makoinline.py

import re
from mako.template import Template

source = '''pre %{for i in range(10)}
    ${- i -}
    %{- if i % 2 -}
        -
    %{- else -}
        |
    %{- endif -}
%{- endfor} post'''

def _inline_callback(m):
    statement = m.group(1).strip()
    return '\\\n%% %s%s\n' % (statement, '' if statement.startswith('end') else ':')

_inline_re = re.compile(r'%{([^}]+)}')

def inline_control_statements(source):
    return _inline_re.sub(_inline_callback, source)

_post_white_re = re.compile(r'([$%]){(.*?)-}\s*')
_pre_white_re = re.compile(r'\s*([$%]){-(.*?)}')
def whitespace_control(source):
    source = _post_white_re.sub(r'\1{\2}', source)
    return _pre_white_re.sub(r'\1{\2}', source)

# Make sure to apply the whitespace control before the inline control statments.
template = Template(source, preprocessor=lambda x: inline_control_statements(whitespace_control(x)))
print template.code
print template.render_unicode()