Alternative to contextlib.nested with variable number of context managers

Question

We have code that invokes a variable number of context managers depending on runtime parameters:

from contextlib import nested, contextmanager

@contextmanager
def my_context(arg):
    print("entering", arg)
    try:
        yield arg
    finally:
        print("exiting", arg)

def my_fn(items): 
    with nested(*(my_context(arg) for arg in items)) as managers:
        print("processing under", managers)

my_fn(range(3))

However, contextlib.nested is deprecated since Python 2.7:

DeprecationWarning: With-statements now directly support multiple context managers

The answers to Multiple variables in Python 'with' statement indicate that contextlib.nested has some "confusing error prone quirks", but the suggested alternative of using the multiple-manager with statement won't work for a variable number of context managers (and also breaks backward compatibility).

Are there any alternatives to contextlib.nested that aren't deprecated and (preferably) don't have the same bugs?

Or should I continue to use contextlib.nested and ignore the warning? If so, should I plan for contextlib.nested to be removed at some time in the future?

Answer 1

The new Python 3 contextlib.ExitStack class was added as a replacement for contextlib.nested() (see issue 13585).

It is coded in such a way you can use it in Python 2 directly:

import sys
from collections import deque


class ExitStack(object):
    """Context manager for dynamic management of a stack of exit callbacks

    For example:

        with ExitStack() as stack:
            files = [stack.enter_context(open(fname)) for fname in filenames]
            # All opened files will automatically be closed at the end of
            # the with statement, even if attempts to open files later
            # in the list raise an exception

    """
    def __init__(self):
        self._exit_callbacks = deque()

    def pop_all(self):
        """Preserve the context stack by transferring it to a new instance"""
        new_stack = type(self)()
        new_stack._exit_callbacks = self._exit_callbacks
        self._exit_callbacks = deque()
        return new_stack

    def _push_cm_exit(self, cm, cm_exit):
        """Helper to correctly register callbacks to __exit__ methods"""
        def _exit_wrapper(*exc_details):
            return cm_exit(cm, *exc_details)
        _exit_wrapper.__self__ = cm
        self.push(_exit_wrapper)

    def push(self, exit):
        """Registers a callback with the standard __exit__ method signature

        Can suppress exceptions the same way __exit__ methods can.

        Also accepts any object with an __exit__ method (registering a call
        to the method instead of the object itself)
        """
        # We use an unbound method rather than a bound method to follow
        # the standard lookup behaviour for special methods
        _cb_type = type(exit)
        try:
            exit_method = _cb_type.__exit__
        except AttributeError:
            # Not a context manager, so assume its a callable
            self._exit_callbacks.append(exit)
        else:
            self._push_cm_exit(exit, exit_method)
        return exit # Allow use as a decorator

    def callback(self, callback, *args, **kwds):
        """Registers an arbitrary callback and arguments.

        Cannot suppress exceptions.
        """
        def _exit_wrapper(exc_type, exc, tb):
            callback(*args, **kwds)
        # We changed the signature, so using @wraps is not appropriate, but
        # setting __wrapped__ may still help with introspection
        _exit_wrapper.__wrapped__ = callback
        self.push(_exit_wrapper)
        return callback # Allow use as a decorator

    def enter_context(self, cm):
        """Enters the supplied context manager

        If successful, also pushes its __exit__ method as a callback and
        returns the result of the __enter__ method.
        """
        # We look up the special methods on the type to match the with statement
        _cm_type = type(cm)
        _exit = _cm_type.__exit__
        result = _cm_type.__enter__(cm)
        self._push_cm_exit(cm, _exit)
        return result

    def close(self):
        """Immediately unwind the context stack"""
        self.__exit__(None, None, None)

    def __enter__(self):
        return self

    def __exit__(self, *exc_details):
        # We manipulate the exception state so it behaves as though
        # we were actually nesting multiple with statements
        frame_exc = sys.exc_info()[1]
        def _fix_exception_context(new_exc, old_exc):
            while 1:
                exc_context = new_exc.__context__
                if exc_context in (None, frame_exc):
                    break
                new_exc = exc_context
            new_exc.__context__ = old_exc

        # Callbacks are invoked in LIFO order to match the behaviour of
        # nested context managers
        suppressed_exc = False
        while self._exit_callbacks:
            cb = self._exit_callbacks.pop()
            try:
                if cb(*exc_details):
                    suppressed_exc = True
                    exc_details = (None, None, None)
            except:
                new_exc_details = sys.exc_info()
                # simulate the stack of exceptions by setting the context
                _fix_exception_context(new_exc_details[1], exc_details[1])
                if not self._exit_callbacks:
                    raise
                exc_details = new_exc_details
        return suppressed_exc

Use this as your context manager, then add nested context managers at will:

with ExitStack() as stack:
    managers = [stack.enter_context(my_context(arg)) for arg in items]
    print("processing under", managers)

For your example context manager, this prints:

>>> my_fn(range(3))
('entering', 0)
('entering', 1)
('entering', 2)
('processing under', [0, 1, 2])
('exiting', 2)
('exiting', 1)
('exiting', 0)

You can also install the contextlib2 module; it includes ExitStack as a backport.