utils

Provide a number of helper functions.

Validate inputs

is_home_connectable()	Check whether the Railway Codes website is connectable.
is_str_float(x)	Check if a string-type variable can express a float-type value.
validate_initial(x[, as_is])	Get a valid initial letter as an input.
validate_page_name(cls, page_no, valid_page_no)	Get a valid page name.
collect_in_fetch_verbose(data_dir, verbose)	Create a new parameter that indicates whether to print relevant information in console (used only if it is necessary to re-collect data when trying to fetch the data).
fetch_all_verbose(data_dir, verbose)	Create a new parameter that indicates whether to print relevant information in console (used only when trying to fetch all data of a cluster).

Print messages

confirm_msg(data_name)	Create a confirmation message (for data collection).
print_collect_msg(data_name, verbose, ...[, end])	Print a message about the status of collecting data.
print_conn_err([verbose])	Print a message about unsuccessful attempts to establish a connection to the Internet.
format_err_msg(e)	Format an error message.
print_inst_conn_err([update, verbose, e])	Print a message about unsuccessful attempts to establish a connection to the Internet (for an instance of a class).
print_void_msg(data_name, verbose)	Print a message about the status of collecting data (only when the data collection process fails).

Save and retrieve pre-packed data

init_data_dir(cls_instance, data_dir, category)	Specify an initial data directory for (an instance of) a class for a data cluster.
make_file_pathname(cls, data_name[, ext, ...])	Make a pathname for saving data as a file of a certain format.
fetch_location_names_errata([k, regex, ...])	Create a dictionary for rectifying location names.
save_data_to_file(cls, data, data_name, ext)	Save the collected data as a file, depending on the given parameters.
fetch_data_from_file(cls, method, data_name, ...)	Fetch/load desired data from a backup file, depending on the given parameters.