Make __getitem__ an alias for distinct(). Fixes #87.

dataset/persistence/table.py

@@ -374,12 +374,15 @@ class Table(object):
         return ResultIter((self.database.executable.execute(q) for q in queries))
 
     def count(self, **_filter):
-        """ Return the count of results for the given filter set (same filter
-        options as with ``find()``). """
+        """
+        Return the count of results for the given filter set (same filter options as with ``find()``).
+        """
         return self.find(return_count=True, **_filter)
 
     def __len__(self):
-        """ Returns the number of rows in the table. """
+        """
+        Returns the number of rows in the table.
+        """
         return self.count()
 
     def distinct(self, *columns, **_filter):
@@ -409,6 +412,17 @@ class Table(object):
                               order_by=[c.asc() for c in columns])
         return self.database.query(q)
 
+    def __getitem__(self, item):
+        """ This is an alias for distinct which allows the table to be queried as using 
+        square bracket syntax.
+        ::
+            # Same as distinct:
+            print list(table['year'])
+        """
+        if not isinstance(item, tuple):
+            item = item,
+        return self.distinct(*item)
+
     def all(self):
         """
         Returns all rows of the table as simple dictionaries. This is simply a shortcut

test/test_persistence.py

@@ -261,6 +261,14 @@ class TableTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         x = list(self.tbl.distinct('place', 'date'))
         assert len(x) == 6, x
 
+    def test_get_items(self):
+        x = list(self.tbl['place'])
+        y = list(self.tbl.distinct('place'))
+        assert x == y, (x, y)
+        x = list(self.tbl['place', 'date'])
+        y = list(self.tbl.distinct('place', 'date'))
+        assert x == y, (x, y)
+
     def test_insert_many(self):
         data = TEST_DATA * 100
         self.tbl.insert_many(data, chunk_size=13)