Defining a variable with optparse in Python

Question

I am curious how to set a variable using optparse. I run the program as such;

programname.py -d c:\users\\etc\etc\etc

I want to be able to use -d C:\Users\\etc\etc to populate a variable called, "path", which I use later in the program. Can this be done? Here is the optionparser code I have.

I call the Path variable later, which I use to populate a dictionary.

Error I get is:

E:>japp_id.py -d "C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\ AutomaticDestinations" Traceback (most recent call last): File "E:\japp_id.py", line 30, in for ids in os.listdir(path): NameError: name 'path' is not defined

try:
    import os
    import sys
    import urllib2
    from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
    from optparse import OptionParser
except ImportError:
    print 'Imports not installed'
    sys.exit()

def main():
usage = "usage: %prog [options] arg1 arg2"
parser = OptionParser()
parser.add_option("-d", "--default", action="callback", type="string", dest="dpath")

(opts, args) = parser.parse_args()


if opts.dpath == None:
    parser.print_help()
    parser.error("You must supply a -d for dpath")
if not os.path.isfile(opts.dpath):
    parser.error("%s does not exist" % opts.dpath)
    if __name__ == "__main__":
        main()

appIDlist = []
for ids in os.listdir(path):
        appid = "%s" % (ids).rstrip('.automaticDestinations-ms')
        appIDlist.append(str(appid))

f = urllib2.urlopen("http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/List_of_Jump_List_IDs")
s = f.read()
soup = BeautifulSoup(''.join(s))
rows = soup.findAll('tr')

appIDdictionary = dict()        #create an empty dictionary to allow lookups {'appID':'processName'}
for tr in rows:                 #iterate through every row in the table
        cols = tr.findAll('td', limit=2)        #get the first two data chunks (<td>'s)
        appID = str(cols[0]).rstrip('</td>').lstrip('<td>')     #clean up formatting
        processName = str(cols[1]).rstrip('</td>').lstrip('<td>')       #clean up formatting
        appIDdictionary[appID] = processName     #add the pair to the dictionary

#iterate through list of appids pulled from windows user profile, look them up in the dictionary, and print the result
for id in appIDlist:
        if id in appIDdictionary:
                print appIDdictionary[id]# + " is " + ids.rstrip('.automaticDestinations-ms')
        else:
                print 'Unable to find ' + id + ' in dictionary.'
f.close()

So this is my final code. Let me know where you think. – mrwh1t3 May 20 '12 at 08:53 — mrwh1t3, May 20 '12 at 08:53

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 04 '12 at 15:03

1

From the python docs:

parser.add_option("-f", "--file", dest="filename",
                  help="write report to FILE", metavar="FILE")

The dest parameter is the name of the variable that your path gets stored to. It is subsequently accessed using opts.filename.

answered May 04 '12 at 15:03

JosefAssad

4,018
28
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appIDlist = [] for ids in os.listdir(path): appid = "%s" % (ids).rstrip('.automaticDestinations-ms') appIDlist.append(str(appid)) – mrwh1t3 May 04 '12 at 15:06
Parsing the user input in opts.filename is a separate issue from capturing it from the command line. I don't quite see where you're going with these two comments... – JosefAssad May 04 '12 at 15:08
Well, I want -d path_specified to fill the "ids in os.listdir(path)". Specifically the path variable so the user when running the program can specify their own path each time. Make sense? – mrwh1t3 May 04 '12 at 15:11
Hm. Well then it's just a matter of using `for ids in os.listdir(opts.path):` instead of `for ids in os.listdir(path):`. Like I said in the answer, `` contains the path that was provided on the command line. What am I missing? – JosefAssad May 04 '12 at 15:16
1

Then I get the: for ids in os.listdir(opts.path): NameError: name 'opts' is not defined – mrwh1t3 May 04 '12 at 15:20
You'll have to show your code then. The opts needs to be passed to the part of the code where you're using it; I'm guessing that isn't happening. – JosefAssad May 04 '12 at 15:21

jadkik94 · Answer 2 · 2012-05-04T15:15:22.830

0

Do you mean path = opts.dpath ?

Then os.listdir(path) ...

edited May 04 '12 at 15:15

answered May 04 '12 at 15:03

jadkik94

7,000
2
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Please format it correctly. Where does the `main` function end? – jadkik94 May 04 '12 at 15:20
It seems that opts is defined inside of the main function and the rest is happening outside. So, either set opts a global variable, or do the whole thing inside the `main` function. – jadkik94 May 04 '12 at 15:26

quodlibetor · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-04T15:23:00.623

0

You probably aren't passing it in: you either need to call a function with opts and access opts.dpath or do myfunc(opts.dpath).

Maybe. Your code doesn't actually show us where the problem is.

UPDATE:

yeah, you want for ids in os.listdir(opts.dpath) around line 30.

edited May 04 '12 at 15:23

answered May 04 '12 at 15:12

quodlibetor

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Defining a variable with optparse in Python

3 Answers3