How to get source corresponding to a Python AST node?

Question

Python AST nodes have lineno and col_offset attributes, which indicate the beginning of respective code range. Is there an easy way to get also the

Answer 1

EDIT: Latest code (tested in Python 3.5-3.7) is here: https://bitbucket.org/plas/thonny/src/master/thonny/ast_utils.py

As I didn't find an easy way, here's a hard (and probably not optimal) way. Might crash and/or work incorrectly if there are more lineno/col_offset bugs in Python parser than those mentioned (and worked around) in the code. Tested in Python 3.3:

def mark_code_ranges(node, source):
    """
    Node is an AST, source is corresponding source as string.
    Function adds recursively attributes end_lineno and end_col_offset to each node
    which has attributes lineno and col_offset.
    """

    NON_VALUE_KEYWORDS = set(keyword.kwlist) - {'False', 'True', 'None'}


    def _get_ordered_child_nodes(node):
        if isinstance(node, ast.Dict):
            children = []
            for i in range(len(node.keys)):
                children.append(node.keys[i])
                children.append(node.values[i])
            return children
        elif isinstance(node, ast.Call):
            children = [node.func] + node.args

            for kw in node.keywords:
                children.append(kw.value)

            if node.starargs != None:
                children.append(node.starargs)
            if node.kwargs != None:
                children.append(node.kwargs)

            children.sort(key=lambda x: (x.lineno, x.col_offset))
            return children
        else:
            return ast.iter_child_nodes(node)    

    def _fix_triple_quote_positions(root, all_tokens):
        """
        http://bugs.python.org/issue18370
        """
        string_tokens = list(filter(lambda tok: tok.type == token.STRING, all_tokens))

        def _fix_str_nodes(node):
            if isinstance(node, ast.Str):
                tok = string_tokens.pop(0)
                node.lineno, node.col_offset = tok.start

            for child in _get_ordered_child_nodes(node):
                _fix_str_nodes(child)

        _fix_str_nodes(root)

        # fix their erroneous Expr parents   
        for node in ast.walk(root):
            if ((isinstance(node, ast.Expr) or isinstance(node, ast.Attribute))
                and isinstance(node.value, ast.Str)):
                node.lineno, node.col_offset = node.value.lineno, node.value.col_offset

    def _fix_binop_positions(node):
        """
        http://bugs.python.org/issue18374
        """
        for child in ast.iter_child_nodes(node):
            _fix_binop_positions(child)

        if isinstance(node, ast.BinOp):
            node.lineno = node.left.lineno
            node.col_offset = node.left.col_offset


    def _extract_tokens(tokens, lineno, col_offset, end_lineno, end_col_offset):
        return list(filter((lambda tok: tok.start[0] >= lineno
                                   and (tok.start[1] >= col_offset or tok.start[0] > lineno)
                                   and tok.end[0] <= end_lineno
                                   and (tok.end[1] <= end_col_offset or tok.end[0] < end_lineno)
                                   and tok.string != ''),
                           tokens))



    def _mark_code_ranges_rec(node, tokens, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset):
        """
        Returns the earliest starting position found in given tree, 
        this is convenient for internal handling of the siblings
        """

        # set end markers to this node
        if "lineno" in node._attributes and "col_offset" in node._attributes:
            tokens = _extract_tokens(tokens, node.lineno, node.col_offset, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset)
            #tokens = 
            _set_real_end(node, tokens, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset)

        # mark its children, starting from last one
        # NB! need to sort children because eg. in dict literal all keys come first and then all values
        children = list(_get_ordered_child_nodes(node))
        for child in reversed(children):
            (prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset) = \
                _mark_code_ranges_rec(child, tokens, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset)

        if "lineno" in node._attributes and "col_offset" in node._attributes:
            # new "front" is beginning of this node
            prelim_end_lineno = node.lineno
            prelim_end_col_offset = node.col_offset

        return (prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset)

    def _strip_trailing_junk_from_expressions(tokens):
        while (tokens[-1].type not in (token.RBRACE, token.RPAR, token.RSQB,
                                      token.NAME, token.NUMBER, token.STRING, 
                                      token.ELLIPSIS)
                    and tokens[-1].string not in ")}]"
                    or tokens[-1].string in NON_VALUE_KEYWORDS):
            del tokens[-1]

    def _strip_trailing_extra_closers(tokens, remove_naked_comma):
        level = 0
        for i in range(len(tokens)):
            if tokens[i].string in "({[":
                level += 1
            elif tokens[i].string in ")}]":
                level -= 1

            if level == 0 and tokens[i].string == "," and remove_naked_comma:
                tokens[:] = tokens[0:i]
                return

            if level < 0:
                tokens[:] = tokens[0:i]
                return   

    def _set_real_end(node, tokens, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset):
        # prelim_end_lineno and prelim_end_col_offset are the start of 
        # next positioned node or end of source, ie. the suffix of given
        # range may contain keywords, commas and other stuff not belonging to current node

        # Function returns the list of tokens which cover all its children


        if isinstance(node, _ast.stmt):
            # remove empty trailing lines
            while (tokens[-1].type in (tokenize.NL, tokenize.COMMENT, token.NEWLINE, token.INDENT)
                   or tokens[-1].string in (":", "else", "elif", "finally", "except")):
                del tokens[-1]

        else:
            _strip_trailing_extra_closers(tokens, not isinstance(node, ast.Tuple))
            _strip_trailing_junk_from_expressions(tokens)

        # set the end markers of this node
        node.end_lineno = tokens[-1].end[0]
        node.end_col_offset = tokens[-1].end[1]

        # Try to peel off more tokens to give better estimate for children
        # Empty parens would confuse the children of no argument Call
        if ((isinstance(node, ast.Call)) 
            and not (node.args or node.keywords or node.starargs or node.kwargs)):
            assert tokens[-1].string == ')'
            del tokens[-1]
            _strip_trailing_junk_from_expressions(tokens)
        # attribute name would confuse the "value" of Attribute
        elif isinstance(node, ast.Attribute):
            if tokens[-1].type == token.NAME:
                del tokens[-1]
                _strip_trailing_junk_from_expressions(tokens)
            else:
                raise AssertionError("Expected token.NAME, got " + str(tokens[-1]))
                #import sys
                #print("Expected token.NAME, got " + str(tokens[-1]), file=sys.stderr)

        return tokens

    all_tokens = list(tokenize.tokenize(io.BytesIO(source.encode('utf-8')).readline))
    _fix_triple_quote_positions(node, all_tokens)
    _fix_binop_positions(node)
    source_lines = source.split("\n") 
    prelim_end_lineno = len(source_lines)
    prelim_end_col_offset = len(source_lines[len(source_lines)-1])
    _mark_code_ranges_rec(node, all_tokens, prelim_end_lineno, prelim_end_col_offset)