janus:py_call/2

py_call(+Call) is det

py_call(+Call, -Return) is det

py_call(+Call, -Return, +Options) is det

Call Python and return the result of the called function. Call has the shape `[Target][:Action]*`, where Target is either a Python module name or a Python object reference. Each Action is either an atom to get the denoted attribute from current Target or it is a compound term where the first argument is the function or method name and the arguments provide the parameters to the Python function. On success, the returned Python object is translated to Prolog. Action without a Target denotes a buit-in function.

Arguments to Python functions use the Python conventions. Both positional and keyword arguments are supported. Keyword arguments are written as Name = Value and must appear after the positional arguments.

Below are some examples.

% call a built-in
?- py_call(print("Hello World!\n")).
true.

% call a built-in (alternative)
?- py_call(builtins:print("Hello World!\n")).
true.

% call function in a module
?- py_call(sys:getsizeof([1,2,3]), Size).
Size = 80.

% call function on an attribute of a module
?- py_call(sys:path:append("/home/bob/janus")).
true

% get attribute from a module
?- py_call(sys:path, Path)
Path = ["dir1", "dir2", ...]

Given a class in a file dog.py such as the following example from the Python documentation

class Dog:
    tricks = []

    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

    def add_trick(self, trick):
        self.tricks.append(trick)

We can interact with this class as below. Note that $Doc in the SWI-Prolog toplevel refers to the last toplevel binding for the variable Dog.

?- py_call(dog:'Dog'("Fido"), Dog).
Dog = <py_Dog>(0x7f095c9d02e0).

?- py_call($Dog:add_trick("roll_over")).
Dog = <py_Dog>(0x7f095c9d02e0).

?- py_call($Dog:tricks, Tricks).
Dog = <py_Dog>(0x7f095c9d02e0),
Tricks = ["roll_over"]

If the principal term of the first argument is not Target:Func, The argument is evaluated as the initial target, i.e., it must be an object reference or a module. For example:

?- py_call(dog:'Dog'("Fido"), Dog),
   py_call(Dog, X).
   Dog = X, X = <py_Dog>(0x7fa8cbd12050).
?- py_call(sys, S).
   S = <py_module>(0x7fa8cd582390).

Options processed:

py_object(Boolean): If true (default false), translate the return as a Python object reference. Some objects are always translated to Prolog, regardless of this flag. These are the Python constants None, True and False as well as instances of the Python base classes int, float, str or tuple. Instances of sub classes of these base classes are controlled by this option.
py_string_as(+Type): If Type is atom (default), translate a Python String into a Prolog atom. If Type is string, translate into a Prolog string. Strings are more efficient if they are short lived.
py_dict_as(+Type): One of dict (default) to map a Python dict to a SWI-Prolog dict if all keys can be represented. If {} or not all keys can be represented, Return is unified to a term {k:v, ...} or py({}) if the Python dict is empty.

Compatibility: - PIP. The options py_string_as and py_dict_as are SWI-Prolog specific, where SWI-Prolog Janus represents Python strings as atoms as required by the PIP and it represents Python dicts by default as SWI-Prolog dicts. The predicates values/3, keys/2, etc. provide portable access to the data in the dict.