Python Cookbook

Module: Versioned Backups

Credit: Mitch Chapman

Before overwriting an existing file, it is often desirable to make a backup. Example 4-1 emulates the behavior of Emacs by saving versioned backups. It’s also compatible with the marshal module, so you can use versioned output files for output in marshal format. If you find other file-writing modules that, like marshal, type-test rather than using file-like objects polymorphically, the class supplied here will stand you in good stead.

When Emacs saves a file foo.txt, it first checks to see if foo.txt already exists. If it does, the current file contents are backed up. Emacs can be configured to use versioned backup files, so, for example, foo.txt might be backed up to foo.txt.~1~. If other versioned backups of the file already exist, Emacs saves to the next available version. For example, if the largest existing version number is 19, Emacs will save the new version to foo.txt.~20~. Emacs can also prompt you to delete old versions of your files. For example, if you save a file that has six backups, Emacs can be configured to delete all but the three newest backups.

Example 4-1 emulates the versioning backup behavior of Emacs. It saves backups with version numbers (e.g., backing up foo.txt to foo.txt.~n~ when the largest existing backup number is n-1. It also lets you specify how many old versions of a file to save. A value that is less than zero means not to delete any old versions.

The marshal module lets you marshal an object to a ...