Python Library Reference

Previous: Front Matter Up: Python Library Reference Next: 1. Introduction

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Contents

• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Built-in Types, Exceptions and Functions
  • 2.1 Built-in Types
    • 2.1.1 Truth Value Testing
    • 2.1.2 Boolean Operations
    • 2.1.3 Comparisons
    • 2.1.4 Numeric Types
    • 2.1.5 Sequence Types
    • 2.1.6 Mapping Types
    • 2.1.7 Other Built-in Types
    • 2.1.8 Special Attributes
  • 2.2 Built-in Exceptions
  • 2.3 Built-in Functions
  
  
• 3. Python Runtime Services
  • 3.1 sys -- System-specific parameters and functions
  • 3.2 gc -- Garbage Collector interface
  • 3.3 weakref -- Weak references
    • 3.3.1 Weak Reference Objects
    • 3.3.2 Example
    • 3.3.3 Weak References in Extension Types
  • 3.4 fpectl -- Floating point exception control
    • 3.4.1 Example
    • 3.4.2 Limitations and other considerations
  • 3.5 atexit -- Exit handlers
    • 3.5.1 atexit Example
  • 3.6 types -- Names for all built-in types
  • 3.7 UserDict -- Class wrapper for dictionary objects
  • 3.8 UserList -- Class wrapper for list objects
  • 3.9 UserString -- Class wrapper for string objects
  • 3.10 operator -- Standard operators as functions.
    • 3.10.1 Mapping Operators to Functions
  • 3.11 inspect -- Inspect live objects
    • 3.11.1 Types and members
    • 3.11.2 Retrieving source code
    • 3.11.3 Classes and functions
    • 3.11.4 The interpreter stack
  • 3.12 traceback -- Print or retrieve a stack traceback
    • 3.12.1 Traceback Example
  • 3.13 linecache -- Random access to text lines
  • 3.14 pickle -- Python object serialization
    • 3.14.1 Example
  • 3.15 cPickle -- Alternate implementation of pickle
  • 3.16 copy_reg -- Register pickle support functions
  • 3.17 shelve -- Python object persistence
  • 3.18 copy -- Shallow and deep copy operations
  • 3.19 marshal -- Alternate Python object serialization
  • 3.20 warnings -- Warning control
    • 3.20.1 Warning Categories
    • 3.20.2 The Warnings Filter
    • 3.20.3 Available Functions
  • 3.21 imp -- Access the import internals
    • 3.21.1 Examples
  • 3.22 code -- Interpreter base classes
    • 3.22.1 Interactive Interpreter Objects
    • 3.22.2 Interactive Console Objects
  • 3.23 codeop -- Compile Python code
  • 3.24 pprint -- Data pretty printer
    • 3.24.1 PrettyPrinter Objects
  • 3.25 repr -- Alternate repr() implementation
    • 3.25.1 Repr Objects
    • 3.25.2 Subclassing Repr Objects
  • 3.26 new -- Creation of runtime internal objects
  • 3.27 site -- Site-specific configuration hook
  • 3.28 user -- User-specific configuration hook
  • 3.29 __builtin__ -- Built-in functions
  • 3.30 __main__ -- Top-level script environment
  
  
• 4. String Services
  • 4.1 string -- Common string operations
  • 4.2 re -- Regular expression operations
    • 4.2.1 Regular Expression Syntax
    • 4.2.2 Matching vs. Searching
    • 4.2.3 Module Contents
    • 4.2.4 Regular Expression Objects
    • 4.2.5 Match Objects
  • 4.3 struct -- Interpret strings as packed binary data
  • 4.4 difflib -- Helpers for computing deltas
    • 4.4.1 SequenceMatcher Objects
    • 4.4.2 Examples
  • 4.5 fpformat -- Floating point conversions
  • 4.6 StringIO -- Read and write strings as files
  • 4.7 cStringIO -- Faster version of StringIO
  • 4.8 codecs -- Codec registry and base classes
    • 4.8.1 Codec Base Classes
  • 4.9 unicodedata -- Unicode Database
  
