tutorial_tests = """ Let's try a simple generator: >>> def f(): ... yield 1 ... yield 2 >>> for i in f(): ... print i 1 2 >>> g = f() >>> g.next() 1 >>> g.next() 2 >>> g.next() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? File "", line 2, in g StopIteration "return" stops the generator: >>> def f(): ... yield 1 ... return ... yield 2 # never reached ... >>> g = f() >>> g.next() 1 >>> g.next() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? File "", line 3, in f StopIteration >>> g.next() # once stopped, can't be resumed Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? StopIteration "raise StopIteration" stops the generator too: >>> def f(): ... yield 1 ... return ... yield 2 # never reached ... >>> g = f() >>> g.next() 1 >>> g.next() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? StopIteration >>> g.next() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? StopIteration However, they are not exactly equivalent: >>> def g1(): ... try: ... return ... except: ... yield 1 ... >>> list(g1()) [] >>> def g2(): ... try: ... raise StopIteration ... except: ... yield 42 >>> print list(g2()) [42] This may be surprising at first: >>> def g3(): ... try: ... return ... finally: ... yield 1 ... >>> list(g3()) [1] Let's create an alternate range() function implemented as a generator: >>> def yrange(n): ... for i in range(n): ... yield i ... >>> list(yrange(5)) [0, 1, 2, 3, 4] Generators always return to the most recent caller: >>> def creator(): ... r = yrange(5) ... print "creator", r.next() ... return r ... >>> def caller(): ... r = creator() ... for i in r: ... print "caller", i ... >>> caller() creator 0 caller 1 caller 2 caller 3 caller 4 Generators can call other generators: >>> def zrange(n): ... for i in yrange(n): ... yield i ... >>> list(zrange(5)) [0, 1, 2, 3, 4] """ # The examples from PEP 255. pep_tests = """ Specification: Return Note that return isn't always equivalent to raising StopIteration: the difference lies in how enclosing try/except constructs are treated. For example, >>> def f1(): ... try: ... return ... except: ... yield 1 >>> print list(f1()) [] because, as in any function, return simply exits, but >>> def f2(): ... try: ... raise StopIteration ... except: ... yield 42 >>> print list(f2()) [42] because StopIteration is captured by a bare "except", as is any exception. Specification: Generators and Exception Propagation >>> def f(): ... return 1/0 >>> def g(): ... yield f() # the zero division exception propagates ... yield 42 # and we'll never get here >>> k = g() >>> k.next() Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? File "", line 2, in g File "", line 2, in f ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero >>> k.next() # and the generator cannot be resumed Traceback (most recent call last): File "", line 1, in ? StopIteration >>> Specification: Try/Except/Finally >>> def f(): ... try: ... yield 1 ... try: ... yield 2 ... 1/0 ... yield 3 # never get here ... except ZeroDivisionError: ... yield 4 ... yield 5 ... raise ... except: ... yield 6 ... yield 7 # the "raise" above stops this ... except: ... yield 8 ... yield 9 ... try: ... x = 12 ... finally: ... yield 10 ... yield 11 >>> print list(f()) [1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11] >>> Guido's binary tree example. >>> # A binary tree class. >>> class Tree: ... ... def __init__(self, label, left=None, right=None): ... self.label = label ... self.left = left ... self.right = right ... ... def __repr__(self, level=0, indent=" "): ... s = level*indent + `self.label` ... if self.left: ... s = s + "\\n" + self.left.__repr__(level+1, indent) ... if self.right: ... s = s + "\\n" + self.right.__repr__(level+1, indent) ... return s ... ... def __iter__(self): ... return inorder(self) >>> # Create a Tree from a list. >>> def tree(list): ... n = len(list) ... if n == 0: ... return [] ... i = n / 2 ... return Tree(list[i], tree(list[:i]), tree(list[i+1:])) >>> # Show it off: create a tree. >>> t = tree("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") >>> # A recursive generator that generates Tree leaves in in-order. >>> def inorder(t): ... if t: ... for x in inorder(t.left): ... yield x ... yield t.label ... for x in inorder(t.right): ... yield x >>> # Show it off: create a tree. ... t = tree("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ") ... # Print the nodes of the tree in in-order. ... for x in t: ... print x, A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z >>> # A non-recursive generator. >>> def inorder(node): ... stack = [] ... while node: ... while node.left: ... stack.append(node) ... node = node.left ... yield node.label ... while not node.right: ... try: ... node = stack.pop() ... except IndexError: ... return ... yield node.label ... node = node.right >>> # Exercise the non-recursive generator. >>> for x in t: ... print x, A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z """ # A few examples