5
\$\begingroup\$

I have a text file which contains configuration values that are intended to be arguments to a C++ executable (to be read in as a vector in C++). I am using a Python script to read in the text file and then call the C++ executable as a subprocess. The reason I'm doing it via Python is because I do not want to modify the C++ executable for unrelated reasons.

Here is my code snippet to achieve this. I was wondering if there's a better way to do this. 

call_list = [executable, "--directory", directory, "--filePrefix", file_prefix, "--configList"]

# read config file  
config_file = directory + file_prefix + ".txt"
config_list = [line.strip() for line in open(config_file)]

config_list_split = []
for config in config_list:
    config_list_split.extend(config.split())

call_list.extend(config_list_split)

subprocess.check_call(call_list)
\$\endgroup\$
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3
\$\begingroup\$

Putting an open() function inside a list comprehension seems a bit iffy to me, especially since you don't seem to close it anywhere.

List comprehensions are generally better than for loops.

The config_file name is a bit misleading, as it's the filename, not the file object.

So alternative code would be:

config_file_name = directory + file_prefix + ".txt"
with  open(config_file_name) as config_file:
    config_list_split = [config_item for config in config_file for config_item in config.split()]

This is less transparent, but performance-wise I would expect it to be better than a for-loop.

\$\endgroup\$
1
  • \$\begingroup\$ Could you elaborate "iffy"? What things could go wrong with that design? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 11, 2018 at 15:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.