  
• 5. Miscellaneous Services
  • 5.1 doctest -- Test docstrings represent reality
    • 5.1.1 Normal Usage
    • 5.1.2 Which Docstrings Are Examined?
    • 5.1.3 What's the Execution Context?
    • 5.1.4 What About Exceptions?
    • 5.1.5 Advanced Usage
    • 5.1.6 How are Docstring Examples Recognized?
    • 5.1.7 Warnings
    • 5.1.8 Soapbox
  • 5.2 unittest -- Unit testing framework
    • 5.2.1 Organizing test code
    • 5.2.2 Re-using old test code
    • 5.2.3 Classes and functions
    • 5.2.4 TestCase Objects
    • 5.2.5 TestSuite Objects
    • 5.2.6 TestResult Objects
    • 5.2.7 TestLoader Objects
  • 5.3 math -- Mathematical functions
  • 5.4 cmath -- Mathematical functions for complex numbers
  • 5.5 random -- Generate pseudo-random numbers
  • 5.6 whrandom -- Pseudo-random number generator
  • 5.7 bisect -- Array bisection algorithm
    • 5.7.1 Example
  • 5.8 array -- Efficient arrays of numeric values
  • 5.9 ConfigParser -- Configuration file parser
    • 5.9.1 ConfigParser Objects
  • 5.10 fileinput -- Iterate over lines from multiple input streams
  • 5.11 xreadlines -- Efficient iteration over a file
  • 5.12 calendar -- General calendar-related functions
  • 5.13 cmd -- Support for line-oriented command interpreters
    • 5.13.1 Cmd Objects
  • 5.14 shlex -- Simple lexical analysis
    • 5.14.1 shlex Objects
  
  
• 6. Generic Operating System Services
  • 6.1 os -- Miscellaneous OS interfaces
    • 6.1.1 Process Parameters
    • 6.1.2 File Object Creation
    • 6.1.3 File Descriptor Operations
    • 6.1.4 Files and Directories
    • 6.1.5 Process Management
    • 6.1.6 Miscellaneous System Information
  • 6.2 os.path -- Common pathname manipulations
  • 6.3 dircache -- Cached directory listings
  • 6.4 stat -- Interpreting stat() results
  • 6.5 statcache -- An optimization of os.stat()
  • 6.6 statvfs -- Constants used with os.statvfs()
  • 6.7 filecmp -- File and Directory Comparisons
    • 6.7.1 The dircmp class
  • 6.8 popen2 -- Subprocesses with accessible I/O streams
    • 6.8.1 Popen3 and Popen4 Objects
  • 6.9 time -- Time access and conversions
  • 6.10 sched -- Event scheduler
    • 6.10.1 Scheduler Objects
  • 6.11 mutex -- Mutual exclusion support
    • 6.11.1 Mutex Objects
  • 6.12 getpass -- Portable password input
  • 6.13 curses -- Terminal handling for character-cell displays
    • 6.13.1 Functions
    • 6.13.2 Window Objects
    • 6.13.3 Constants
  • 6.14 curses.textpad -- Text input widget for curses programs
    • 6.14.1 Textbox objects
  • 6.15 curses.wrapper -- Terminal handler for curses programs
  • 6.16 curses.ascii -- Utilities for ASCII characters
  • 6.17 curses.panel -- A panel stack extension for curses.
    • 6.17.1 Functions
    • 6.17.2 Panel Objects
  • 6.18 getopt -- Parser for command line options
  • 6.19 tempfile -- Generate temporary file names
  • 6.20 errno -- Standard errno system symbols
  • 6.21 glob -- Unix style pathname pattern expansion
  • 6.22 fnmatch -- Unix filename pattern matching
  • 6.23 shutil -- High-level file operations
    • 6.23.1 Example
  • 6.24 locale -- Internationalization services
    • 6.24.1 Background, details, hints, tips and caveats
    • 6.24.2 For extension writers and programs that embed Python
  • 6.25 gettext -- Multilingual internationalization services
    • 6.25.1 GNU gettext API
    • 6.25.2 Class-based API
    • 6.25.3 Internationalizing your programs and modules
    • 6.25.4 Acknowledgements
  
