How to use this library

Accessing the data

Recommended Method

Since Python is a great language, and the library provides a lot of convenience functions for you, the recommended method for accessing the data is using Python scripts that directly include the library. It’s terribly easy. Just import the library in any script, and get going.

import padre as p

Since it’s just a Python library, it can be imported from anywhere, and all of the file references are absolute, so it doesn’t matter what folder you are in. Take a look at the functions and examples here for fun things to do with the library.

The Not-Recommended Method

If you hate Python, kittens, and love, you could write all of your scripts in some awful language, like C shell + awk, and lookup the location of the data using the command-line script padre_buddy.py. The padre_buddy.py script is really designed to help you have quick access to the datasets on the command line, and wasn’t meant to be a crutch to hold you back from migrating to Python. But, it’s there if you need it.

Basic workflow concepts

The raw data is stored within padre, and is accessible from anywhere through the library functions. For efficiency, it’s not recommended to copy the raw data out of the repository, but to try to work with it in place. This is pretty easy to do within the library itself, because all files are referred to by absolute file references, so it doesn’t matter what directory you are in when you refer to a file. If you need to access the data easily outside the library, the padre_buddy.py script should allow you to work with the files without having to copy them.