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()

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)