Python Documentation contents

• What’s New in Python
  • What’s New in Python 2.6
    • Python 3.0
    • Changes to the Development Process
      • New Issue Tracker: Roundup
      • New Documentation Format: reStructuredText Using Sphinx
    • PEP 343: The ‘with’ statement
      • Writing Context Managers
      • The contextlib module
    • PEP 366: Explicit Relative Imports From a Main Module
    • PEP 370: Per-user site-packages Directory
    • PEP 371: The multiprocessing Package
    • PEP 3101: Advanced String Formatting
    • PEP 3105: print As a Function
    • PEP 3110: Exception-Handling Changes
    • PEP 3112: Byte Literals
    • PEP 3116: New I/O Library
    • PEP 3118: Revised Buffer Protocol
    • PEP 3119: Abstract Base Classes
    • PEP 3127: Integer Literal Support and Syntax
    • PEP 3129: Class Decorators
    • PEP 3141: A Type Hierarchy for Numbers
      • The fractions Module
    • Other Language Changes
      • Optimizations
      • Interpreter Changes
    • New, Improved, and Deprecated Modules
      • The ast module
      • The future_builtins module
      • The json module: JavaScript Object Notation
      • The plistlib module: A Property-List Parser
      • ctypes Enhancements
      • Improved SSL Support
    • Build and C API Changes
      • Port-Specific Changes: Windows
      • Port-Specific Changes: Mac OS X
      • Port-Specific Changes: IRIX
    • Porting to Python 2.6
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.5
    • PEP 308: Conditional Expressions
    • PEP 309: Partial Function Application
    • PEP 314: Metadata for Python Software Packages v1.1
    • PEP 328: Absolute and Relative Imports
    • PEP 338: Executing Modules as Scripts
    • PEP 341: Unified try/except/finally
    • PEP 342: New Generator Features
    • PEP 343: The ‘with’ statement
      • Writing Context Managers
      • The contextlib module
    • PEP 352: Exceptions as New-Style Classes
    • PEP 353: Using ssize_t as the index type
    • PEP 357: The ‘__index__’ method
    • Other Language Changes
      • Interactive Interpreter Changes
      • Optimizations
    • New, Improved, and Removed Modules
      • The ctypes package
      • The ElementTree package
      • The hashlib package
      • The sqlite3 package
      • The wsgiref package
    • Build and C API Changes
      • Port-Specific Changes
    • Porting to Python 2.5
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.4
    • PEP 218: Built-In Set Objects
    • PEP 237: Unifying Long Integers and Integers
    • PEP 289: Generator Expressions
    • PEP 292: Simpler String Substitutions
    • PEP 318: Decorators for Functions and Methods
    • PEP 322: Reverse Iteration
    • PEP 324: New subprocess Module
    • PEP 327: Decimal Data Type
      • Why is Decimal needed?
      • The Decimal type
      • The Context type
    • PEP 328: Multi-line Imports
    • PEP 331: Locale-Independent Float/String Conversions
    • Other Language Changes
      • Optimizations
    • New, Improved, and Deprecated Modules
      • cookielib
      • doctest
    • Build and C API Changes
      • Port-Specific Changes
    • Porting to Python 2.4
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.3
    • PEP 218: A Standard Set Datatype
    • PEP 255: Simple Generators
    • PEP 263: Source Code Encodings
    • PEP 273: Importing Modules from ZIP Archives
    • PEP 277: Unicode file name support for Windows NT
    • PEP 278: Universal Newline Support
    • PEP 279: enumerate()
    • PEP 282: The logging Package
    • PEP 285: A Boolean Type
    • PEP 293: Codec Error Handling Callbacks
    • PEP 301: Package Index and Metadata for Distutils
    • PEP 302: New Import Hooks
    • PEP 305: Comma-separated Files
    • PEP 307: Pickle Enhancements
    • Extended Slices
    • Other Language Changes
      • String Changes
      • Optimizations
    • New, Improved, and Deprecated Modules
      • Date/Time Type
      • The optparse Module
    • Pymalloc: A Specialized Object Allocator
    • Build and C API Changes
      • Port-Specific Changes
    • Other Changes and Fixes
    • Porting to Python 2.3
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.2
    • Introduction
    • PEPs 252 and 253: Type and Class Changes
      • Old and New Classes
      • Descriptors
      • Multiple Inheritance: The Diamond Rule
      • Attribute Access
      • Related Links
    • PEP 234: Iterators
    • PEP 255: Simple Generators
    • PEP 237: Unifying Long Integers and Integers
    • PEP 238: Changing the Division Operator
    • Unicode Changes
    • PEP 227: Nested Scopes
    • New and Improved Modules
    • Interpreter Changes and Fixes
    • Other Changes and Fixes
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.1
    • Introduction
    • PEP 227: Nested Scopes
    • PEP 236: __future__ Directives
    • PEP 207: Rich Comparisons
    • PEP 230: Warning Framework
    • PEP 229: New Build System
    • PEP 205: Weak References
    • PEP 232: Function Attributes
    • PEP 235: Importing Modules on Case-Insensitive Platforms
    • PEP 217: Interactive Display Hook
    • PEP 208: New Coercion Model
    • PEP 241: Metadata in Python Packages
    • New and Improved Modules
    • Other Changes and Fixes
    • Acknowledgements
  • What’s New in Python 2.0
    • Introduction
    • What About Python 1.6?
