Updating generated file

Question

With this algorithm I update an automatically generated verilog-file. The update within this file is done by commenting the assigned wires to specific ports of module instances.

Is there a better, more elegant or more optimized way to do this than with this algorithm?

file_name = "test.v" # name of the verilog file
test = ".test" # port name 1
tezt = ".tezt" # port name 2
dummy = [] # buffer for the updated string
with open(file_name, "r+") as f:
 lines = f.readlines()
 f.seek(0)
 f.truncate() # clear the file
 for line in lines:
 if test in line or tezt in line: # check if one of the ports is in the line
 if line[line.index('(')+1] != '/': # check if the assigned wire is already is commented
 for c in line: # update the line and comment the wire name within the brackets
 if c == ')':
 dummy.append("*/")
 dummy.append(c)
 if c == '(':
 dummy.append("/*")
 line = line.replace(line, "".join(dummy)) # replace the old line with the new string
 dummy.clear()
 f.write(line)
 f.close()

• AlexV: Welcome to Code Review! "... done by commenting the assigned wires ..." should likely be " ... connecting ...", no?
• Peilonrayz: @AlexV Looking at the dummy.append("*/"), it looks like the are commenting the wires.
• AlexV: @Peilonrayz On the second look that might actually be true :-)

Answer 1

• You don't need to manually call f.close(), that's what the with is for.
• It looks like line = line.replace(line, "".join(dummy)) can just be line = "".join(dummy).

• It's clearer to define dummy in the if statement:

  • This means that it's in the correct scope, meaning we don't have to look out for it being used elsewhere.
  • It also means that you can remove dummy.clear().
• Personally I would merge your two if statements together, to reduce the arrow anti-pattern.
• It looks like dummy and your for loop can be replaced with str.maketrans and str.translate.

_untested

file_name = "test.v"
test = ".test"
tezt = ".tezt"
trans_table = str.maketrans({'(': '(/*', ')': '*/)'})
with open(file_name, "r+") as f:
 lines = f.readlines()
 f.seek(0)
 f.truncate()
 for line in lines:
 if ((test in line or tezt in line)
 and line[line.index('(') + 1] != '/'
 ):
 line = line.translate(trans_table)
 f.write(line)

• Olupo: Thank you for your improvements. I knew that it could be optimized. The two string methods are new to me, but it's good to know that they exist.