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pypyr.steps.set permalink

set context values with formatting & dynamic expressions permalink

Set context keys with arbitrary values of different types. You can also use formatting expressions for assigning dynamic run-time values with substitutions.

This is roughly the equivalent of instantiating and assigning a variable in traditional programming.

Requires the set key in context. set is a dictionary of items to set in context. For example, here is how you can set arbitrary values with different types to arbitrary keys:

- name: pypyr.steps.set
  comment: show how to use set to assign variables of different types
  in:
    format_expression: arb value # pre-existing context key+value
    key: middle # pre-existing context key+value
    set:
      newkey_formatting_expression: '{format_expression}'
      newkey_string_concat: 'start {key} end'
      newkey_string: arbitrary string here
      newkey_int: 8
      newkey_decimal: 1.23
      newkey_bool: False
      newkey_list: 
        - list item 1
        - list item 2
      newkey_dict:
        key1: value 1
        key2: value 2
        nested: 
          nested_1: nested value 1
          nested_2: nested value 2

Running set with the above input will result in the following context:

format_expression: arb value
key: middle
newkey_formatting_expression: arb value
newkey_string_concat: start middle end
newkey_string: arbitrary string here
newkey_int: 8
newkey_decimal: 1.23
newkey_bool: False
newkey_list: 
  - list item 1
  - list item 2
newkey_dict:
  key1: value 1
  key2: value 2
  nested: 
    nested_1: nested value 1
    nested_2: nested value 2

set applies any {formatting expressions} immediately during the set step execution. This means that the value you assign will reflect the context at that point in time, and not any later changes to the source values.

contextcopy and set overwrite existing keys. If you want to merge new values into an existing destination hierarchy, use contextmerge instead.

evaluation order permalink

set assigns variables in order from the top down. This means you can already use a variable further down in the same set step declaration.

- name: pypyr.steps.set
  in:
    set:
      var1: one # you can now use var1 below in this same set step
      var2: '{var1} two'
      var3: !py var2 + ' three' # use var1 & var2 from above

This example will result in these context variables:

var1: 'one'
var2: 'one two'
var3: 'one two three'

examples permalink

For example, say your context looks like this:

key1: value1
key2: value2
answer: 42

and your pipeline yaml looks like this:

steps:
  - name: pypyr.steps.set
    in:
      set:
        key2: any old value without a substitution - it will be a string now.
        key4: 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine? {answer}'

This will result in context like this:

key1: value1
key2: any old value without a substitution - it will be a string now.
answer: 42
key4: 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine? 42'

See a worked example for set variables.

conditional assignment & ternary expressions permalink

You can use set in conjunction with py strings for conditional assignment of context items or ternary expressions.

This is useful for creating boolean values in context based upon existence checks, null checks or if an item in a list or dict exists.

- name: pypyr.steps.set
  in:
    arb1: null
    arb2: ''
    arb4: [1,1,2,3,5,8]
    set:
      arb3: eggy # you can now use arb3 below in this same set step
      fromArb: '{arb3}'
      isNull: !py arb1 is None # make a bool based on None
      isEmpty: !py bool(arb2) # use truthy, empty strings are false
      ternaryResult: !py "'eggs' if arb3 == 'eggy' else 'ham'"
      isIn: !py 10 in arb4 # bool true if thing in list

read user input from the console permalink

read from stdin into pipeline context permalink

You can read user input from the console with set using a py string.

Pipeline execution will pause and wait for interactive user input on each read() before proceeding with the rest of the pipeline.

- name: pypyr.steps.set
  comment: read interactive user input from prompt
  in:
    set:
      input_with_prompt: !py input("enter something here:\n")
      input_sans_prompt: !py input()

stdin during unattended execution permalink

Do remember that if you plan to run your pipeline on a server or in the cloud somewhere, you probably don’t want your pipeline to stop and wait for stdin input that will never come. You can selectively control when to wait for interactive user input like this by using the conditional decorators run or skip:

# ./stdin-example.yaml
context_parser: pypyr.parser.keyvaluepairs
steps:
  - name: pypyr.steps.default
    in:
      defaults:
          arb_key: sensible default
          is_server: False
  - name: pypyr.steps.set
    skip: '{is_server}'
    in:
      set:
        arb_key: !py input("enter client side value here:\n")
  - name: pypyr.steps.echo
    in:
      echoMe: 'arbkey is {arb_key} and is_server is {is_server}'

With this pipeline, you can switch from the cli whether you want to wait for user input or not like this:

term
$ pypyr stdin-example
enter client side value here:
user input here
arbkey is user input here and is_server is False

$ pypyr stdin-example is_server=True
arbkey is sensible default and is_server is True

$ pypyr stdin-example is_server=True arb_key="from the cli arg"
arbkey is from the cli arg and is_server is True

see also

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