In <hdf9bq$59...@panix3.panix.com> a...@pythoncraft.com (Aahz) writes:
>In article <hdf63i$cm...@reader1.panix.com>, kj <no.em...@please.post> wrote: >> >>The subject line says it all. >You are probably trying to remove a screw with a hammer Worse: I'm trying to write Perl using Python! >-- why don't you >tell us what you really want to do and we'll come up with a Pythonic >solution? Because the problem that gave rise to this question is insignificant. I would want to know the answer in any case. *Can* it be done in Python at all? OK, if you must know: With Perl one can set a module-global variable before the module is loaded. This provides a very handy backdoor during testing. E.g. # in t/some_test.t script ... BEGIN { $My::Module::TESTING = 1; } use My::Module; ... and in My/Module.pm: package My::Module; our $TESTING ||= 0; # set to 0 unless already initialized to !0 ... if ($TESTING) { # throw testing switches } This does not work in Python, because setting my.module.TESTING variable can happen only after my.module has been imported, but by this point, the module's top-level code has already been executed, so setting my.module.TESTING would have no effect. But one way to get a similar effect would be to have my.module set its TESTING (or whatever) variable equal to the value of this variable in the *importing* module. kynn -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list