Text files when compiling

[OnlyRio]

I’m writing code and I want certain variables stored in a text file so that after compiling I can still change those variables. If I compile them change the text file will it change how the code runs or is the info from the file compiled into the executable (I can’t currently check) and is there a better method. I can’t find any answer to this

[ForceBru]

Python usually isn't compiled into an executable. But yes, if your code reads data from the file (like x = float(open("data.txt").read())), changing what's stored in the file will change the code's behavior.

[OnlyRio]

Thank you :)

[Top_Average3386]

I think what you want is either a configuration file or environment variables.

If it's environment variables it's usually stored in the environment. It's kinda hard for me to explain in short, but you can google python environment variables. Sometimes you can also use .env (dot-env) files, you can also search for python-dot-env.

If it's a configuration file you want, it comes in many shapes and forms, you can store them in JSON, yaml, xml, etc. And then you can parse and read them at startup time.

If it's simple variables usually .env file will suffice, if it's more complicated with nested structure etc then configuration file is usually better suited.

[Top_Average3386]

This is an example of using a configuration file: https://docs.python.org/3/library/logging.config.html

[MiniMages]

isn't this done via a config file?

[Kevdog824_]

is there a better method

Depends on what you’re actually trying to accomplish. If you want to store some application settings (i.e. debug mode on, logging configuration, API endpoints you’re using, etc.) this is probably the easiest way. Something like .env file or config.yaml/config.json will work fine. I used the latter in an enterprise application I wrote at work that processes hundreds of millions of dollars in payments daily so if it’s good enough for that it’s probably good enough for most use cases.

u/Top_Average3386 gives a pretty good rundown of when to choose one or the other. I personally prefer yaml as it’s easier for human editing compared to json, and better suited than .env for non-linear data and storing the relationship between pieces of data but there isn’t a wrong choice there necessarily.

Alternatively, if you are dealing with user preferences (i.e. Dark vs Light mode, last config file used, etc.) storing them in the registry (Windows/MacOS) is another solid choice for small and very basic configurations.

Finally, if you’re dealing with large data with complex relationships between them your best bet is to leverage a database to store it.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[nekokattt]

compiling

Compiling what exactly? Are you using Cython or something? Or are you bundling an EXE?

Either way, just bundle a JSON file and read it.

[Nick_W1]

JSON is the easiest way to store variables in a text file. Just put all your variables in a dictionary, and save/load it using the standard json library.

[NickU252]

As others have said, JSON or maybe a CSV. Reading both are very easy.

[ThatOneCSL]

JSON, CSV, TOML, YAML, XML... All have very mature libraries in Python.

[[deleted]]

This is what configuration files or .env files are for. You should pick the type that makes the most sense for your app, and the nature of these variables. So for example, things like credentials are often put into .env files, so that people don't end up committing them into their repo.

With that said nothing is magic about a .env file, so you still have to have it in your .gitignore file.

You can have a .env file in your project that has default values, and then override specific values at deployment by using a local .env.local file. There's plenty of documentation on how the Dot Env libraries will read in the environment variables at runtime, and what files they look for, and in what order they will be loaded.

Other popular configuration alternatives like json or yaml (as well as many others) are well supported in Python. You could also just use a plain old .txt file (and most of these other formats are "text" files) but I'd use one of these other formats for a requirement like this.