implement recursive config overrides

jrnl/args.py

@@ -330,11 +330,11 @@ def parse_args(args=[]):
         help="""
         Override configured key-value pairs with CONFIG_KV_PAIR for this command invocation only. 
 
-        Examples: 
+        Examples: \n
-        - Use a different editor for this jrnl entry, call: 
+        \t - Use a different editor for this jrnl entry, call: \n
-            jrnl --config-override '{"editor": "nano"}' 
+            \t jrnl --config-override '{"editor": "nano"}' \n
-        - Override color selections
+        \t - Override color selections\n
-            jrnl --config-override '{"colors.body":"blue", "colors.title": "green"}
+           \t jrnl --config-override '{"colors.body":"blue", "colors.title": "green"}
         """,
     )
 

jrnl/override.py

@@ -1,8 +1,25 @@
-import logging 
+# import logging 
 def apply_overrides(overrides: dict, base_config: dict) -> dict:
     config = base_config.copy() 
-    for k in overrides:
+    for k in overrides: 
-        logging.debug("Overriding %s from %s to %s" % (k, config[k], overrides[k]))
+        nodes = k.split('.') 
-        config[k] = overrides[k]
+        config = recursively_apply(config, nodes, overrides[k]) 
+    return config 
 
+
+def recursively_apply(config: dict, nodes: list, override_value) -> dict:
+    """Recurse through configuration and apply overrides at the leaf of the config tree 
+    
+    See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47276490 for algorithm
+
+    Args:
+        config (dict): loaded configuration from YAML
+        nodes (list): vector of override keys; the length of the vector indicates tree depth 
+        override_value (str): runtime override passed from the command-line
+    """
+    key = nodes[0] 
+    config[key] = override_value \
+        if len(nodes) == 1 \
+        else \
+        recursively_apply(config[key] if key in config else {}, nodes[1:], override_value)
     return config