<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of words which may or may not mean very much to you \u2013 but consider, for example, using <\/span>the <\/span>ast<\/code> module<\/span><\/a> to parse Python source code. If you\u2019re unfamiliar with the <\/span>ast<\/code> module: the module provides tools that enable you to compile Python source code into an \u201cabstract syntax tree\u201d (AST) representing the code\u2019s structure. The Python interpreter itself converts Python source code into an AST in order to understand how to run that code \u2013 but parsing Python source code using ASTs is also a common task for linters, such as plugins for <\/span>flake8<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>pylint<\/span><\/a>. In the following example, <\/span>ast.parse()<\/code> is used to parse the source code <\/span>x = 42<\/code> into an <\/span>ast.Module<\/code> node, and <\/span>ast.dump()<\/code> is then used to reveal the tree-like structure of that node in a human-readable form:<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>>>> <\/span>import<\/span> ast<\/span>\n>>> <\/span>source<\/span> =<\/span> \"x = 42\"<\/span>\n>>> <\/span>node<\/span> =<\/span> ast<\/span>.<\/span>parse<\/span>(<\/span>source<\/span>)<\/span>\n>>> <\/span>node<\/span>\n<ast.Module object at 0x000002A70F928D80><\/span>\n>>> <\/span>print<\/span>(<\/span>ast<\/span>.<\/span>dump<\/span>(<\/span>node<\/span>,<\/span> indent<\/span>=<\/span>2<\/span>))<\/span>\nModule(<\/span>\n body=[<\/span>\n Assign(<\/span>\n targets=[<\/span>\n Name(id='x', ctx=Store())],<\/span>\n value=Constant(value=42))],<\/span>\n type_ignores=[])<\/span>\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n