from Iterator-List and Python-Dev email. email_tests = """ The difference between yielding None and returning it. >>> def g(): ... for i in range(3): ... yield None ... yield None ... return >>> list(g()) [None, None, None, None] Ensure that explicitly raising StopIteration acts like any other exception in try/except, not like a return. >>> def g(): ... yield 1 ... try: ... raise StopIteration ... except: ... yield 2 ... yield 3 >>> list(g()) [1, 2, 3] A generator can't be resumed while it's already running. >>> def g(): ... i = me.next() ... yield i >>> me = g() >>> me.next() Traceback (most recent call last): ... File "", line 2, in g ValueError: generator already executing """ # Fun tests (for sufficiently warped notions of "fun"). fun_tests = """ Build up to a recursive Sieve of Eratosthenes generator. >>> def firstn(g, n): ... return [g.next() for i in range(n)] >>> def intsfrom(i): ... while 1: ... yield i ... i += 1 >>> firstn(intsfrom(5), 7) [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] >>> def exclude_multiples(n, ints): ... for i in ints: ... if i % n: ... yield i >>> firstn(exclude_multiples(3, intsfrom(1)), 6) [1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8] >>> def sieve(ints): ... prime = ints.next() ... yield prime ... not_divisible_by_prime = exclude_multiples(prime, ints) ... for p in sieve(not_divisible_by_prime): ... yield p >>> primes = sieve(intsfrom(2)) >>> firstn(primes, 20) [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71] Another famous problem: generate all integers of the form 2**i * 3**j * 5**k in increasing order, where i,j,k >= 0. Trickier than it may look at first! Try writing it without generators, and correctly, and without generating 3 internal results for each result output. >>> def times(n, g): ... for i in g: ... yield n * i >>> firstn(times(10, intsfrom(1)), 10) [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100] >>> def merge(g, h): ... ng = g.next() ... nh = h.next() ... while 1: ... if ng < nh: ... yield ng ... ng = g.next() ... elif ng > nh: ... yield nh ... nh = h.next() ... else: ... yield ng ... ng = g.next() ... nh = h.next() This works, but is doing a whale of a lot or redundant work -- it's not clear how to get the internal uses of m235 to share a single generator. Note that me_times2 (etc) each need to see every element in the result sequence. So this is an example where lazy lists are more natural (you can look at the head of a lazy list any number of times). >>> def m235(): ... yield 1 ... me_times2 = times(2, m235()) ... me_times3 = times(3, m235()) ... me_times5 = times(5, m235()) ... for i in merge(merge(me_times2, ... me_times3), ... me_times5): ... yield i >>> result = m235() >>> for i in range(5): ... print firstn(result, 15) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24] [25, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45, 48, 50, 54, 60, 64, 72, 75, 80] [81, 90, 96, 100, 108, 120, 125, 128, 135, 144, 150, 160, 162, 180, 192] [200, 216, 225, 240, 243, 250, 256, 270, 288, 300, 320, 324, 360, 375, 384] [400, 405, 432, 450, 480, 486, 500, 512, 540, 576, 600, 625, 640, 648, 675] Heh. Here's one way to get a shared list, complete with an excruciating namespace renaming trick. The *pretty* part is that the times() and merge() functions can be reused as-is, because they only assume their stream arguments are iterable -- a LazyList is the same as a generator to times(). >>> class LazyList: ... def __init__(self, g): ... self.sofar = [] ... self.fetch = g.next ... ... def __getitem__(self, i): ... sofar, fetch = self.sofar, self.fetch ... while i >= len(sofar): ... sofar.append(fetch()) ... return sofar[i] >>> def m235(): ... yield 1 ... # Gack: m235 below actually refers to a LazyList. ... me_times2 = times(2, m235) ... me_times3 = times(3, m235) ... me_times5 = times(5, m235) ... for i in merge(merge(me_times2, ... me_times3), ... me_times5): ... yield i >>> m235 = LazyList(m235()) >>> for i in range(5): ... print [m235[j] for j in range(15*i, 15*(i+1))] [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24] [25, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45, 48, 50, 54, 60, 64, 72, 75, 80] [81, 90, 96, 100, 108, 120, 125, 128, 135, 144, 150, 160, 162, 180, 192] [200, 216, 225, 240, 243, 250, 256, 270, 288, 300, 320, 324, 360, 375, 384] [400, 405, 432, 450, 480, 486, 500, 512, 540, 576, 600, 625, 640, 648, 675] """ __test__ = {"tut": tutorial_tests, "pep": pep_tests, "email": email_tests, "fun": fun_tests} # Magic test name that regrtest.py invokes *after* importing this module. # This worms around a bootstrap problem. # Note that doctest and regrtest both look in sys.argv for a "-v" argument, # so this works as expected in both ways of running regrtest. def test_main(): import doctest, test_generators doctest.testmod(test_generators) # This part isn't needed for regrtest, but for running the test directly. if __name__ == "__main__": test_main()