    • New Development Process
    • Unicode
    • List Comprehensions
    • Augmented Assignment
    • String Methods
    • Garbage Collection of Cycles
    • Other Core Changes
      • Minor Language Changes
      • Changes to Built-in Functions
    • Porting to 2.0
    • Extending/Embedding Changes
    • Distutils: Making Modules Easy to Install
    • XML Modules
      • SAX2 Support
      • DOM Support
      • Relationship to PyXML
    • Module changes
    • New modules
    • IDLE Improvements
    • Deleted and Deprecated Modules
    • Acknowledgements

• The Python Tutorial
  • Whetting Your Appetite
  • Using the Python Interpreter
    • Invoking the Interpreter
      • Argument Passing
      • Interactive Mode
    • The Interpreter and Its Environment
      • Error Handling
      • Executable Python Scripts
      • Source Code Encoding
      • The Interactive Startup File
  • An Informal Introduction to Python
    • Using Python as a Calculator
      • Numbers
      • Strings
      • Unicode Strings
      • Lists
    • First Steps Towards Programming
  • More Control Flow Tools
    • if Statements
    • for Statements
    • The range() Function
    • break and continue Statements, and else Clauses on Loops
    • pass Statements
    • Defining Functions
    • More on Defining Functions
      • Default Argument Values
      • Keyword Arguments
      • Arbitrary Argument Lists
      • Unpacking Argument Lists
      • Lambda Forms
      • Documentation Strings
    • Intermezzo: Coding Style
  • Data Structures
    • More on Lists
      • Using Lists as Stacks
      • Using Lists as Queues
      • Functional Programming Tools
      • List Comprehensions
      • Nested List Comprehensions
    • The del statement
    • Tuples and Sequences
    • Sets
    • Dictionaries
    • Looping Techniques
    • More on Conditions
    • Comparing Sequences and Other Types
  • Modules
    • More on Modules
      • Executing modules as scripts
      • The Module Search Path
      • “Compiled” Python files
    • Standard Modules
    • The dir() Function
    • Packages
      • Importing * From a Package
      • Intra-package References
      • Packages in Multiple Directories
  • Input and Output
    • Fancier Output Formatting
      • Old string formatting
    • Reading and Writing Files
      • Methods of File Objects
      • The pickle Module
  • Errors and Exceptions
    • Syntax Errors
    • Exceptions
    • Handling Exceptions
    • Raising Exceptions
    • User-defined Exceptions
    • Defining Clean-up Actions
    • Predefined Clean-up Actions
  • Classes
    • A Word About Terminology
    • Python Scopes and Name Spaces
    • A First Look at Classes
      • Class Definition Syntax
      • Class Objects
      • Instance Objects
      • Method Objects
    • Random Remarks
    • Inheritance
      • Multiple Inheritance
    • Private Variables
    • Odds and Ends
    • Exceptions Are Classes Too
    • Iterators
    • Generators
    • Generator Expressions
  • Brief Tour of the Standard Library
    • Operating System Interface
    • File Wildcards
    • Command Line Arguments
    • Error Output Redirection and Program Termination
    • String Pattern Matching
    • Mathematics
    • Internet Access
    • Dates and Times
    • Data Compression
    • Performance Measurement
    • Quality Control
    • Batteries Included
  • Brief Tour of the Standard Library – Part II
    • Output Formatting
    • Templating
    • Working with Binary Data Record Layouts
    • Multi-threading
    • Logging
    • Weak References
    • Tools for Working with Lists
    • Decimal Floating Point Arithmetic
  • What Now?
  • Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution
    • Line Editing
    • History Substitution
    • Key Bindings
    • Commentary
  • Floating Point Arithmetic: Issues and Limitations
    • Representation Error

• Using Python
  • Command line and environment
    • Command line
      • Interface options
      • Generic options
      • Miscellaneous options
    • Environment variables
      • Debug-mode variables
  • Using Python on Unix platforms
    • Getting and installing the latest version of Python
      • On Linux
      • On FreeBSD and OpenBSD
      • On OpenSolaris
    • Building Python
    • Python-related paths and files
    • Miscellaneous
    • Editors
  • Using Python on Windows
    • Installing Python
    • Alternative bundles
    • Configuring Python
      • Excursus: Setting environment variables
      • Finding the Python executable
      • Finding modules
      • Executing scripts
    • Additional modules
      • PyWin32
      • Py2exe
      • WConio
    • Compiling Python on Windows
    • Other resources
  • Using Python on a Macintosh
    • Getting and Installing MacPython
      • How to run a Python script
      • Running scripts with a GUI
      • Configuration
    • The IDE
    • Installing Additional Python Packages
    • GUI Programming on the Mac
    • Distributing Python Applications on the Mac
    • Application Scripting
    • Other Resources

• The Python Language Reference
  • Introduction
    • Alternate Implementations
    • Notation
  • Lexical analysis
    • Line structure
      • Logical lines
      • Physical lines
      • Comments
      • Encoding declarations
      • Explicit line joining
      • Implicit line joining
      • Blank lines
      • Indentation
      • Whitespace between tokens
    • Other tokens
    • Identifiers and keywords
      • Keywords
      • Reserved classes of identifiers
    • Literals
      • String literals
      • String literal concatenation
      • Numeric literals
      • Integer and long integer literals
      • Floating point literals
      • Imaginary literals
    • Operators
    • Delimiters
  • Data model
    • Objects, values and types
    • The standard type hierarchy
    • New-style and classic classes
    • Special method names
      • Basic customization
      • Customizing attribute access
        • More attribute access for new-style classes
        • Implementing Descriptors
        • Invoking Descriptors
        • __slots__
      • Customizing class creation
      • Emulating callable objects
      • Emulating container types
      • Additional methods for emulation of sequence types
      • Emulating numeric types
      • Coercion rules
      • With Statement Context Managers
      • Special method lookup for old-style classes
      • Special method lookup for new-style classes
  • Execution model
    • Naming and binding
      • Interaction with dynamic features
    • Exceptions
  • Expressions
    • Arithmetic conversions
    • Atoms
      • Identifiers (Names)
      • Literals
      • Parenthesized forms
      • List displays
      • Generator expressions
      • Dictionary displays
      • String conversions
      • Yield expressions
    • Primaries
      • Attribute references
      • Subscriptions
      • Slicings
      • Calls
    • The power operator
    • Unary arithmetic operations
    • Binary arithmetic operations
    • Shifting operations
    • Binary bitwise operations
    • Comparisons
    • Boolean operations
    • Lambdas
    • Expression lists
    • Evaluation order
    • Summary
  • Simple statements
    • Expression statements
    • Assignment statements
      • Augmented assignment statements
    • The assert statement
    • The pass statement
    • The del statement
    • The print statement
    • The return statement
    • The yield statement
    • The raise statement
    • The break statement
    • The continue statement
    • The import statement
      • Future statements
    • The global statement
    • The exec statement
  • Compound statements
    • The if statement
    • The while statement
    • The for statement
    • The try statement
    • The with statement
    • Function definitions
    • Class definitions
  • Top-level components
    • Complete Python programs
    • File input
    • Interactive input
    • Expression input
  • Full Grammar specification

• The Python Standard Library
  • Introduction
  • Built-in Functions
  • Non-essential Built-in Functions
  • Built-in Constants
    • Constants added by the site module
  • Built-in Objects
  • Built-in Types
    • Truth Value Testing
    • Boolean Operations — and, or, not
    • Comparisons
    • Numeric Types — int, float, long, complex
      • Bit-string Operations on Integer Types
      • Additional Methods on Float
    • Iterator Types
    • Sequence Types — str, unicode, list, tuple, buffer, xrange
      • String Methods
      • String Formatting Operations
      • XRange Type
      • Mutable Sequence Types
    • Set Types — set, frozenset
    • Mapping Types — dict
    • File Objects
    • Context Manager Types
    • Other Built-in Types
      • Modules
      • Classes and Class Instances
      • Functions
      • Methods
      • Code Objects
      • Type Objects
      • The Null Object
      • The Ellipsis Object
      • Boolean Values
      • Internal Objects
    • Special Attributes
  • Built-in Exceptions
