Import YAML variables automatically?

Question

I've provided the code below. I'm just wondering if there's a better, more concise, way to load the entire index into variables, instead of manually specifying each one...

Python code

script_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
file_path = os.path.join(script_dir, 'config.yaml')

with open(file_path, 'r') as stream:
    index = 'two'
    load = yaml.load(stream)
    USER = load[index]['USER']
    PASS = load[index]['PASS']
    HOST = load[index]['HOST']
    PORT = load[index]['PORT']
    ...

YAML Config

one:
  USER: "john"
  PASS: "qwerty"
  HOST: "127.0.0.1"
  PORT: "20"
two:
  USER: "jane"
  PASS: "qwerty"
  HOST: "196.162.0.1"
  PORT: "80"

Possible duplicate of Parsing a YAML file in Python, and accessing the data? — Van Peer
– Van Peer, Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 5:26
This provides an example of how I currently set up my code. In other words, I want the program to import all variables automatically. — J. Doe
– J. Doe, Commented Oct 20, 2017 at 5:55

Anthon · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-20 07:10:31Z

1

Assing to globals():

import yaml
import os

script_dir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
file_path = os.path.join(script_dir, 'config.yaml')

index = 'two'

with open(file_path, 'r') as stream:
    load = yaml.safe_load(stream)

for key in load[index]:
    globals()[str(key)] = load[index][key]

print(USER)
print(PORT)

this gives:

jane
80

A few notes:

Using global variables is often considered bad practise
As noted by a p in the comment, this can lead to problems e.g. with keys that shadow built-ins
If you have to use PyYAML, you should use safe_load().
You should consider using ruamel.yaml (disclaimer: I am the author of that package), where you can get the same result with:
```
import ruamel.yaml
yaml = ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
```
and then again use load = yaml.load(stream) (which is safe).

edited Oct 20, 2017 at 7:10

answered Oct 20, 2017 at 5:57

Anthon

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2 Comments

a p Over a year ago

Note that this is potentially problematic since it will shadow builtins and things like True and False.

J. Doe Over a year ago

Your answer was helpful! I'll check out your package as well. Thank you for responding : )

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