  
• 7. Optional Operating System Services
  • 7.1 signal -- Set handlers for asynchronous events
    • 7.1.1 Example
  • 7.2 socket -- Low-level networking interface
    • 7.2.1 Socket Objects
    • 7.2.2 Example
  • 7.3 select -- Waiting for I/O completion
    • 7.3.1 Polling Objects
  • 7.4 thread -- Multiple threads of control
  • 7.5 threading -- Higher-level threading interface
    • 7.5.1 Lock Objects
    • 7.5.2 RLock Objects
    • 7.5.3 Condition Objects
    • 7.5.4 Semaphore Objects
    • 7.5.5 Event Objects
    • 7.5.6 Thread Objects
  • 7.6 Queue -- A synchronized queue class
    • 7.6.1 Queue Objects
  • 7.7 mmap -- Memory-mapped file support
  • 7.8 anydbm -- Generic access to DBM-style databases
  • 7.9 dumbdbm -- Portable DBM implementation
  • 7.10 dbhash -- DBM-style interface to the BSD database library
    • 7.10.1 Database Objects
  • 7.11 whichdb -- Guess which DBM module created a database
  • 7.12 bsddb -- Interface to Berkeley DB library
    • 7.12.1 Hash, BTree and Record Objects
  • 7.13 zlib -- Compression compatible with gzip
  • 7.14 gzip -- Support for gzip files
  • 7.15 zipfile -- Work with ZIP archives
    • 7.15.1 ZipFile Objects
    • 7.15.2 PyZipFile Objects
    • 7.15.3 ZipInfo Objects
  • 7.16 readline -- GNU readline interface
    • 7.16.1 Example
  • 7.17 rlcompleter -- Completion function for GNU readline
    • 7.17.1 Completer Objects
  
  
• 8. Unix Specific Services
  • 8.1 posix -- The most common POSIX system calls
    • 8.1.1 Large File Support
    • 8.1.2 Module Contents
  • 8.2 pwd -- The password database
  • 8.3 grp -- The group database
  • 8.4 crypt -- Function to check Unix passwords
  • 8.5 dl -- Call C functions in shared objects
    • 8.5.1 Dl Objects
  • 8.6 dbm -- Simple ``database'' interface
  • 8.7 gdbm -- GNU's reinterpretation of dbm
  • 8.8 termios -- POSIX style tty control
    • 8.8.1 Example
  • 8.9 TERMIOS -- Constants used with the termios module
  • 8.10 tty -- Terminal control functions
  • 8.11 pty -- Pseudo-terminal utilities
  • 8.12 fcntl -- The fcntl() and ioctl() system calls
  • 8.13 pipes -- Interface to shell pipelines
    • 8.13.1 Template Objects
  • 8.14 posixfile -- File-like objects with locking support
  • 8.15 resource -- Resource usage information
    • 8.15.1 Resource Limits
    • 8.15.2 Resource Usage
  • 8.16 nis -- Interface to Sun's NIS (Yellow Pages)
  • 8.17 syslog -- Unix syslog library routines
  • 8.18 commands -- Utilities for running commands
  
  
• 9. The Python Debugger
  • 9.1 Debugger Commands
  • 9.2 How It Works
  
  
• 10. The Python Profiler
  • 10.1 Introduction to the profiler
  • 10.2 How Is This Profiler Different From The Old Profiler?
  • 10.3 Instant Users Manual
  • 10.4 What Is Deterministic Profiling?
  • 10.5 Reference Manual
    • 10.5.1 The Stats Class
  • 10.6 Limitations
  • 10.7 Calibration
  • 10.8 Extensions -- Deriving Better Profilers
    • 10.8.1 OldProfile Class
    • 10.8.2 HotProfile Class
  
