--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/numerics/check.py	Thu Sep 11 15:31:04 2014 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+"""
+data integrity checking
+"""
+
+# imports
+import argparse
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+# module globals
+__all__ = ['main', 'CheckParser']
+string = (str, unicode)
+
+class NumberOfColumnsException(Exception):
+    """wrong number of columns"""
+
+def check_column_lengths(*rows):
+    """ensure all column lengths are the same and return number"""
+    lengths = set([len(row) for row in rows])
+    if len(lengths) > 1:
+        raise NumberOfColumnsException("Multiple numbers of columns: {}".format(', '.join(lengths)))
+    return lengths.pop()
+
+
+class CheckParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
+    """CLI option parser"""
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        kwargs.setdefault('description', __doc__)
+        argparse.ArgumentParser.__init__(self, **kwargs)
+        self.options = None
+
+    def parse_args(self, *args, **kw):
+        options = argparse.ArgumentParser.parse_args(self, *args, **kw)
+        self.validate(options)
+        self.options = options
+        return options
+
+    def validate(self, options):
+        """validate options"""
+
+def main(args=sys.argv[1:]):
+    """CLI"""
+
+    # parse command line options
+    parser = Parser()
+    options = parser.parse_args(args)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
+