  • String Services
    • string — Common string operations
      • String constants
      • String Formatting
      • Format String Syntax
        • Format Specification Mini-Language
      • Template strings
      • String functions
      • Deprecated string functions
    • re — Regular expression operations
      • Regular Expression Syntax
      • Matching vs Searching
      • Module Contents
      • Regular Expression Objects
      • Match Objects
      • Examples
        • Checking For a Pair
        • Simulating scanf()
        • Avoiding recursion
        • search() vs. match()
        • Making a Phonebook
        • Text Munging
        • Finding all Adverbs
        • Finding all Adverbs and their Positions
        • Raw String Notation
    • struct — Interpret strings as packed binary data
      • Struct Objects
    • difflib — Helpers for computing deltas
      • SequenceMatcher Objects
      • SequenceMatcher Examples
      • Differ Objects
      • Differ Example
      • A command-line interface to difflib
    • StringIO — Read and write strings as files
    • cStringIO — Faster version of StringIO
    • textwrap — Text wrapping and filling
    • codecs — Codec registry and base classes
      • Codec Base Classes
        • Codec Objects
        • IncrementalEncoder Objects
        • IncrementalDecoder Objects
        • StreamWriter Objects
        • StreamReader Objects
        • StreamReaderWriter Objects
        • StreamRecoder Objects
      • Encodings and Unicode
      • Standard Encodings
      • encodings.idna — Internationalized Domain Names in Applications
      • encodings.utf_8_sig — UTF-8 codec with BOM signature
    • unicodedata — Unicode Database
    • stringprep — Internet String Preparation
    • fpformat — Floating point conversions
  • Data Types
    • datetime — Basic date and time types
      • Available Types
      • timedelta Objects
      • date Objects
      • datetime Objects
      • time Objects
      • tzinfo Objects
      • strftime() Behavior
    • calendar — General calendar-related functions
    • collections — High-performance container datatypes
      • ABCs - abstract base classes
      • deque objects
        • deque Recipes
      • defaultdict objects
        • defaultdict Examples
      • namedtuple() Factory Function for Tuples with Named Fields
    • heapq — Heap queue algorithm
      • Theory
    • bisect — Array bisection algorithm
      • Examples
    • array — Efficient arrays of numeric values
    • sets — Unordered collections of unique elements
      • Set Objects
      • Example
      • Protocol for automatic conversion to immutable
      • Comparison to the built-in set types
    • sched — Event scheduler
      • Scheduler Objects
    • mutex — Mutual exclusion support
      • Mutex Objects
    • queue — A synchronized queue class
      • Queue Objects
    • weakref — Weak references
      • Weak Reference Objects
      • Example
    • UserDict — Class wrapper for dictionary objects
    • UserList — Class wrapper for list objects
    • UserString — Class wrapper for string objects
    • types — Names for built-in types
    • new — Creation of runtime internal objects
    • copy — Shallow and deep copy operations
    • pprint — Data pretty printer
      • PrettyPrinter Objects
      • pprint Example
    • repr — Alternate repr() implementation
      • Repr Objects
      • Subclassing Repr Objects
  • Numeric and Mathematical Modules
    • numbers — Numeric abstract base classes
      • The numeric tower
      • Notes for type implementors
        • Adding More Numeric ABCs
        • Implementing the arithmetic operations
    • math — Mathematical functions
    • cmath — Mathematical functions for complex numbers
      • Complex coordinates
      • cmath functions
    • decimal — Decimal fixed point and floating point arithmetic
      • Quick-start Tutorial
      • Decimal objects
        • Logical operands
      • Context objects
      • Signals
      • Floating Point Notes
        • Mitigating round-off error with increased precision
        • Special values
      • Working with threads
      • Recipes
      • Decimal FAQ
    • fractions — Rational numbers
    • random — Generate pseudo-random numbers
    • itertools — Functions creating iterators for efficient looping
      • Itertool functions
      • Examples
      • Recipes
    • functools — Higher order functions and operations on callable objects
      • partial Objects
    • operator — Standard operators as functions
      • Mapping Operators to Functions
  • File and Directory Access
    • os.path — Common pathname manipulations
    • fileinput — Iterate over lines from multiple input streams
    • stat — Interpreting stat() results
    • statvfs — Constants used with os.statvfs()
    • filecmp — File and Directory Comparisons
      • The dircmp class
    • tempfile — Generate temporary files and directories
    • glob — Unix style pathname pattern expansion
    • fnmatch — Unix filename pattern matching
    • linecache — Random access to text lines
    • shutil — High-level file operations
      • Example
    • dircache — Cached directory listings
    • macpath — Mac OS 9 path manipulation functions
  • Data Persistence
    • pickle — Python object serialization
      • Relationship to other Python modules
      • Data stream format
      • Usage
      • What can be pickled and unpickled?
      • The pickle protocol
        • Pickling and unpickling normal class instances
        • Pickling and unpickling extension types
        • Pickling and unpickling external objects
      • Subclassing Unpicklers
      • Example
    • cPickle — A faster pickle
    • copy_reg — Register pickle support functions
    • shelve — Python object persistence
      • Restrictions
      • Example
    • marshal — Internal Python object serialization
    • anydbm — Generic access to DBM-style databases
    • whichdb — Guess which DBM module created a database
    • dbm — Simple “database” interface
    • gdbm — GNU’s reinterpretation of dbm
    • dbhash — DBM-style interface to the BSD database library
      • Database Objects
    • bsddb — Interface to Berkeley DB library
      • Hash, BTree and Record Objects
    • dumbdbm — Portable DBM implementation
      • Dumbdbm Objects
    • sqlite3 — DB-API 2.0 interface for SQLite databases
      • Module functions and constants
      • Connection Objects
      • Cursor Objects
      • Row Objects
      • SQLite and Python types
        • Introduction
        • Using adapters to store additional Python types in SQLite databases
          • Letting your object adapt itself
          • Registering an adapter callable
        • Converting SQLite values to custom Python types
        • Default adapters and converters
      • Controlling Transactions
      • Using pysqlite efficiently
        • Using shortcut methods
        • Accessing columns by name instead of by index
        • Using the connection as a context manager
  • Data Compression and Archiving
    • zlib — Compression compatible with gzip
    • gzip — Support for gzip files
      • Examples of usage
    • bz2 — Compression compatible with bzip2
      • (De)compression of files
      • Sequential (de)compression
      • One-shot (de)compression
    • zipfile — Work with ZIP archives
      • ZipFile Objects
      • PyZipFile Objects
      • ZipInfo Objects
    • tarfile — Read and write tar archive files
      • TarFile Objects
      • TarInfo Objects
      • Examples
      • Supported tar formats
      • Unicode issues
  • File Formats
    • csv — CSV File Reading and Writing
      • Module Contents
      • Dialects and Formatting Parameters
      • Reader Objects
      • Writer Objects
      • Examples
    • ConfigParser — Configuration file parser
      • RawConfigParser Objects
      • ConfigParser Objects
      • SafeConfigParser Objects
      • Examples
    • robotparser — Parser for robots.txt
    • netrc — netrc file processing
      • netrc Objects
    • xdrlib — Encode and decode XDR data
      • Packer Objects
      • Unpacker Objects
      • Exceptions
    • plistlib — Generate and parse Mac OS X .plist files
      • Examples
  • Cryptographic Services
    • hashlib — Secure hashes and message digests
    • hmac — Keyed-Hashing for Message Authentication
    • md5 — MD5 message digest algorithm
    • sha — SHA-1 message digest algorithm
  • Generic Operating System Services
    • os — Miscellaneous operating system interfaces
      • Process Parameters
      • File Object Creation
      • File Descriptor Operations
      • Files and Directories
      • Process Management
      • Miscellaneous System Information
      • Miscellaneous Functions
    • io — Core tools for working with streams
      • Module Interface
      • I/O Base Classes
      • Raw File I/O
      • Buffered Streams
      • Text I/O
    • time — Time access and conversions
    • optparse — More powerful command line option parser
      • Background
        • Terminology
        • What are options for?
