feat/batch creation

changes/2665.feature.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Adds functions for concurrently creating multiple arrays and groups.

docs/quickstart.rst

@@ -119,6 +119,28 @@ Zarr allows you to create hierarchical groups, similar to directories::
 
 This creates a group with two datasets: ``foo`` and ``bar``.
 
+Batch Hierarchy Creation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Zarr provides tools for creating a collection of arrays and groups with a single function call.
+Suppose we want to copy existing groups and arrays into a new storage backend:
+
+    >>> # Create nested groups and add arrays
+    >>> root = zarr.group("data/example-3.zarr", attributes={'name': 'root'})
+    >>> foo = root.create_group(name="foo")
+    >>> bar = root.create_array(
+    ...     name="bar", shape=(100, 10), chunks=(10, 10), dtype="f4"
+    ... )
+    >>> nodes = {'': root.metadata} | {k: v.metadata for k,v in root.members()}
+    >>> print(nodes)
+    >>> from zarr.storage import MemoryStore
+    >>> new_nodes = dict(zarr.create_hierarchy(store=MemoryStore(), nodes=nodes))
+    >>> new_root = new_nodes['']
+    >>> assert new_root.attrs == root.attrs
+
+Note that :func:`zarr.create_hierarchy` will only initialize arrays and groups -- copying array data must
+be done in a separate step.
+
 Persistent Storage
 ------------------
 

docs/user-guide/groups.rst

@@ -75,6 +75,31 @@ For more information on groups see the :class:`zarr.Group` API docs.
 
 .. _user-guide-diagnostics:
 
+Batch Group Creation
+--------------------
+
+You can also create multiple groups concurrently with a single function call. :func:`zarr.create_hierarchy` takes
+a :class:`zarr.storage.Store` instance and a dict of ``key : metadata`` pairs, parses that dict, and
+writes metadata documents to storage:
+
+   >>> from zarr import create_hierarchy
+   >>> from zarr.core.group import GroupMetadata
+   >>> from zarr.storage import LocalStore
+   >>> node_spec = {'a/b/c': GroupMetadata()}
+   >>> nodes_created = dict(create_hierarchy(store=LocalStore(root='data'), nodes=node_spec))
+   >>> print(sorted(nodes_created.items(), key=lambda kv: len(kv[0])))
+   [('', <Group file://data>), ('a', <Group file://data/a>), ('a/b', <Group file://data/a/b>), ('a/b/c', <Group file://data/a/b/c>)]
+
+Note that we only specified a single group named ``a/b/c``, but 4 groups were created. These additional groups
+were created to ensure that the desired node ``a/b/c`` is connected to the root group ``''`` by a sequence
+of intermediate groups. :func:`zarr.create_hierarchy` normalizes the ``nodes`` keyword argument to
+ensure that the resulting hierarchy is complete, i.e. all groups or arrays are connected to the root
+of the hierarchy via intermediate groups.
+
+Because :func:`zarr.create_hierarchy` concurrently creates metadata documents, it's more efficient
+than repeated calls to :func:`create_group` or :func:`create_array`, provided you can statically define
+the metadata for the groups and arrays you want to create.
+
 Array and group diagnostics
 ---------------------------
 

src/zarr/__init__.py

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
     create,
     create_array,
     create_group,
+    create_hierarchy,
     empty,
     empty_like,
     full,
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@
     "create",
     "create_array",
     "create_group",
+    "create_hierarchy",
     "empty",
     "empty_like",
     "full",

src/zarr/api/asynchronous.py

@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@
     _warn_write_empty_chunks_kwarg,
     parse_dtype,
 )
-from zarr.core.group import AsyncGroup, ConsolidatedMetadata, GroupMetadata
+from zarr.core.group import (
+    AsyncGroup,
+    ConsolidatedMetadata,
+    GroupMetadata,
+    create_hierarchy,
+)
 from zarr.core.metadata import ArrayMetadataDict, ArrayV2Metadata, ArrayV3Metadata
 from zarr.core.metadata.v2 import _default_compressor, _default_filters
 from zarr.errors import NodeTypeValidationError
@@ -48,6 +53,7 @@
     "copy_store",
     "create",
     "create_array",
+    "create_hierarchy",
     "empty",
     "empty_like",
     "full",

src/zarr/api/synchronous.py

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from zarr.core.array import Array, AsyncArray
 from zarr.core.group import Group
 from zarr.core.sync import sync
+from zarr.core.sync_group import create_hierarchy
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Iterable
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@
     "copy_store",
     "create",
     "create_array",
+    "create_hierarchy",
     "empty",
     "empty_like",
     "full",