env variables and logic in python code

Question

I need to assign a different value to a variable if an env variable called 'MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION' is set to True.So ,I created the following code in which I created a module1 file for storing the production values

The main code resides in mycode.py.Here is the directory structure

mypythondir/
           mycode.py
           module1.py

mycode.py

import os
if __name__=='__main__':
    MYNAME='denny'
    if os.environ.get('MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION',True):
        from module1 import *
    print 'myname=',MYNAME

module1.py

MYNAME='damon'

I opened a terminal (in ubuntu) Just to check I ran

mypythondir$echo $MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION

Empty output..So,no variable set yet. Without setting the env variable ,ran mycode.py from mypythondir

mypythondir$python mycode.py

mypythondir$myname= damon

I am confused,why is the value 'damon'.It should be 'denny' since there is no MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION set ,and there is no key 'MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION' in os.environ.

Then I set

mypythondir$export MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION=False

Again I ran the code and even now the result is the same..but this time the key MYPROJECT_PRODUCTION is in os.environ

What is happening here ? Can someone please help me figure this out?

Answer 1

Your default value is True . And any non-empty value, including the string "False" , is true. Change the default value to something false, or omit it entirely.

Answer 2

os.environ is just a mapping object. Did you try simply os.getenv()? See this link: http://docs.python.org/2/library/os.html#process-parameters