        • What are positional arguments for?
      • Tutorial
        • Understanding option actions
        • The store action
        • Handling boolean (flag) options
        • Other actions
        • Default values
        • Generating help
        • Printing a version string
        • How optparse handles errors
        • Putting it all together
      • Reference Guide
        • Creating the parser
        • Populating the parser
        • Defining options
        • Standard option actions
        • Option attributes
        • Standard option types
        • Parsing arguments
        • Querying and manipulating your option parser
        • Conflicts between options
        • Cleanup
        • Other methods
      • Option Callbacks
        • Defining a callback option
        • How callbacks are called
        • Raising errors in a callback
        • Callback example 1: trivial callback
        • Callback example 2: check option order
        • Callback example 3: check option order (generalized)
        • Callback example 4: check arbitrary condition
        • Callback example 5: fixed arguments
        • Callback example 6: variable arguments
      • Extending optparse
        • Adding new types
        • Adding new actions
    • getopt — Parser for command line options
    • logging — Logging facility for Python
      • Logging tutorial
        • Simple examples
        • Loggers
        • Handlers
        • Formatters
        • Configuring Logging
        • Configuring Logging for a Library
      • Logging Levels
      • Logger Objects
      • Basic example
      • Logging to multiple destinations
      • Adding contextual information to your logging output
      • Sending and receiving logging events across a network
      • Handler Objects
        • StreamHandler
        • FileHandler
        • WatchedFileHandler
        • RotatingFileHandler
        • TimedRotatingFileHandler
        • SocketHandler
        • DatagramHandler
        • SysLogHandler
        • NTEventLogHandler
        • SMTPHandler
        • MemoryHandler
        • HTTPHandler
      • Formatter Objects
      • Filter Objects
      • LogRecord Objects
      • LoggerAdapter Objects
      • Thread Safety
      • Configuration
        • Configuration functions
        • Configuration file format
        • Configuration server example
      • More examples
        • Multiple handlers and formatters
        • Using logging in multiple modules
    • getpass — Portable password input
    • curses — Terminal handling for character-cell displays
      • Functions
      • Window Objects
      • Constants
    • curses.textpad — Text input widget for curses programs
      • Textbox objects
    • curses.wrapper — Terminal handler for curses programs
    • curses.ascii — Utilities for ASCII characters
    • curses.panel — A panel stack extension for curses.
      • Functions
      • Panel Objects
    • platform — Access to underlying platform’s identifying data.
      • Cross Platform
      • Java Platform
      • Windows Platform
        • Win95/98 specific
      • Mac OS Platform
      • Unix Platforms
    • errno — Standard errno system symbols
    • ctypes — A foreign function library for Python.
      • ctypes tutorial
        • Loading dynamic link libraries
        • Accessing functions from loaded dlls
        • Calling functions
        • Fundamental data types
        • Calling functions, continued
        • Calling functions with your own custom data types
        • Specifying the required argument types (function prototypes)
        • Return types
        • Passing pointers (or: passing parameters by reference)
        • Structures and unions
        • Structure/union alignment and byte order
        • Bit fields in structures and unions
        • Arrays
        • Pointers
        • Type conversions
        • Incomplete Types
        • Callback functions
        • Accessing values exported from dlls
        • Surprises
        • Variable-sized data types
      • ctypes reference
        • Finding shared libraries
        • Loading shared libraries
        • Foreign functions
        • Function prototypes
        • Utility functions
        • Data types
        • Fundamental data types
        • Structured data types
        • Arrays and pointers
  • Optional Operating System Services
    • select — Waiting for I/O completion
      • Edge and Level Trigger Polling (epoll) Objects
      • Polling Objects
      • Kqueue Objects
      • Kevent Objects
    • threading — Higher-level threading interface
      • Thread Objects
      • Lock Objects
      • RLock Objects
      • Condition Objects
      • Semaphore Objects
        • Semaphore Example
      • Event Objects
      • Timer Objects
      • Using locks, conditions, and semaphores in the with statement
      • Importing in threaded code
    • thread — Multiple threads of control
    • dummy_threading — Drop-in replacement for the threading module
    • dummy_thread — Drop-in replacement for the thread module
    • multiprocessing — Process-based “threading” interface
      • Introduction
        • The Process class
        • Exchanging objects between processes
        • Synchronization between processes
        • Sharing state between processes
        • Using a pool of workers
      • Reference
        • Process and exceptions
        • Pipes and Queues
        • Miscellaneous
        • Connection Objects
        • Synchronization primitives
        • Shared ctypes Objects
          • The multiprocessing.sharedctypes module
        • Managers
          • Namespace objects
          • Customized managers
          • Using a remote manager
        • Proxy Objects
          • Cleanup
        • Process Pools
        • Listeners and Clients
          • Address Formats
        • Authentication keys
        • Logging
        • The multiprocessing.dummy module
      • Programming guidelines
        • All platforms
        • Windows
      • Examples
    • mmap — Memory-mapped file support
    • readline — GNU readline interface
      • Example
    • rlcompleter — Completion function for GNU readline
      • Completer Objects
  • Interprocess Communication and Networking
    • subprocess — Subprocess management
      • Using the subprocess Module
        • Convenience Functions
        • Exceptions
        • Security
      • Popen Objects
      • Replacing Older Functions with the subprocess Module
        • Replacing /bin/sh shell backquote
        • Replacing shell pipeline
        • Replacing os.system()
        • Replacing os.spawn*
        • Replacing os.popen*
        • Replacing popen2.*
    • socket — Low-level networking interface
      • Socket Objects
      • Example
    • ssl — SSL wrapper for socket objects
      • Functions, Constants, and Exceptions
      • SSLSocket Objects
      • Certificates
      • Examples
        • Testing for SSL support
        • Client-side operation
        • Server-side operation
    • signal — Set handlers for asynchronous events
      • Example
    • popen2 — Subprocesses with accessible I/O streams
      • Popen3 and Popen4 Objects
      • Flow Control Issues
    • asyncore — Asynchronous socket handler
      • asyncore Example basic HTTP client
    • asynchat — Asynchronous socket command/response handler
      • asynchat - Auxiliary Classes and Functions
      • asynchat Example
  • Internet Data Handling
    • email — An email and MIME handling package
      • email: Representing an email message
      • email: Parsing email messages
        • FeedParser API
        • Parser class API
        • Additional notes
      • email: Generating MIME documents
      • email: Creating email and MIME objects from scratch
      • email: Internationalized headers
      • email: Representing character sets
      • email: Encoders
      • email: Exception and Defect classes
      • email: Miscellaneous utilities
      • email: Iterators
      • email: Examples
      • Package History
      • Differences from mimelib
    • json — JSON encoder and decoder
      • Basic Usage
      • Encoders and decoders
