Question

I am writing a python command line script that takes a .ldif and two strings. The strings correspond to a key and a value that I need to insert at the end of each record in the .ldif file. However, I’m having an issue figuring out how to parse the .ldif file so that I know I’m at the end of a record. When I reach the end of a record I need to write to the file the two strings (Key: Value) with a colon in between them.

So basically I need to:

1. Parse arguments from the command line (.ldif, string1, string2)
2. Create the string I am going to append to the .ldif
3. Open the .ldif and seek to the end of each record. Upon reaching the end of a record I need to write the string I created from string1 and string2.
4. When I see the EOF of the .ldif I need to return the .ldif file with the updated records.

Before:

    # example.ldif
    dn: Aamir_005_000
    cn: Aamir_25
    givenname: Aamir

    dn: Saul_024
    cn: Saululite
    givenname: Saul

After: python myscript.py ./example.ldif sillyname syllabear

    # example.ldif
    dn: Aamir_005_000
    cn: Aamir_25
    givenname: Aamir
    sillyname: syllabear

    dn: Saul_024
    cn: Saululite
    givenname: Saul
    sillyname: syllabear

Answer 1

import sys
with open(sys.argv[1],'r+') as f1:
    lines=[x.strip() for x in f1]
    f1.truncate(0)
    f1.seek(0)
    for x in lines:
       if x:
         f1.write(x+'\n')
       else:
         f1.write("{0}:{1}\n\n".format(sys.argv[2],sys.argv[3]))
    f1.write("{0}:{1}\n\n".format(sys.argv[2],sys.argv[3]))