python-couchdb: How to check if database already exists
Question: I am writing a small Python program that loads some documents into couchdb. It
would be very convenient to check whether a database with a certain name
already exists, so I can either create a new one or open the existing one.
What I want to do is something like this:

    
    
    import couchdb
    
    def connect(url, dbName):
        server = couchdb.Server(url)
        if dbName exists: # how do I do this?
            return server[dbName]
        else:
            return server.create(dbName)
    

I know a try-except block would do the trick, but isn't there a more elegant
way?


Answer: The easiest way I can think is:

    
    
    import couchdb
    server = couchdb.Server("http://localhost:5984")
    "dataBaseName" in server
    

Return `True` if a database with the name exists, `False` otherwise

<https://github.com/djc/couchdb-python/blob/master/couchdb/client.py#L88-L99>