    • mailcap — Mailcap file handling
    • mailbox — Manipulate mailboxes in various formats
      • Mailbox objects
        • Maildir
        • mbox
        • MH
        • Babyl
        • MMDF
      • Message objects
        • MaildirMessage
        • mboxMessage
        • MHMessage
        • BabylMessage
        • MMDFMessage
      • Exceptions
      • Deprecated classes and methods
      • Examples
    • mhlib — Access to MH mailboxes
      • MH Objects
      • Folder Objects
      • Message Objects
    • mimetools — Tools for parsing MIME messages
      • Additional Methods of Message Objects
    • mimetypes — Map filenames to MIME types
      • MimeTypes Objects
    • MimeWriter — Generic MIME file writer
      • MimeWriter Objects
    • mimify — MIME processing of mail messages
    • multifile — Support for files containing distinct parts
      • MultiFile Objects
      • MultiFile Example
    • rfc822 — Parse RFC 2822 mail headers
      • Message Objects
      • AddressList Objects
    • base64 — RFC 3548: Base16, Base32, Base64 Data Encodings
    • binhex — Encode and decode binhex4 files
      • Notes
    • binascii — Convert between binary and ASCII
    • quopri — Encode and decode MIME quoted-printable data
    • uu — Encode and decode uuencode files
  • Structured Markup Processing Tools
    • HTMLParser — Simple HTML and XHTML parser
      • Example HTML Parser Application
    • sgmllib — Simple SGML parser
    • htmllib — A parser for HTML documents
      • HTMLParser Objects
    • htmlentitydefs — Definitions of HTML general entities
    • xml.parsers.expat — Fast XML parsing using Expat
      • XMLParser Objects
      • ExpatError Exceptions
      • Example
      • Content Model Descriptions
      • Expat error constants
    • xml.dom — The Document Object Model API
      • Module Contents
      • Objects in the DOM
        • DOMImplementation Objects
        • Node Objects
        • NodeList Objects
        • DocumentType Objects
        • Document Objects
        • Element Objects
        • Attr Objects
        • NamedNodeMap Objects
        • Comment Objects
        • Text and CDATASection Objects
        • ProcessingInstruction Objects
        • Exceptions
      • Conformance
        • Type Mapping
        • Accessor Methods
    • xml.dom.minidom — Lightweight DOM implementation
      • DOM Objects
      • DOM Example
      • minidom and the DOM standard
    • xml.dom.pulldom — Support for building partial DOM trees
      • DOMEventStream Objects
    • xml.sax — Support for SAX2 parsers
      • SAXException Objects
    • xml.sax.handler — Base classes for SAX handlers
      • ContentHandler Objects
      • DTDHandler Objects
      • EntityResolver Objects
      • ErrorHandler Objects
    • xml.sax.saxutils — SAX Utilities
    • xml.sax.xmlreader — Interface for XML parsers
      • XMLReader Objects
      • IncrementalParser Objects
      • Locator Objects
      • InputSource Objects
      • The Attributes Interface
      • The AttributesNS Interface
    • xml.etree.ElementTree — The ElementTree XML API
      • Functions
      • The Element Interface
      • ElementTree Objects
      • QName Objects
      • TreeBuilder Objects
      • XMLTreeBuilder Objects
  • Internet Protocols and Support
    • webbrowser — Convenient Web-browser controller
      • Browser Controller Objects
    • cgi — Common Gateway Interface support.
      • Introduction
      • Using the cgi module
      • Higher Level Interface
      • Old classes
      • Functions
      • Caring about security
      • Installing your CGI script on a Unix system
      • Testing your CGI script
      • Debugging CGI scripts
      • Common problems and solutions
    • cgitb — Traceback manager for CGI scripts
    • wsgiref — WSGI Utilities and Reference Implementation
      • wsgiref.util – WSGI environment utilities
      • wsgiref.headers – WSGI response header tools
      • wsgiref.simple_server – a simple WSGI HTTP server
      • wsgiref.validate — WSGI conformance checker
      • wsgiref.handlers – server/gateway base classes
      • Examples
    • urllib — Open arbitrary resources by URL
      • High-level interface
      • Utility functions
      • URL Opener objects
      • urllib Restrictions
      • Examples
    • urllib2 — extensible library for opening URLs
      • Request Objects
      • OpenerDirector Objects
      • BaseHandler Objects
      • HTTPRedirectHandler Objects
      • HTTPCookieProcessor Objects
      • ProxyHandler Objects
      • HTTPPasswordMgr Objects
      • AbstractBasicAuthHandler Objects
      • HTTPBasicAuthHandler Objects
      • ProxyBasicAuthHandler Objects
      • AbstractDigestAuthHandler Objects
      • HTTPDigestAuthHandler Objects
      • ProxyDigestAuthHandler Objects
      • HTTPHandler Objects
      • HTTPSHandler Objects
      • FileHandler Objects
      • FTPHandler Objects
      • CacheFTPHandler Objects
      • UnknownHandler Objects
      • HTTPErrorProcessor Objects
      • Examples
    • httplib — HTTP protocol client
      • HTTPConnection Objects
      • HTTPResponse Objects
      • Examples
    • ftplib — FTP protocol client
      • FTP Objects
    • poplib — POP3 protocol client
      • POP3 Objects
      • POP3 Example
    • imaplib — IMAP4 protocol client
      • IMAP4 Objects
      • IMAP4 Example
    • nntplib — NNTP protocol client
      • NNTP Objects
    • smtplib — SMTP protocol client
      • SMTP Objects
      • SMTP Example
    • smtpd — SMTP Server
      • SMTPServer Objects
      • DebuggingServer Objects
      • PureProxy Objects
      • MailmanProxy Objects
    • telnetlib — Telnet client
      • Telnet Objects
      • Telnet Example
    • uuid — UUID objects according to RFC 4122
      • Example
    • urlparse — Parse URLs into components
      • Results of urlparse() and urlsplit()
    • SocketServer — A framework for network servers
      • Server Creation Notes
      • Server Objects
      • RequestHandler Objects
      • Examples
        • SocketServer.TCPServer Example
        • SocketServer.UDPServer Example
        • Asynchronous Mixins
    • BaseHTTPServer — Basic HTTP server
    • SimpleHTTPServer — Simple HTTP request handler
    • CGIHTTPServer — CGI-capable HTTP request handler
    • cookielib — Cookie handling for HTTP clients
      • CookieJar and FileCookieJar Objects
      • FileCookieJar subclasses and co-operation with web browsers
      • CookiePolicy Objects
      • DefaultCookiePolicy Objects
      • Cookie Objects
      • Examples
    • Cookie — HTTP state management
      • Cookie Objects
      • Morsel Objects
      • Example
    • xmlrpclib — XML-RPC client access
      • ServerProxy Objects
      • Boolean Objects
      • DateTime Objects
      • Binary Objects
      • Fault Objects
      • ProtocolError Objects
      • MultiCall Objects
      • Convenience Functions
      • Example of Client Usage
      • Example of Client and Server Usage
    • SimpleXMLRPCServer — Basic XML-RPC server
      • SimpleXMLRPCServer Objects
        • SimpleXMLRPCServer Example
      • CGIXMLRPCRequestHandler
    • DocXMLRPCServer — Self-documenting XML-RPC server
      • DocXMLRPCServer Objects
      • DocCGIXMLRPCRequestHandler
  • Multimedia Services
    • audioop — Manipulate raw audio data
    • imageop — Manipulate raw image data
    • aifc — Read and write AIFF and AIFC files
    • sunau — Read and write Sun AU files
      • AU_read Objects
      • AU_write Objects
    • wave — Read and write WAV files
      • Wave_read Objects
      • Wave_write Objects
    • chunk — Read IFF chunked data
    • colorsys — Conversions between color systems
    • imghdr — Determine the type of an image
    • sndhdr — Determine type of sound file
    • ossaudiodev — Access to OSS-compatible audio devices
      • Audio Device Objects
      • Mixer Device Objects
  • Internationalization
    • gettext — Multilingual internationalization services
      • GNU gettext API
      • Class-based API
        • The NullTranslations class
        • The GNUTranslations class
        • Solaris message catalog support
        • The Catalog constructor
