_argument", type=int, default=42)

parser.read_args(["--my-arg", "15"])

# parser.my_section.my_argument is now an int equal to 15

Every parameter that is expected in configuration file should be declared. Any undeclared paremeters are available as strings but can be declared to apply proper type conversion. Parameter can optionally be bound to an argument flag and/or to environment variable. Setting through argument flag has priority over environment variable which has priority over any configuration file.

Classes

ArgumentParser

ArgumentParser(*,
               envvar_prefix=None,
               envvar_sep="__",
               root_section_name="yacp-root",
               converters=None)

Creates a new ArgumentParser object. All arguments are keyword-only.

• envvar_prefix: If present will automatically process environment variables for parameters.
• envvar_sep: Used to separate section name from variable name in environment variable search.
• root_section_name is the name of the section to store parameters added directly to the ArgumentParser object.
• converters is a dictionary of names and appropriate callables used to convert the value from string.

If envvar_prefix is set to a string, all arguments without env option set will be searched among environment variables.

• if envvar_prefix is a non-empty string, environment variable name must start with with <envvar_prefix>_ (case-sensitive check)
• followed by the section name with all '-' characters replaced by '_' (case-insensitive check)
• followed by the envvar_sep
• followed by the parameter name (case-insensitive check)

For root section the section name could be skipped. In that case there should be no additional envvar_sep between prefix (if any) and variable name.

If variable name matches the above and parameter has no explicit env option, that environment variable value will be used to override any values from configuration files.

ArgumentParser.add_argument([name_or_flags], **kwargs)

Add new argument to the root section of the configuration. See section.add_argument below.

ArgumentParser.add_section(name)

Create a new config section and returns a handle to created section. If section with the same name was already declared, return that section instead. See Section class below.

ArgumentParser.parse_args(args=None)

Loads configuration from supplied list of arguments or sys.argv[1:].

ArgumentParser.read_string(config_string)

Loads configuration from string as if it was loaded from file. Note: root section parameters can be supplied without section header.

ArgumentParser.read_file(fh)

Loads configuration from an opened file handle. Note: root section parameters can be supplied without section header.

ArgumentPaser.read(filenames)

Loads configuration from list of files. If filenames is a single string it is processed as a single configuration file. Note: unlike read_string and read_file root section needs an explicit section header.

ArgumentParser.write(fh)

Writes current configuration to an opened file handle. Note: only writes values loaded from files or default values, not values from arguments or environment.

ArgumentParser.get(option)

or

ArgumentParser[option]

or

ArgumentParser.option

Returns either a root option or a section. Order of lookup:

• declared section
• declared root parameter
• undeclared section
• undeclared root parameter

Section or parameter is declared if it was registered using add_section/add_argument and undeclared if it was only present in a config file. It is possible to declare section or parameter after reading the configuration. Getting an undeclared section automatically declares it.

Section

Section.add_argument([name_or_flags], **kwargs)

Adds a new parameter to the section. If name_or_flags is specified, the argument is also registered as a command-line argument. **kwargs can include the following:

• action: See argparse action documentation. Supported actions are store (default), store_true, store_false and store_const.
• dest: Name of the config parameter. Mandatory if name_or_flags is not specified.
• env: name of environment variable to load the parameter value
  • Note: the variable will only be checked once -- when the parameter is registered.
  • Note: setting env=None will disable any environment variable check for that parameter, including envvar_prefix described in ArgumentParser constructor above.
• type: (type or string) parameter type
  • str: string parameter, no processing
  • int: integer parameter
  • float: float parameter
  • bool: boolean parameter
  • anything else: appropriate converter is required (see ArgumentParser constructor above)
• default, const: See argparse documentation.

Note: If name_or_flags is not provided and action is store_const, actual const value will only be used to infer the parameter type.

Note: If type is not provided, type of default or const value will be used. If neither is provided, type will be 'str'.

Note: It is possible to add an argument after reading a configuration file. This would apply correct type and environment variable override (if any) to the value. However to apply command line argument overrides, command line arguments have to be parsed again.

Note: default and const values are internally stored as strings. For types where str(value) is not compatible with provided converter, default and/or const should be provided in a format suitable for converter with explicit type set.

Example:

# given converter 'timedelta': lambda s: timedelta(seconds=int(s))

section.add_argument("--delay", default=timedelta(seconds=10)) # ERROR
section.add_argument("--delay", type=timedelta, default=10)    # ok

Section.get(option)

or

Section[option]

or

Section.option

Returns value of option in this section. If parameter was added using add_argument, it will be converted to either declared or inferred type. If parameter was only present in the configuration file, it will be returned as string.