Python Script to remove white spaces

Description

As a developer, many times we may run into trouble due to whitespaces. Leading whitespaces are easier to identify, but trailing whitespaces can get you in huge trouble. Consider below example of cfg file:

property1=value1 
property2 = value2

From above cfg file, we can clearly identify leading whitespace in property2 definition. But above file has trailing whitespace after value1.

This script comes in rescue for such unusual faults.

Getting Started

• consider directory /etc/config having all the config files having all the config files, create a new file: script.py in config directory, and paste below code snippet

import os
from os import path

separator = '='
current_file = __file__ # get path of current working directory

files = filter(path.isfile, os.listdir(os.getcwd())) # get all files in current directory, os.getcwd() can be replaced with custom path ie: /etc/config

for file in files:
    # skip script files for updation
    if not file.endswith('.py'):
        print 'updating file: ' + file
        file_object = open(file, "r+") # get file object
        lines = file_object.readlines()
        file_object.seek(0)
        file_object.truncate()
        for line in lines:
            tokens = [x.strip() for x in line.split(separator)] # separate line by '=' and strip white spaces for each token
            line = separator.join(tokens)
            file_object.write(line+'\n')
        print "file updated\n",
    else:
        print 'skipped: ' + file,

• run script.py

• script will execute and remove all leading and trailing whitespaces for all lines separated by = (equals)

Demo

• checkout project and jump to checkout directory ie: cd <PATH_TO_CHECKOUT_DIRECTORY>
• Before executing script, verify the config files in test-config directory. Both files has leading and trailing whitespaces seperated by =
• jump to config directory consisting of script ie: cd config-test
• run script.py
• executing above command will remove all the white spaces, and you will get the desired output

Questions ??

Reach out to author @ Tarang Bhalodia - LinkedIn