How to make “int” parse blank strings?

Question

I have a parsing system for fixed-length text records based on a layout table:

parse_table = [\\
    (\'name\', type, length),
    ....
    (\'numeric_field\         


        

Answer 1

Use a factory function instead of int or a subclass of int:

def mk_int(s):
    s = s.strip()
    return int(s) if s else 0