      • Internationalizing your programs and modules
        • Localizing your module
        • Localizing your application
        • Changing languages on the fly
        • Deferred translations
        • gettext() vs. lgettext()
      • Acknowledgements
    • locale — Internationalization services
      • Background, details, hints, tips and caveats
      • For extension writers and programs that embed Python
      • Access to message catalogs
  • Program Frameworks
    • cmd — Support for line-oriented command interpreters
      • Cmd Objects
    • shlex — Simple lexical analysis
      • shlex Objects
      • Parsing Rules
  • Graphical User Interfaces with Tk
    • Tkinter — Python interface to Tcl/Tk
      • Tkinter Modules
      • Tkinter Life Preserver
        • How To Use This Section
        • A Simple Hello World Program
      • A (Very) Quick Look at Tcl/Tk
      • Mapping Basic Tk into Tkinter
      • How Tk and Tkinter are Related
      • Handy Reference
        • Setting Options
        • The Packer
        • Packer Options
        • Coupling Widget Variables
        • The Window Manager
        • Tk Option Data Types
        • Bindings and Events
        • The index Parameter
        • Images
    • Tix — Extension widgets for Tk
      • Using Tix
      • Tix Widgets
        • Basic Widgets
        • File Selectors
        • Hierarchical ListBox
        • Tabular ListBox
        • Manager Widgets
        • Image Types
        • Miscellaneous Widgets
        • Form Geometry Manager
      • Tix Commands
    • ScrolledText — Scrolled Text Widget
    • turtle — Turtle graphics for Tk
      • Introduction
      • Overview over available Turtle and Screen methods
        • Turtle methods
        • Methods of TurtleScreen/Screen
      • Methods of RawTurtle/Turtle and corresponding functions
        • Turtle motion
        • Tell Turtle’s state
        • Settings for measurement
        • Pen control
          • Drawing state
          • Color control
          • Filling
          • More drawing control
        • Turtle state
          • Visibility
          • Appearance
        • Using events
        • Special Turtle methods
        • Excursus about the use of compound shapes
      • Methods of TurtleScreen/Screen and corresponding functions
        • Window control
        • Animation control
        • Using screen events
        • Settings and special methods
        • Methods specific to Screen, not inherited from TurtleScreen
      • The public classes of the module turtle
      • Help and configuration
        • How to use help
        • Translation of docstrings into different languages
        • How to configure Screen and Turtles
      • Demo scripts
    • IDLE
      • Menus
        • File menu
        • Edit menu
        • Windows menu
        • Debug menu (in the Python Shell window only)
      • Basic editing and navigation
        • Automatic indentation
        • Python Shell window
      • Syntax colors
        • Command line usage
    • Other Graphical User Interface Packages
  • Development Tools
    • pydoc — Documentation generator and online help system
    • doctest — Test interactive Python examples
      • Simple Usage: Checking Examples in Docstrings
      • Simple Usage: Checking Examples in a Text File
      • How It Works
        • Which Docstrings Are Examined?
        • How are Docstring Examples Recognized?
        • What’s the Execution Context?
        • What About Exceptions?
        • Option Flags and Directives
        • Warnings
      • Basic API
      • Unittest API
      • Advanced API
        • DocTest Objects
        • Example Objects
        • DocTestFinder objects
        • DocTestParser objects
        • DocTestRunner objects
        • OutputChecker objects
      • Debugging
      • Soapbox
    • unittest — Unit testing framework
      • Basic example
      • Organizing test code
      • Re-using old test code
      • Classes and functions
      • TestCase Objects
      • TestSuite Objects
      • TestResult Objects
      • TestLoader Objects
    • 2to3 - Automated Python 2 to 3 code translation
      • Using 2to3
      • lib2to3 - 2to3’s library
    • test — Regression tests package for Python
      • Writing Unit Tests for the test package
      • Running tests using test.regrtest
    • test.test_support — Utility functions for tests
  • Debugging and Profiling
    • bdb — Debugger framework
    • pdb — The Python Debugger
    • Debugger Commands
    • How It Works
    • The Python Profilers
      • Introduction to the profilers
      • Instant User’s Manual
      • What Is Deterministic Profiling?
      • Reference Manual – profile and cProfile
        • The Stats Class
      • Limitations
      • Calibration
      • Extensions — Deriving Better Profilers
    • hotshot — High performance logging profiler
      • Profile Objects
      • Using hotshot data
      • Example Usage
    • timeit — Measure execution time of small code snippets
      • Command Line Interface
      • Examples
    • trace — Trace or track Python statement execution
      • Command Line Usage
      • Programming Interface
  • Python Runtime Services
    • sys — System-specific parameters and functions
    • __builtin__ — Built-in objects
    • future_builtins — Python 3 builtins
    • __main__ — Top-level script environment
    • warnings — Warning control
      • Warning Categories
      • The Warnings Filter
      • Temporarily Suppressing Warnings
      • Testing Warnings
      • Available Functions
      • Available Context Managers
    • contextlib — Utilities for with-statement contexts.
    • abc — Abstract Base Classes
    • atexit — Exit handlers
      • atexit Example
    • traceback — Print or retrieve a stack traceback
      • Traceback Examples
    • __future__ — Future statement definitions
    • gc — Garbage Collector interface
    • inspect — Inspect live objects
      • Types and members
      • Retrieving source code
      • Classes and functions
      • The interpreter stack
    • site — Site-specific configuration hook
    • user — User-specific configuration hook
    • fpectl — Floating point exception control
      • Example
      • Limitations and other considerations
  • Custom Python Interpreters
    • code — Interpreter base classes
      • Interactive Interpreter Objects
      • Interactive Console Objects
    • codeop — Compile Python code
  • Restricted Execution
    • rexec — Restricted execution framework
      • RExec Objects
      • Defining restricted environments
      • An example
    • Bastion — Restricting access to objects
  • Importing Modules
    • imp — Access the import internals
      • Examples
    • imputil — Import utilities
      • Examples
    • zipimport — Import modules from Zip archives
      • zipimporter Objects
      • Examples
    • pkgutil — Package extension utility
    • modulefinder — Find modules used by a script
      • Example usage of ModuleFinder
    • runpy — Locating and executing Python modules
  • Python Language Services
    • parser — Access Python parse trees
      • Creating ST Objects
      • Converting ST Objects
      • Queries on ST Objects
      • Exceptions and Error Handling
      • ST Objects
      • Examples
        • Emulation of compile()
        • Information Discovery
    • Abstract Syntax Trees
      • Node classes
      • Abstract Grammar
      • ast Helpers
    • symtable — Access to the compiler’s symbol tables
      • Generating Symbol Tables
      • Examining Symbol Tables
    • symbol — Constants used with Python parse trees
    • token — Constants used with Python parse trees
    • keyword — Testing for Python keywords
    • tokenize — Tokenizer for Python source
    • tabnanny — Detection of ambiguous indentation
    • pyclbr — Python class browser support
      • Class Objects
      • Function Objects
    • py_compile — Compile Python source files
    • compileall — Byte-compile Python libraries
    • dis — Disassembler for Python bytecode
      • Python Bytecode Instructions
    • pickletools — Tools for pickle developers.
