Expand system variables Unix style
Expand system variables Unix style
This module is inspired by GNU bash's variable expansion features. It can be used as an alternative to Python's os.path.expandvars function.
A good use case is reading config files with the flexibility of reading values from environment variables using advanced features like returning a default value if some variable is not defined. For example:
[default]
my_secret_access_code = "${ACCESS_CODE:-default_access_code}"
my_important_variable = "${IMPORTANT_VARIABLE:?}"
my_updated_path = "$PATH:$HOME/.bin"
my_process_id = "$$"
my_nested_variable = "${!NESTED}"
NOTE: Although this module copies most of the common behaviours of bash, it doesn't follow bash strictly. For example, it doesn't work with arrays.
pip install expandvars
conda install -c conda-forge expandvars
from expandvars import expandvars
print(expandvars("$PATH:${HOME:?}/bin:${SOME_UNDEFINED_PATH:-/default/path}"))
# /bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/home/you/bin:/default/path
For now, refer to the test cases to see how it behaves.
If you want to enable strict parsing by default, (similar to set -u
/ set -o nounset
in bash), pass nounset=True
.
# All the variables must be defined.
expandvars("$VAR1:${VAR2}:$VAR3", nounset=True)
# Raises UnboundVariable error.
NOTE: Another way is to use the
${VAR?}
or${VAR:?}
syntax. See the examples in tests.
If you want to temporarily disable strict parsing both for nounset=True
and the ${VAR:?}
syntax, set environment variable EXPANDVARS_RECOVER_NULL=somevalue
.
This helps with certain use cases where you need to temporarily disable strict parsing of critical env vars, e.g. in testing environment, without modifying the code.
e.g.
EXPANDVARS_RECOVER_NULL=foo myapp --config production.ini && echo "All fine."
WARNING: Try to avoid
export EXPANDVARS_RECOVER_NULL
because that will disable strict parsing permanently until you log out.
You can customize the variable symbol and data used for the expansion by using the more general expand
function.
from expandvars import expand
print(expand("%PATH:$HOME/bin:%{SOME_UNDEFINED_PATH:-/default/path}", environ={"PATH": "/example"}, var_symbol="%"))
# /example:$HOME/bin:/default/path
To contribute, setup environment following way:
Then
# Clone repo
git clone https://github.com/sayanarijit/expandvars && cd expandvars
# Setup virtualenv
python -m venv .venv
source ./.venv/bin/activate
# Install as editable including test dependencies
pip install -e ".[tests]"
black .
to auto format the code.pytest
(pass --cov --cov-report html
for browsable coverage report).