Is there a Python equivalent to Perl's Data::Dumper for inspecting data structures?

Question

Is there a Python module that can be used in the same way as Perl\'s Data::Dumper module?

Edit: Sorry, I should have been clearer. I was mainly afte

Answer 1

Here is a simple solution for dumping nested data made up of dictionaries, lists, or tuples (it works quite well for me):

Python2

def printStruct(struc, indent=0):
  if isinstance(struc, dict):
    print '  '*indent+'{'
    for key,val in struc.iteritems():
      if isinstance(val, (dict, list, tuple)):
        print '  '*(indent+1) + str(key) + '=> '
        printStruct(val, indent+2)
      else:
        print '  '*(indent+1) + str(key) + '=> ' + str(val)
    print '  '*indent+'}'
  elif isinstance(struc, list):
    print '  '*indent + '['
    for item in struc:
      printStruct(item, indent+1)
    print '  '*indent + ']'
  elif isinstance(struc, tuple):
    print '  '*indent + '('
    for item in struc:
      printStruct(item, indent+1)
    print '  '*indent + ')'
  else: print '  '*indent + str(struc)

Python3

 def printStruct(struc, indent=0):
   if isinstance(struc, dict):
     print ('  '*indent+'{')
     for key,val in struc.items():
       if isinstance(val, (dict, list, tuple)):
         print ('  '*(indent+1) + str(key) + '=> ')
         printStruct(val, indent+2)
       else:
         print ('  '*(indent+1) + str(key) + '=> ' + str(val))
     print ('  '*indent+'}')
   elif isinstance(struc, list):
     print ('  '*indent + '[')
     for item in struc:
       printStruct(item, indent+1)
     print ('  '*indent + ']')
   elif isinstance(struc, tuple):
     print ('  '*indent + '(')
     for item in struc:
       printStruct(item, indent+1)
     print ('  '*indent + ')')
   else: print ('  '*indent + str(struc))

See it at work:

>>> d = [{'a1':1, 'a2':2, 'a3':3}, [1,2,3], [{'b1':1, 'b2':2}, {'c1':1}], 'd1', 'd2', 'd3']
>>> printStruct(d)
[
  {
    a1=> 1
    a3=> 3
    a2=> 2
  }
  [
    1
    2
    3
  ]
  [
    {
      b1=> 1
      b2=> 2
    }
    {
      c1=> 1
    }
  ]
  d1
  d2
  d3
]