fileutils.py

Library to facilitate interacting with files.
It is also an executable script that can be invoked from CLI with arguments.

Usage:

python fileutils.py <function> <arg1> <arg2> ... <arg n>

Available functions:

diffiles: Compare the contents of two files and print the differences. See compare_files(file1, file2, mode: str) below.

Library modules:

fileutils.py: Executable script. Main script.
diffiles.py: Executable script. 
getconfig.py: Returns a dictionary containing the parameters in a config file passed as reference. 
getlines.py: Return lines in a file.

Library functions:

getconfig(config_file:str, assignment_op:str = "=", skip_empty_values:bool = False, verbose:bool = False)
    Returns a dictionary containing the parameters and values in a config file. Values and keys in the dictionary are of type string.

    Params:
        config_file: Path of the config file to be read
        assignment_op: Assignment operator used in the config file. Default is '='
        skip_empty_values: Indicate if empty parameters should be collected and returned
        verbose: Enable chatty output

getlines(source_file:str, strip_blanks:bool = False, verbose:bool = False)
    Return lines in a file.

    Params:
        source_file: Path of the file to be read
        strip_blanks: Strip leading and trailing white spaces and OS line separator
        verbose: Enable chatty output

compare_files(file1, file2, mode: str):
    Compares the contents of two files and prints the differences.

    Params:
        file1 and file2 are the names of the files to compare
        'mode' is a string indicating the comparison mode:
            'diff': print lines that are different
            'same': print lines that are the same
            'merged': print the lines side by side, highlighting the differences

    Example: ```python diffiles.py file1.txt file2.txt diff```
        This command will compare the contents of file1.txt and file2.txt, and print the lines that are different.