  
• 11. Internet Protocols and Support
  • 11.1 webbrowser -- Convenient Web-browser controller
    • 11.1.1 Browser Controller Objects
  • 11.2 cgi -- Common Gateway Interface support.
    • 11.2.1 Introduction
    • 11.2.2 Using the cgi module
    • 11.2.3 Old classes
    • 11.2.4 Functions
    • 11.2.5 Caring about security
    • 11.2.6 Installing your CGI script on a Unix system
    • 11.2.7 Testing your CGI script
    • 11.2.8 Debugging CGI scripts
    • 11.2.9 Common problems and solutions
  • 11.3 urllib -- Open arbitrary resources by URL
    • 11.3.1 URLopener Objects
    • 11.3.2 Examples
  • 11.4 urllib2 -- extensible library for opening URLs
    • 11.4.1 Request Objects
    • 11.4.2 OpenerDirector Objects
    • 11.4.3 BaseHandler Objects
    • 11.4.4 HTTPRedirectHandler Objects
    • 11.4.5 ProxyHandler Objects
    • 11.4.6 HTTPPasswordMgr Objects
    • 11.4.7 AbstractBasicAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.8 HTTPBasicAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.9 ProxyBasicAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.10 AbstractDigestAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.11 HTTPDigestAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.12 ProxyDigestAuthHandler Objects
    • 11.4.13 HTTPHandler Objects
    • 11.4.14 HTTPSHandler Objects
    • 11.4.15 FileHandler Objects
    • 11.4.16 FTPHandler Objects
    • 11.4.17 CacheFTPHandler Objects
    • 11.4.18 GopherHandler Objects
    • 11.4.19 UnknownHandler Objects
  • 11.5 httplib -- HTTP protocol client
    • 11.5.1 HTTP Objects
    • 11.5.2 Examples
  • 11.6 ftplib -- FTP protocol client
    • 11.6.1 FTP Objects
  • 11.7 gopherlib -- Gopher protocol client
  • 11.8 poplib -- POP3 protocol client
    • 11.8.1 POP3 Objects
    • 11.8.2 POP3 Example
  • 11.9 imaplib -- IMAP4 protocol client
    • 11.9.1 IMAP4 Objects
    • 11.9.2 IMAP4 Example
  • 11.10 nntplib -- NNTP protocol client
    • 11.10.1 NNTP Objects
  • 11.11 smtplib -- SMTP protocol client
    • 11.11.1 SMTP Objects
    • 11.11.2 SMTP Example
  • 11.12 telnetlib -- Telnet client
    • 11.12.1 Telnet Objects
    • 11.12.2 Telnet Example
  • 11.13 urlparse -- Parse URLs into components
  • 11.14 SocketServer -- A framework for network servers
  • 11.15 BaseHTTPServer -- Basic HTTP server
  • 11.16 SimpleHTTPServer -- Simple HTTP request handler
  • 11.17 CGIHTTPServer -- CGI-capable HTTP request handler
  • 11.18 Cookie -- HTTP state management
    • 11.18.1 Cookie Objects
    • 11.18.2 Morsel Objects
    • 11.18.3 Example
  • 11.19 asyncore -- Asynchronous socket handler
    • 11.19.1 Example basic HTTP client
  
