use __contains__, index or split instead of str.find str.find return -1 when the substring is not found, -1 evaluate to True and is a valid index, which can lead to bugs. Using alternatives when possible makes the code clearer and less prone to bugs. (and __contains__ is faster in microbenchmarks)

changeset = '{rev}{tags}{parents}   {node|short}   {date|isodate}   {author|user}\n  {desc|firstline|strip}\n\n'
changeset_quiet = '{rev}:{node|short}\n'
start_tags = '['
tag = '{tag},'
last_tag = '{tag}]'
start_parents = ':'
parent = '{rev},'
last_parent = '{rev}'