    • distutils — Building and installing Python modules
  • Python compiler package
    • The basic interface
    • Limitations
    • Python Abstract Syntax
      • AST Nodes
      • Assignment nodes
      • Examples
    • Using Visitors to Walk ASTs
    • Bytecode Generation
  • Miscellaneous Services
    • formatter — Generic output formatting
      • The Formatter Interface
      • Formatter Implementations
      • The Writer Interface
      • Writer Implementations
  • MS Windows Specific Services
    • msilib — Read and write Microsoft Installer files
      • Database Objects
      • View Objects
      • Summary Information Objects
      • Record Objects
      • Errors
      • CAB Objects
      • Directory Objects
      • Features
      • GUI classes
      • Precomputed tables
    • msvcrt – Useful routines from the MS VC++ runtime
      • File Operations
      • Console I/O
      • Other Functions
    • _winreg – Windows registry access
      • Registry Handle Objects
    • winsound — Sound-playing interface for Windows
  • Unix Specific Services
    • posix — The most common POSIX system calls
      • Large File Support
      • Notable Module Contents
    • pwd — The password database
    • spwd — The shadow password database
    • grp — The group database
    • crypt — Function to check Unix passwords
    • dl — Call C functions in shared objects
      • Dl Objects
    • termios — POSIX style tty control
      • Example
    • tty — Terminal control functions
    • pty — Pseudo-terminal utilities
    • fcntl — The fcntl() and ioctl() system calls
    • pipes — Interface to shell pipelines
      • Template Objects
    • posixfile — File-like objects with locking support
    • resource — Resource usage information
      • Resource Limits
      • Resource Usage
    • nis — Interface to Sun’s NIS (Yellow Pages)
    • syslog — Unix syslog library routines
    • commands — Utilities for running commands
  • Mac OS X specific services
    • ic — Access to the Mac OS X Internet Config
      • IC Objects
    • MacOS — Access to Mac OS interpreter features
    • macostools — Convenience routines for file manipulation
    • findertools — The finder‘s Apple Events interface
    • EasyDialogs — Basic Macintosh dialogs
      • ProgressBar Objects
    • FrameWork — Interactive application framework
      • Application Objects
      • Window Objects
      • ControlsWindow Object
      • ScrolledWindow Object
      • DialogWindow Objects
    • autoGIL — Global Interpreter Lock handling in event loops
    • Mac OS Toolbox Modules
      • Carbon.AE — Apple Events
      • Carbon.AH — Apple Help
      • Carbon.App — Appearance Manager
      • Carbon.CF — Core Foundation
      • Carbon.CG — Core Graphics
      • Carbon.CarbonEvt — Carbon Event Manager
      • Carbon.Cm — Component Manager
      • Carbon.Ctl — Control Manager
      • Carbon.Dlg — Dialog Manager
      • Carbon.Evt — Event Manager
      • Carbon.Fm — Font Manager
      • Carbon.Folder — Folder Manager
      • Carbon.Help — Help Manager
      • Carbon.List — List Manager
      • Carbon.Menu — Menu Manager
      • Carbon.Mlte — MultiLingual Text Editor
      • Carbon.Qd — QuickDraw
      • Carbon.Qdoffs — QuickDraw Offscreen
      • Carbon.Qt — QuickTime
      • Carbon.Res — Resource Manager and Handles
      • Carbon.Scrap — Scrap Manager
      • Carbon.Snd — Sound Manager
      • Carbon.TE — TextEdit
      • Carbon.Win — Window Manager
    • ColorPicker — Color selection dialog
  • MacPython OSA Modules
    • gensuitemodule — Generate OSA stub packages
    • aetools — OSA client support
    • aepack — Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers
    • aetypes — AppleEvent objects
    • MiniAEFrame — Open Scripting Architecture server support
      • AEServer Objects
  • SGI IRIX Specific Services
    • al — Audio functions on the SGI
      • Configuration Objects
      • Port Objects
    • AL — Constants used with the al module
    • cd — CD-ROM access on SGI systems
      • Player Objects
      • Parser Objects
    • fl — FORMS library for graphical user interfaces
      • Functions Defined in Module fl
      • Form Objects
      • FORMS Objects
    • FL — Constants used with the fl module
    • flp — Functions for loading stored FORMS designs
    • fm — Font Manager interface
    • gl — Graphics Library interface
    • DEVICE — Constants used with the gl module
    • GL — Constants used with the gl module
    • imgfile — Support for SGI imglib files
    • jpeg — Read and write JPEG files
  • SunOS Specific Services
    • sunaudiodev — Access to Sun audio hardware
      • Audio Device Objects
    • SUNAUDIODEV — Constants used with sunaudiodev
  • Undocumented Modules
    • Miscellaneous useful utilities
    • Platform specific modules
    • Multimedia
    • Undocumented Mac OS modules
      • applesingle — AppleSingle decoder
      • buildtools — Helper module for BuildApplet and Friends
      • cfmfile — Code Fragment Resource module
      • icopen — Internet Config replacement for open()
      • macerrors — Mac OS Errors
      • macresource — Locate script resources
      • Nav — NavServices calls
      • PixMapWrapper — Wrapper for PixMap objects
      • videoreader — Read QuickTime movies
      • W — Widgets built on FrameWork
    • Obsolete
    • SGI-specific Extension modules

• Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter
  • Extending Python with C or C++
    • A Simple Example
    • Intermezzo: Errors and Exceptions
    • Back to the Example
    • The Module’s Method Table and Initialization Function
    • Compilation and Linkage
    • Calling Python Functions from C
    • Extracting Parameters in Extension Functions
    • Keyword Parameters for Extension Functions
    • Building Arbitrary Values
    • Reference Counts
      • Reference Counting in Python
      • Ownership Rules
      • Thin Ice
      • NULL Pointers
    • Writing Extensions in C++
    • Providing a C API for an Extension Module
  • Defining New Types
    • The Basics
      • Adding data and methods to the Basic example
      • Providing finer control over data attributes
      • Supporting cyclic garbage collection
      • Subclassing other types
    • Type Methods
      • Finalization and De-allocation
      • Object Presentation
      • Attribute Management
        • Generic Attribute Management
        • Type-specific Attribute Management
      • Object Comparison
      • Abstract Protocol Support
      • Weak Reference Support
      • More Suggestions
  • Building C and C++ Extensions with distutils
    • Distributing your extension modules
  • Building C and C++ Extensions on Windows
    • A Cookbook Approach
    • Differences Between Unix and Windows
    • Using DLLs in Practice
  • Embedding Python in Another Application
    • Very High Level Embedding
    • Beyond Very High Level Embedding: An overview
    • Pure Embedding
    • Extending Embedded Python
    • Embedding Python in C++
    • Linking Requirements

• Python/C API Reference Manual
  • Introduction
    • Include Files
