1 files changed, 50 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/python/vyos/util.py b/python/vyos/util.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9a36ef84f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/vyos/util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import re
+
+
+def colon_separated_to_dict(data_string, uniquekeys=False):
+    """ Converts a string containing newline-separated entries
+        of colon-separated key-value pairs into a dict.
+
+        Such files are common in Linux /proc filesystem
+
+    Args:
+        data_string (str): data string
+        uniquekeys (bool): whether to insist that keys are unique or not
+
+    Returns: dict
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError: if uniquekeys=True and the data string has
+            duplicate keys.
+
+    Note:
+        If uniquekeys=True, then dict entries are always strings,
+        otherwise they are always lists of strings.
+    """
+    key_value_re = re.compile('([^:]+)\s*\:\s*(.*)')
+
+    data_raw = re.split('\n', data_string)
+
+    data = {}
+
+    for l in data_raw:
+        l = l.strip()
+        if l:
+            match = re.match(key_value_re, l)
+            if match:
+                key = match.groups()[0].strip()
+                value = match.groups()[1].strip()
+            if key in data.keys():
+                if uniquekeys:
+                    raise ValueError("Data string has duplicate keys: {0}".format(key))
+                else:
+                    data[key].append(value)
+            else:
+                if uniquekeys:
+                    data[key] = value
+                else:
+                    data[key] = [value]
+        else:
+            pass
+
+    return data