  
• 12. Internet Data Handling
  • 12.1 formatter -- Generic output formatting
    • 12.1.1 The Formatter Interface
    • 12.1.2 Formatter Implementations
    • 12.1.3 The Writer Interface
    • 12.1.4 Writer Implementations
  • 12.2 rfc822 -- Parse RFC 822 mail headers
    • 12.2.1 Message Objects
    • 12.2.2 AddressList Objects
  • 12.3 mimetools -- Tools for parsing MIME messages
    • 12.3.1 Additional Methods of Message Objects
  • 12.4 MimeWriter -- Generic MIME file writer
    • 12.4.1 MimeWriter Objects
  • 12.5 multifile -- Support for files containing distinct parts
    • 12.5.1 MultiFile Objects
    • 12.5.2 MultiFile Example
  • 12.6 binhex -- Encode and decode binhex4 files
    • 12.6.1 Notes
  • 12.7 uu -- Encode and decode uuencode files
  • 12.8 binascii -- Convert between binary and ASCII
  • 12.9 xdrlib -- Encode and decode XDR data
    • 12.9.1 Packer Objects
    • 12.9.2 Unpacker Objects
    • 12.9.3 Exceptions
  • 12.10 mailcap -- Mailcap file handling.
  • 12.11 mimetypes -- Map filenames to MIME types
  • 12.12 base64 -- Encode and decode MIME base64 data
  • 12.13 quopri -- Encode and decode MIME quoted-printable data
  • 12.14 mailbox -- Read various mailbox formats
    • 12.14.1 Mailbox Objects
  • 12.15 mhlib -- Access to MH mailboxes
    • 12.15.1 MH Objects
    • 12.15.2 Folder Objects
    • 12.15.3 Message Objects
  • 12.16 mimify -- MIME processing of mail messages
  • 12.17 netrc -- netrc file processing
    • 12.17.1 netrc Objects
  • 12.18 robotparser -- Parser for robots.txt
  
  
• 13. Structured Markup Processing Tools
  • 13.1 sgmllib -- Simple SGML parser
  • 13.2 htmllib -- A parser for HTML documents
    • 13.2.1 HTMLParser Objects
  • 13.3 htmlentitydefs -- Definitions of HTML general entities
  • 13.4 xml.parsers.expat -- Fast XML parsing using Expat
    • 13.4.1 XMLParser Objects
    • 13.4.2 ExpatError Exceptions
    • 13.4.3 Example
    • 13.4.4 Content Model Descriptions
    • 13.4.5 Expat error constants
  • 13.5 xml.dom -- The Document Object Model API
    • 13.5.1 Module Contents
    • 13.5.2 Objects in the DOM
    • 13.5.3 Conformance
  • 13.6 xml.dom.minidom -- Lightweight DOM implementation
    • 13.6.1 DOM objects
    • 13.6.2 DOM Example
    • 13.6.3 minidom and the DOM standard
  • 13.7 xml.dom.pulldom -- Support for building partial DOM trees
    • 13.7.1 DOMEventStream Objects
  • 13.8 xml.sax -- Support for SAX2 parsers
    • 13.8.1 SAXException Objects
  • 13.9 xml.sax.handler -- Base classes for SAX handlers
    • 13.9.1 ContentHandler Objects
    • 13.9.2 DTDHandler Objects
    • 13.9.3 EntityResolver Objects
    • 13.9.4 ErrorHandler Objects
  • 13.10 xml.sax.saxutils -- SAX Utilities
  • 13.11 xml.sax.xmlreader -- Interface for XML parsers
    • 13.11.1 XMLReader Objects
    • 13.11.2 IncrementalParser Objects
    • 13.11.3 Locator Objects
    • 13.11.4 InputSource Objects
    • 13.11.5 AttributesImpl Objects
    • 13.11.6 AttributesNSImpl Objects
  • 13.12 xmllib -- A parser for XML documents
    • 13.12.1 XML Namespaces
  
  
• 14. Multimedia Services
  • 14.1 audioop -- Manipulate raw audio data
  • 14.2 imageop -- Manipulate raw image data
  • 14.3 aifc -- Read and write AIFF and AIFC files
  • 14.4 sunau -- Read and write Sun AU files
    • 14.4.1 AU_read Objects
    • 14.4.2 AU_write Objects
  • 14.5 wave -- Read and write WAV files
    • 14.5.1 Wave_read Objects
    • 14.5.2 Wave_write Objects
  • 14.6 chunk -- Read IFF chunked data
  • 14.7 colorsys -- Conversions between color systems
  • 14.8 rgbimg -- Read and write ``SGI RGB'' files
  • 14.9 imghdr -- Determine the type of an image
  • 14.10 sndhdr -- Determine type of sound file
  
