How do I modify a configuration file using python?

Question

I have a cfg file. In that cfg file there is a line like:

[Environment]
automation_type=GFX   ;available options: GEM, HEXAII

I want to modify this line by:

[Environment]
automation_type=ABC   ;available options: GEM, HEXAII

I have written the below code for this:

get_path_for_od_cfg = r"C:\Users\marahama\Desktop\Abdur\abc_MainReleaseFolder\OD\od\odConfig.cfg"
    config = ConfigParser.RawConfigParser()
    config.read(get_path_for_OpenDebug_cfg)
    for sec in config.sections():
        for attr in config.options(sec):
            if sec =='Environment' and attr == 'automation_type':
                config.set('Environment','automation_type','ABC')
    with open(get_path_for_OpenDebug_cfg, 'wb') as configfile:
        config.write(configfile)

After executing the code, I get

[Environment]
automation_type = ABC

";available options: GEM, HEXAII" this line is missing.

That line is a comment. I don't think RawConfigParser objects store comments. — Lev Levitsky
– Lev Levitsky, Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 13:20
this is because ";available options: GEM, HEXAII" is a comment. I think you should either move the comments to another line, or use simple text-processing techniques, instead of ConfigParser. — Elazar
– Elazar, Commented Apr 25, 2013 at 13:22

Lev Levitsky · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-25 13:25:57Z

6

As the source code suggests, when reading config files, comments are ignored, both those on separate lines (484)...

if line.strip() == '' or line[0] in '#;':
     continue

and on option lines (522):

if vi in ('=', ':') and ';' in optval:
     # ';' is a comment delimiter only if it follows
     # a spacing character
     pos = optval.find(';')
     if pos != -1 and optval[pos-1].isspace():
         optval = optval[:pos]

So I agree with the comment above saying that you should switch to something more low-level if you care about preserving comments.

answered Apr 25, 2013 at 13:25

Lev Levitsky

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