How to extract Python Function Using C#?

Question

I have a C# code snippet that reads a Python file and prints the function specified by the functionName variable. Here's the code:

Please find the provided C# code:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var pythonFilePath = @"C:\\Users\\batchus\\source\\repos\\app\\states.py";  // replace with your Python file path
        var functionName = "processS";  // replace with the name of the function you want to extract

        var pythonCode = File.ReadAllText(pythonFilePath);
        var functionPattern = $@"def {functionName}\(.*?def ";
        
        var functionMatch = Regex.Match(pythonCode, functionPattern, RegexOptions.Singleline);

        if (functionMatch.Success)
        {
            // We add "def " at the end to the match to make it a complete function.
            // We subtract 5 because "def " has 4 characters and Regex.Match also adds an extra character.
            Console.WriteLine(functionMatch.Value.Substring(0, functionMatch.Value.Length - 5));
        }
        else
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"Function '{functionName}' not found.");
        }
    }
}

However, my current implementation doesn't handle all scenarios for extracting the function. I'm wondering if there are any best practices or C# NuGet packages that could help me improve this functionality. Please provide inputs

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hi I hope you can use Abstract Syntax Trees to get the function name rather than using regex as it will not give you correct results.

Create a new python file called AbstractPythonCode.py and code will be like this

import ast

def find_methods_in_python_file(file_path):
    methods = []
    o = open(file_path, "r")
    text = o.read()
    p = ast.parse(text)
    for node in ast.walk(p):
        if isinstance(node, ast.FunctionDef):
            methods.append(node.name)

    return methods

and you can call the function as

find_methods_in_python_file('MyFolder/test.py')

You can modific the python method find_methods_in_python_file to return function names. You can use the Python.Net to call the find_methods_in_python_file method from .cs file

Hope this helps if you find this option can be considered please vote up.