SignalBoxes.collect_prefix_codes¶

SignalBoxes.collect_prefix_codes(initial, update=False, verbose=False)[source]¶

Collects signal box prefix codes starting with a given initial letter from the source web page.

Parameters:

initial (str) – The initial letter (e.g. 'a', 'z') of signal box prefix code.
update (bool) – Whether to check for updates to the package data; defaults to False.
verbose (bool | int) – Whether to print relevant information to the console; defaults to True.

Returns:

A dictionary containing data of signal box prefix codes whose initial letters are the specified initial and the date of when the data was last updated.

Return type:

dict

Examples:

>>> from pyrcs.other_assets import SignalBoxes  # from pyrcs import SignalBoxes
>>> sb = SignalBoxes()
>>> sb_a_codes = sb.collect_prefix_codes(initial='a')
>>> type(sb_a_codes)
dict
>>> list(sb_a_codes.keys())
['A', 'Last updated date']
>>> sb_a_codes_dat = sb_a_codes['A']
>>> type(sb_a_codes_dat)
pandas.core.frame.DataFrame
>>> sb_a_codes_dat.head()
  Code               Signal Box  ...            Closed        Control to
0   AF  Abbey Foregate Junction  ...
1   AJ           Abbey Junction  ...  16 February 1992     Nuneaton (NN)
2    R           Abbey Junction  ...  16 February 1992     Nuneaton (NN)
3   AW               Abbey Wood  ...      13 July 1975      Dartford (D)
4   AE         Abbey Works East  ...   1 November 1987  Port Talbot (PT)
[5 rows x 8 columns]