stupid python thing

string_matcher.py

from collections import defaultdict

def preprocess_word_list(words):
  postings_list = defaultdict(list)

  for word in words:
    for index, char in enumerate(word):
      postings_list[(char, index)].append(word)
      postings_list[('.', index)].append(word)

  return postings_list

def find_matching_words(word_list, format_string):
  matching_words = None

  for index, char in enumerate(format_string):
    if not matching_words:
      matching_words = set(word_list[(char, index)])

    else:
      matching_words &= set(word_list[(char, index)])

  return filter(lambda word: len(word) == len(format_string), list(matching_words))

def run_test_cases():
  words = ['whit', 'what', 'whit', 'well', 'white']
  preprocessed_word_list = preprocess_word_list(words)

  format_strings = ['wh.t', '.h..', 'w...', '.', '....']
  for format_string in format_strings:
    print "For format string:", format_string
    print "And input words:", words
    print "The matching strings are: ", find_matching_words(preprocessed_word_list, format_string)
    print "\n"

run_test_cases()