add nested attributes to python

Question

the following code

def _say(x): return x

class newObject(object):

    def __init__(self, **kw):
        for x in kw:
            self.x = kw[x]
            for i in self.x:
                a = self.x[i]
                eval('self.x.{u}={t}'.format(u=i, t=a)) #on another note, why would setattr(self.x, i, a) not work
        self.object_ret()

    def object_ret(self):
        return self

data = newObject(**{
        'ranks':{
            'one':['yhggti','aragos','raithinki'],
            'two':['grythin','radios'],
            'three':['riyoken','schrodinger']},
        'nicknames':{
            'riyoken':['theos','arahiron'],
            'illogic':['harab','thing']},
        'commands':{
            'say':_say},
        })

outlines how i want to add further attributes to an object on the end of another attribute. I used to have it like

class newObject(object):

    def __init__(self, **kw):
        [setattr(self, x, kw[x]) for x in kw]
        self.object_ret()

where data.nicknames would return >>> data.nicknames {'illogic': ['harab', 'thing'], 'riyoken': ['theos', 'arahiron']} now I wanted to be able to call data.nicknames.riyoken and return ['theos', 'arahiron'] which would not work with the original setup hence the top portion of the code. The eval('self.x.{u}={t}'.format(u=i, t=a)) part however errors and gives something such as File "<string>", line 1 self.x.say=<function _say at 0x030E9420> ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax if there is any way possible to get this to work where I could call data.nicknames.riyoken or data.commands.say it would be greatly appreciated.

setattr(self.x, i, a) should work fine. What happened when you tried it? — Alex Hall
– Alex Hall, Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 23:12
17, in init setattr(self.x, i, a) AttributeError: 'dict' object has no attribute 'two' — user3723955
– user3723955, Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 23:15
I see now. Indeed, you can't set attributes on a dict (and many other built in types). — Alex Hall
– Alex Hall, Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 23:20

Alex Hall · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-13 23:31:18Z

1

You mixed up a couple of things. Here is a working version that is close to your code:

class Attributes:
    pass

class NewObject(object):
    def __init__(self, **kw):
        for x in kw:
            attrs = Attributes()
            setattr(self, x, attrs)
            for i in kw[x]:
                a = kw[x][i]
                setattr(attrs, i, a)

And here is how I would do it:

class NewObject(object):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        for key, value in kwargs.items():
            if isinstance(value, dict):
                value = NewObject(**value)
            setattr(self, key, value)

This will handle arbitrarily nested dicts.

edited Jun 13, 2016 at 23:31

answered Jun 13, 2016 at 23:19

Alex Hall

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Comments

krc · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-13 23:13:44Z

0

Why not pass data as a parameter to the class when you initialize it? So have the class take a dictionary as an argument. Not sure if I am missing something here.

answered Jun 13, 2016 at 23:13

krc

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5 Comments

Alex Hall Over a year ago

This should be a comment.

krc Over a year ago

I know... I don't have enough reputation >:(

Alex Hall Over a year ago

Well delete this because it's worse now.

krc Over a year ago

Well at least you are kind and friendly and encouraging contribution

Alex Hall Over a year ago

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean. I had downvoted because it should have been a comment and I couldn't retract it so I was suggesting you to delete this so that you could get your 2 reputation back. Now that someone has upvoted that no longer applies.

Sabrish Gopalakrishnan · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-03 08:08:51Z

0

Building on @Alex Hall's answer to account for empty dictionaries passed as values:

class NewObject(object):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        for key, value in kwargs.items():
            if isinstance(value, dict) and value:
                value = NewObject(**value)
            setattr(self, key, value)

answered Jul 3, 2024 at 8:08

Sabrish Gopalakrishnan

11

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