Elegant way to handle two options, when both is also an option

Question

In the simplest case, I have some code where the user may want to do one thing (a), another thing, (b), or both (a+b).

The options are reasonably complex and have their own functions, but I would like an elegant way of executing one, the other, or multiple.

I want to consider the types of the choices supplied, as I think this could add unnecessary complexity when expanding to more options.

Dictionaries:

def execute(choices: List[str]):
    options = {'a', a, 'b': b}

    for choice in choices:
        options[choice]()

# could also be empty, or contain only 'a' or 'b':
choices = ['a', 'b']
execute(choices)

Enums:

class Choice(Enum):
    A = auto()
    B = auto()
    BOTH = auto()

def execute(choice: Choice):
    if choice.name == 'A':
        a()
    elif choice.name == 'B':
        b()
    elif choice.name == 'BOTH':
        a()
        b()

Keyword argument options:

def execute(*, a=False, b=False):
    if a:
        a()
    if b:
        b()

Combining dicts and enums:

class Choice(Enum):
    A = auto()
    B = auto()

def execute(choices: List[Choice]):
    options = {
        'A': a,
        'B': b,
    }

    for choice in choices:
        options[choice.name]()

I think the last option will scale the best. Short of supplying a config file, am I missing something? I can use Python 3.10 so perhaps match case could be of use.

Are there considerations to be made for extended cases e.g. "cannot perform option C when performing option A", perhaps an option validation function as well?

Please consider typing and scalability.

Answer 1

Sounds like a Flag is what you want:

from enum import Flag

class Choice(Flag):
    #
    A = auto()
    B = auto()
    C = auto()
    #
    def is_valid(self):
        if Choice.A in self and Choice.C in self:
            return False
        return True

def execute(choices):
    #
    options = {
            Choice.A: do_a,
            Choice.B: do_b,
            }
    #
    if not choices.is_valid():
        raise Exception(f'Invalid choice: {choices}')
    #
    for choice in choices:
        options[choice]()

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Disclosure: I am the author of the Python stdlib Enum, the enum34 backport, and the Advanced Enumeration (aenum) library.