  
• 15. Cryptographic Services
  • 15.1 md5 -- MD5 message digest algorithm
  • 15.2 sha -- SHA message digest algorithm
  • 15.3 mpz -- GNU arbitrary magnitude integers
  • 15.4 rotor -- Enigma-like encryption and decryption
  
  
• 16. Restricted Execution
  • 16.1 rexec -- Restricted execution framework
    • 16.1.1 RExec Objects
    • 16.1.2 Defining restricted environments
    • 16.1.3 An example
  • 16.2 Bastion -- Restricting access to objects
  
  
• 17. Python Language Services
  • 17.1 parser -- Access Python parse trees
    • 17.1.1 Creating AST Objects
    • 17.1.2 Converting AST Objects
    • 17.1.3 Queries on AST Objects
    • 17.1.4 Exceptions and Error Handling
    • 17.1.5 AST Objects
    • 17.1.6 Examples
  • 17.2 symbol -- Constants used with Python parse trees
  • 17.3 token -- Constants used with Python parse trees
  • 17.4 keyword -- Testing for Python keywords
  • 17.5 tokenize -- Tokenizer for Python source
  • 17.6 tabnanny -- Detection of ambiguous indentation
  • 17.7 pyclbr -- Python class browser support
    • 17.7.1 Class Descriptor Objects
  • 17.8 py_compile -- Compile Python source files
  • 17.9 compileall -- Byte-compile Python libraries
  • 17.10 dis -- Disassembler for Python byte code
    • 17.10.1 Python Byte Code Instructions
  
  
• 18. SGI IRIX Specific Services
  • 18.1 al -- Audio functions on the SGI
    • 18.1.1 Configuration Objects
    • 18.1.2 Port Objects
  • 18.2 AL -- Constants used with the al module
  • 18.3 cd -- CD-ROM access on SGI systems
    • 18.3.1 Player Objects
    • 18.3.2 Parser Objects
  • 18.4 fl -- FORMS library interface for GUI applications
    • 18.4.1 Functions Defined in Module fl
    • 18.4.2 Form Objects
    • 18.4.3 FORMS Objects
  • 18.5 FL -- Constants used with the fl module
  • 18.6 flp -- Functions for loading stored FORMS designs
  • 18.7 fm -- Font Manager interface
  • 18.8 gl -- Graphics Library interface
  • 18.9 DEVICE -- Constants used with the gl module
  • 18.10 GL -- Constants used with the gl module
  • 18.11 imgfile -- Support for SGI imglib files
  • 18.12 jpeg -- Read and write JPEG files
  
  
• 19. SunOS Specific Services
  • 19.1 sunaudiodev -- Access to Sun audio hardware
    • 19.1.1 Audio Device Objects
  • 19.2 SUNAUDIODEV -- Constants used with sunaudiodev
  
  
• 20. MS Windows Specific Services
  • 20.1 msvcrt - Useful routines from the MS VC++ runtime
    • 20.1.1 File Operations
    • 20.1.2 Console I/O
    • 20.1.3 Other Functions
  • 20.2 _winreg - Windows registry access
    • 20.2.1 Registry Handle Objects
  • 20.3 winsound -- Sound-playing interface for Windows
  
  
• A. Undocumented Modules
  • A.1 Frameworks
  • A.2 Miscellaneous useful utilities
  • A.3 Platform specific modules
  • A.4 Multimedia
  • A.5 Obsolete
  • A.6 SGI-specific Extension modules
  
  
• B. Reporting Bugs
• Module Index
• Index
• About this document ...

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Python Library Reference

Previous: Front Matter Up: Python Library Reference Next: 1. Introduction

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Release 2.1.3, documentation updated on April 8, 2002.