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

I needed to return Perl-like dump for API request so I came up with this which doesn't format the output to be pretty, but makes perfect job for me.

from decimal import Decimal
from datetime import datetime, date

def dump(self, obj):

    if obj is None:
        return "undef"

    if isinstance(obj, dict):
        return self.dump_dict(obj)

    if isinstance(obj, (list, tuple)):
        return self.dump_list(obj)

    if isinstance(obj, Decimal):
        return "'{:.05f}'".format(obj)
        # ... or handle it your way

    if isinstance(obj, (datetime, date)):
        return "'{}'".format(obj.isoformat(
            sep=' ',
            timespec='milliseconds'))
        # ... or handle it your way

    return "'{}'".format(obj)

def dump_dict(self, obj):
    result = []
    for key, val in obj.items():
        result.append(' => '.join((self.dump(key), self.dump(val))))

    return ' '.join(('{', ', '.join(result), '}'))

def dump_list(self, obj):
    result = []
    for val in obj:
        result.append(self.dump(val))

    return ' '.join(('[', ', '.join(result), ']'))



Using the above:

    example_dict = {'a': 'example1', 'b': 'example2', 'c': [1, 2, 3, 'asd'], 'd': [{'g': 'something1', 'e': 'something2'}, {'z': 'something1'}]}

    print(dump(example_dict))

will ouput:

    { 'b' => 'example2', 'a' => 'example1', 'd' => [ { 'g' => 'something1', 'e' => 'something2' }, { 'z' => 'something1' } ], 'c' => [ '1', '2', '3', 'asd' ] }