Support copy.replace() on AST nodes

[JelleZijlstra]

Feature or enhancement

Proposal:

I want this to work:

>>> n=ast.Name(id="x")
>>> copy.replace(n, id="y")
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<python-input-4>", line 1, in <module>
    copy.replace(n, id="y")
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/jelle/py/cpython/Lib/copy.py", line 293, in replace
    raise TypeError(f"replace() does not support {cls.__name__} objects")
TypeError: replace() does not support Name objects

Has this already been discussed elsewhere?

This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere

Links to previous discussion of this feature:

No response

Linked PRs

• gh-121141: add support for copy.replace to AST nodes #121162

[JelleZijlstra]

I plan to work on this at some point, but if someone else is interested in it earlier, feel free to pick it up.

This could just possibly still go in 3.13, as copy.replace is new in 3.13.

[picnixz]

I am interested in this one but not today (it's midnight now). However, when do you want this feature to be ready? (if you can give me an ETA, I can tell you if I have enough time)

[JelleZijlstra]

I don't have a specific timeframe in mind except that I'd like it at least in 3.14, which gives us a little less than a year of leeway.

For 3.13, @Yhg1s (as release manager) and @serhiy-storchaka (as author of copy.replace) what do you think of adding this feature? It's late but it would be nice for copy.replace to be usable with more of the standard library.

[picnixz]

which gives us a little less than a year of leeway.

I was more worried of whether you wanted it by the end of the week or the next week... One year or less if more than enough for me I think (if the feature is to be included).

[serhiy-storchaka]

I think that this would be useful.

[picnixz]

I'll work on that one after my thesis defense (next week). @JelleZijlstra would you like to assign the task to me please?

EDIT: Thank you Nikita!
EDIT 2: well I managed to do it today.

[JelleZijlstra]

The implementation ended up pretty complicated, let's keep it for 3.14 only.

Thanks @picnixz!