Re: [Configobj-develop] String literal in the configuration file

[Michael F. <fuz...@vo...>]

kat kat wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I need to retrieve a value of a key in the configuration file as a raw 
> string but somehow after ConfigObj reads it, it is escaping special 
> characters. For e.g, here is my configuration file:
>
> [ "constants" ]
> 'target_dir' = r"C:\tmpdir"
>
> As you see above I have declared "target_dir" key's value to be a raw 
> string which should be evaluated literally, that is the backslash 
> present in the value should not be escaped.

The raw string format is not valid ConfigObj syntax. This is what 
happens when I run your example:

 >>> open('cfg.txt', 'w').write("""[ "constants" ]
... 'target_dir' = r"C:\\tmpdir\"""")
 >>> from configobj import ConfigObj
 >>> c = ConfigObj('cfg.txt')
 >>> c['constants']['target_dir']
'r"C:\\tmpdir"'
 >>>

See how the r is actually included in the value!

If we remove the leading r from the string then as far as I can tell you 
get what you  are asking for anyway?

 >>> open('cfg.txt', 'w').write("""[ "constants" ]
... 'target_dir' = "C:\\tmpdir\"""")
 >>> c = ConfigObj('cfg.txt')
 >>> c['constants']['target_dir']
'C:\\tmpdir'

If you are asking for this: 'C:\tmpdir' then you are simply confused 
about how Python handles strings - there isn't really two backslashes in 
the string, there is one but it has to be escaped to be displayed.

Michael

>
> I am reading the file like this:
>
> >>> from configobj import ConfigObj
> >>> config = ConfigObj("tmp.cfg")
> >>> dir = config['constants']['target_dir']
> >>> dir
> 'C:\\tmpdir'
>
> although this is OK:
> >>> print dir
> 'C:\tmpdir'
>
> but when we do print, the string is evaluated.
>
> If you see, the backslash gets escaped and I no longer get the raw 
> string I had in my configuration file.
>
> What should I do so that ConfigObj reads that value as a raw string 
> and give me r"C:\tmpdir" instead of "C:\\tmpdir"
>
> Thanks much for your help
>
> -kk
>
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