Python Standard Library

The operator Module

The operator module provides a “functional” interface to the standard operators in Python. The functions in this module can be used instead of some lambda constructs, when processing data with functions like map and filter. They are also quite popular among people who like to write obscure code, for obvious reasons. The operator module is demonstrated in Example 1-62.

Example 1-62. Using the operator Module

File: operator-example-1.py

import operator

sequence = 1, 2, 4

print "add", "=>", reduce(operator.add, sequence)
print "sub", "=>", reduce(operator.sub, sequence)
print "mul", "=>", reduce(operator.mul, sequence)
print "concat", "=>", operator.concat("spam", "egg")
print "repeat", "=>", operator.repeat("spam", 5)
print "getitem", "=>", operator.getitem(sequence, 2)
print "indexOf", "=>", operator.indexOf(sequence, 2)
print "sequenceIncludes", "=>", operator.sequenceIncludes(sequence, 3)

add => 7
sub => -5
mul => 8
concat => spamegg
repeat => spamspamspamspamspam

getitem => 4
indexOf => 1
sequenceIncludes => 0

Example 1-63 shows some operator functions that can be used to check object types.

Example 1-63. Using the operator Module for Type Checking

File: operator-example-2.py import operator import UserList def dump(data): print type(data), "=>", if operator.isCallable(data): print "CALLABLE", if operator.isMappingType(data): print "MAPPING", if operator.isNumberType(data): print "NUMBER", if operator.isSequenceType(data): print "SEQUENCE", print dump(0) dump("string") ...