Python Standard Library

The whichdb Module

The whichdb module can be used to figure out which database handler was used for a given database file, as shown in Example 10-2.

Example 10-2. Using the whichdb Module

File: whichdb-example-1.py

import whichdb

filename = "database"

result = whichdb.whichdb(filename)

if result:
    print "file created by", result
    handler = _ _import_ _(result)
    db = handler.open(filename, "r")
    print db.keys()
else:
    # cannot identify data base
    if result is None:
        print "cannot read database file", filename
    else:
        print "cannot identify database file", filename
    db = None

Example 10-2 uses the _ _import_ _ function to import a module with the given name.