can you write a str.replace() using dictionary values in Python?

Question

I have to replace the north, south, etc with N S in address fields.

If I have

list = {\'NORTH\':\'N\',\'SOUTH\':\'S\',\'EAST\':\'E\',\'WEST\':\'W\'}         


        

Answer 1

Both using replace() and format() are not so precise:

data =  '{content} {address}'
for k,v in {"{content}":"some {address}", "{address}":"New York" }.items():
    data = data.replace(k,v)
# results: some New York New York

'{ {content} {address}'.format(**{'content':'str1', 'address':'str2'})
# results: ValueError: unexpected '{' in field name

It is better to translate with re.sub() if you need precise place:

import re
def translate(text, kw, ignore_case=False):
    search_keys = map(lambda x:re.escape(x), kw.keys())
    if ignore_case:
        kw = {k.lower():kw[k] for k in kw}
        regex = re.compile('|'.join(search_keys), re.IGNORECASE)
        res = regex.sub( lambda m:kw[m.group().lower()], text)
    else:
        regex = re.compile('|'.join(search_keys))
        res = regex.sub( lambda m:kw[m.group()], text)

    return res

#'score: 99.5% name:%(name)s' %{'name':'foo'}
res = translate( 'score: 99.5% name:{name}', {'{name}':'foo'})
print(res)

res = translate( 'score: 99.5% name:{NAME}', {'{name}':'foo'}, ignore_case=True)
print(res)