Module MinimalMatch

source code

This modules provides the MinimalMatch class. Subclasses from this class have the special property that attribute names can be abbreviated:

>>> class MyClass(MinimalMatch):
...     user = 'root'
...     start = 'yesterday'
...     stop = 'tomorrow'
... 
>>> my_instance = MyClass()

For instance the following command will set the 'user' attribute:

>>> my_instance.u = 'nobody'
>>> print my_instance.user
nobody

But of course you can always use the full attribute name:

>>> my_instance.user = 'root'
>>> print my_instance.us
root

Never type more than the full attribute name:

>>> print my_instance.users
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
AttributeError: MyClass instance has no attribute 'users'

Abbreviations should not be ambiguous:

>>> my_instance.st = 'now'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
AttributeError: MyClass instance attribute 'st' is ambiguous

And setting instance attributes that are not class attributes is not possible:

>>> my_instance.group = 'nobody'
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
AttributeError: MyClass instance has no attribute 'group'

>>> print my_instance.stop
tomorrow

Getting and setting private attributes should just work:

>>> my_instance._private = ('do', 'not', 'touch')
>>> print my_instance._private
('do', 'not', 'touch')

And accesing non-existent private attributes should fail (and not land us in an infinite loop):

>>> print my_instance._does_not_exist
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
AttributeError: MyClass instance has no attribute '_does_not_exist'