data structure used to implement UNDO and REDO option

Question

I want to implement UNDO and REDO option(as we see in MS word etc). Can you suggest me a data structure for it, and how can i implement it.?

Answer 1

This is a classic case of Command Pattern. Following is a sample implementation of undo feature in Python :

from os import rename
class RenameFileCommand(object):
    def __init__(self, src_file, target_file):
        self.src_file=src_file
        self.target_file=target_file


    def execute(self):
        rename(self.src_file, self.target_file)

    def undo(self):
        rename(self.target_file,self.src_file)



class History(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.commands=list()
    def execute(self, command):
        command.execute()
        self.commands.append(command)

    def undo(self):
        self.commands.pop().undo()


if __name__=='__main__':
    hist=History()
    hist.execute(RenameFileCommand( 'test1.txt', 'tmp.txt', ))
    hist.undo()
    hist.execute(RenameFileCommand( 'tmp2.txt', 'test2.txt',))