Embed Directive in Python

Here’s the translation of the Go code to Python, along with explanations in Markdown format suitable for Hugo:

Python doesn’t have a direct equivalent to the //go:embed directive, but we can achieve similar functionality using the importlib.resources module, which was introduced in Python 3.7. This module allows us to access files within a package.

First, let’s create a package structure:

my_package/
    __init__.py
    main.py
    resources/
        single_file.txt
        file1.hash
        file2.hash

Now, let’s write our Python code:

import importlib.resources as pkg_resources
from . import resources

# Read the contents of a single file
file_string = pkg_resources.read_text(resources, 'single_file.txt')

# Read the contents of a file as bytes
file_byte = pkg_resources.read_binary(resources, 'single_file.txt')

def main():
    # Print out the contents of 'single_file.txt'
    print(file_string)
    print(file_byte.decode('utf-8'))

    # Retrieve some files from the resources folder
    content1 = pkg_resources.read_text(resources, 'file1.hash')
    print(content1)

    content2 = pkg_resources.read_text(resources, 'file2.hash')
    print(content2)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

In this Python version:

1. We use importlib.resources to access files within our package. This is similar to the embed package in Go.

2. Instead of using the //go:embed directive, we use pkg_resources.read_text() and pkg_resources.read_binary() to read file contents.

3. We define our resources in a separate resources folder within our package, which is imported at the top of the file.

4. The main() function demonstrates how to read and print the contents of the embedded files.

To run this example:

1. Create the package structure as shown above.

2. Add the following content to the files:

   $ echo "hello python" > my_package/resources/single_file.txt
   $ echo "123" > my_package/resources/file1.hash
   $ echo "456" > my_package/resources/file2.hash

3. Run the script:

   $ python -m my_package.main
   hello python
   hello python
   123
   456

This approach allows you to include resources in your Python package and access them at runtime, similar to the embed directive in Go. The main difference is that in Python, these resources are typically part of the package structure, while in Go they are embedded directly into the binary.