From 91aea062c75d5df947d5b1e0c25dacb48696d724 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Benjamin Adams <benjamin.adams@tetratech.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2024 11:54:27 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Simplify tuple destructuring in output routine

---
 compliance_checker/runner.py | 16 +++-------------
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/compliance_checker/runner.py b/compliance_checker/runner.py
index 536888f5..ffbdeaa1 100644
--- a/compliance_checker/runner.py
+++ b/compliance_checker/runner.py
@@ -148,22 +148,12 @@ def stdout_output(cls, cs, score_dict, verbose, limit):
         """
 
         for ds, score_groups in score_dict.items():
-            for checker, rpair in score_groups.items():
-                groups, errors = rpair
+            for checker, (groups, errors) in score_groups.items():
                 score_list, points, out_of = cs.standard_output(
-                    ds,
-                    limit,
-                    checker,
-                    groups,
-                )
+                    ds, limit, checker, groups)
                 # send list of grouped result objects to stdout & reasoning_routine
                 cs.standard_output_generation(
-                    groups,
-                    limit,
-                    points,
-                    out_of,
-                    check=checker,
-                )
+                    groups, limit, points, out_of, check=checker)
         return groups
 
     @classmethod

From a234b4c04becc4d3e4772d6d90375345b703c5d8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Benjamin Adams <benjamin.adams@tetratech.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2024 12:28:44 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Group search traversal routines

---
 compliance_checker/cf/util.py | 59 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 58 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/compliance_checker/cf/util.py b/compliance_checker/cf/util.py
index 67cba708..a2150f25 100644
--- a/compliance_checker/cf/util.py
+++ b/compliance_checker/cf/util.py
@@ -4,10 +4,15 @@
 from importlib.resources import files
 from pkgutil import get_data
 
+from functools import lru_cache
 import requests
 from cf_units import Unit
 from lxml import etree
-from netCDF4 import Dataset
+from netCDF4 import Variable, Dimension, Dataset, Group
+
+import posixpath
+
+from typing import Tuple, Union
 
 from compliance_checker.cfutil import units_convertible
 
@@ -405,6 +410,58 @@ def string_from_var_type(variable):
         )
 
 
+def get_possible_label_variable_dimensions(variable: Variable) -> Tuple[int, ...]:
+    """
+    Return dimensions if non-char variable, or return variable dimensions
+    without trailing dimension if char variable, treating it as a label variable.
+    """
+    if variable.kind == "C" and len(variable.dimensions) > 0:
+        return variable.dimensions[:-1]
+    return variable.dimensions
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def maybe_lateral_reference_variable_or_dimension(group: Union[Group, Dataset],
+                                                  name: str,
+                                                  reference_type: Union[Variable, Dimension]):
+
+    def can_lateral_search(name):
+        return (not name.startswith(".") and posixpath.split(name)[0] == "")
+
+    if reference_type == "variable":
+        # first try to fetch any
+        # can't set to None with .get
+        try:
+            maybe_var = group[name]
+        except IndexError:
+            maybe_var = None
+        else:
+            if isinstance(maybe_var, Variable):
+                return maybe_var
+
+        # alphanumeric string by itself, not a relative or absolute
+        # search by proximity
+        if (posixpath.split(name)[0] == "" and
+            not (name.startswith(".") or name.startswith("/"))):
+            group_traverse = group
+            while group_traverse.parent:
+                group_traverse = group_traverse.parent
+                check_target = posixpath.join(group_traverse.path, name)
+                try:
+                    maybe_var = group_traverse[name]
+                except IndexError:
+                    maybe_var = None
+                else:
+                    if isinstance(maybe_var, Variable):
+                        return maybe_var
+        else:
+            return VariableReferenceError(name)
+
+            # can't find path relative to current group or absolute path
+            # perform lateral search if we aren't in the root group
+
+
+
 def reference_attr_variables(
     dataset: Dataset,
     attributes_string: str,