    • Objects, Types and Reference Counts
      • Reference Counts
        • Reference Count Details
      • Types
    • Exceptions
    • Embedding Python
    • Debugging Builds
  • The Very High Level Layer
  • Reference Counting
  • Exception Handling
    • Standard Exceptions
    • Deprecation of String Exceptions
  • Utilities
    • Operating System Utilities
    • System Functions
    • Process Control
    • Importing Modules
    • Data marshalling support
    • Parsing arguments and building values
    • String conversion and formatting
    • Reflection
  • Abstract Objects Layer
    • Object Protocol
    • Number Protocol
    • Sequence Protocol
    • Mapping Protocol
    • Iterator Protocol
    • Buffer Protocol
  • Concrete Objects Layer
    • Fundamental Objects
      • Type Objects
      • The None Object
    • Numeric Objects
      • Plain Integer Objects
      • Boolean Objects
      • Long Integer Objects
      • Floating Point Objects
      • Complex Number Objects
        • Complex Numbers as C Structures
        • Complex Numbers as Python Objects
    • Sequence Objects
      • Byte Array Objects
      • String/Bytes Objects
      • Unicode Objects and Codecs
        • Unicode Objects
        • Built-in Codecs
        • Methods and Slot Functions
      • Buffer Objects
      • Tuple Objects
      • List Objects
    • Mapping Objects
      • Dictionary Objects
    • Other Objects
      • Class and Instance Objects
      • Function Objects
      • Method Objects
      • File Objects
      • Module Objects
      • Iterator Objects
      • Descriptor Objects
      • Slice Objects
      • Weak Reference Objects
      • CObjects
      • Cell Objects
      • Generator Objects
      • DateTime Objects
      • Set Objects
  • Initialization, Finalization, and Threads
    • Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock
    • Profiling and Tracing
    • Advanced Debugger Support
  • Memory Management
    • Overview
    • Memory Interface
    • Examples
  • Object Implementation Support
    • Allocating Objects on the Heap
    • Common Object Structures
    • Type Objects
    • Number Object Structures
    • Mapping Object Structures
    • Sequence Object Structures
    • Buffer Object Structures
    • Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection

• Distributing Python Modules
  • An Introduction to Distutils
    • Concepts & Terminology
    • A Simple Example
    • General Python terminology
    • Distutils-specific terminology
  • Writing the Setup Script
    • Listing whole packages
    • Listing individual modules
    • Describing extension modules
      • Extension names and packages
      • Extension source files
      • Preprocessor options
      • Library options
      • Other options
    • Relationships between Distributions and Packages
    • Installing Scripts
    • Installing Package Data
    • Installing Additional Files
    • Additional meta-data
    • Debugging the setup script
  • Writing the Setup Configuration File
  • Creating a Source Distribution
    • Specifying the files to distribute
    • Manifest-related options
  • Creating Built Distributions
    • Creating dumb built distributions
    • Creating RPM packages
    • Creating Windows Installers
    • Cross-compiling on Windows
      • The Postinstallation script
    • Vista User Access Control (UAC)
  • Registering with the Package Index
    • The .pypirc file
  • Uploading Packages to the Package Index
  • Examples
    • Pure Python distribution (by module)
    • Pure Python distribution (by package)
    • Single extension module
  • Extending Distutils
    • Integrating new commands
    • Adding new distribution types
  • Command Reference
    • Installing modules: the install command family
      • install_data
      • install_scripts
    • Creating a source distribution: the sdist command
  • API Reference
    • distutils.core — Core Distutils functionality
    • distutils.ccompiler — CCompiler base class
    • distutils.unixccompiler — Unix C Compiler
    • distutils.msvccompiler — Microsoft Compiler
    • distutils.bcppcompiler — Borland Compiler
    • distutils.cygwincompiler — Cygwin Compiler
    • distutils.emxccompiler — OS/2 EMX Compiler
    • distutils.mwerkscompiler — Metrowerks CodeWarrior support
    • distutils.archive_util — Archiving utilities
    • distutils.dep_util — Dependency checking
    • distutils.dir_util — Directory tree operations
    • distutils.file_util — Single file operations
    • distutils.util — Miscellaneous other utility functions
    • distutils.dist — The Distribution class
    • distutils.extension — The Extension class
    • distutils.debug — Distutils debug mode
    • distutils.errors — Distutils exceptions
    • distutils.fancy_getopt — Wrapper around the standard getopt module
    • distutils.filelist — The FileList class
    • distutils.log — Simple PEP 282-style logging
    • distutils.spawn — Spawn a sub-process
    • distutils.sysconfig — System configuration information
    • distutils.text_file — The TextFile class
    • distutils.version — Version number classes
    • distutils.cmd — Abstract base class for Distutils commands
    • distutils.command — Individual Distutils commands
    • distutils.command.bdist — Build a binary installer
    • distutils.command.bdist_packager — Abstract base class for packagers
    • distutils.command.bdist_dumb — Build a “dumb” installer
    • distutils.command.bdist_msi — Build a Microsoft Installer binary package
    • distutils.command.bdist_rpm — Build a binary distribution as a Redhat RPM and SRPM
    • distutils.command.bdist_wininst — Build a Windows installer
    • distutils.command.sdist — Build a source distribution
    • distutils.command.build — Build all files of a package
    • distutils.command.build_clib — Build any C libraries in a package
    • distutils.command.build_ext — Build any extensions in a package
    • distutils.command.build_py — Build the .py/.pyc files of a package
    • distutils.command.build_scripts — Build the scripts of a package
    • distutils.command.clean — Clean a package build area
    • distutils.command.config — Perform package configuration
    • distutils.command.install — Install a package
    • distutils.command.install_data — Install data files from a package
    • distutils.command.install_headers — Install C/C++ header files from a package
    • distutils.command.install_lib — Install library files from a package
    • distutils.command.install_scripts — Install script files from a package
    • distutils.command.register — Register a module with the Python Package Index
    • Creating a new Distutils command

• Installing Python Modules
  • Introduction
    • Best case: trivial installation
    • The new standard: Distutils
  • Standard Build and Install
    • Platform variations
    • Splitting the job up
    • How building works
    • How installation works
  • Alternate Installation
    • Alternate installation: the home scheme
    • Alternate installation: Unix (the prefix scheme)
    • Alternate installation: Windows (the prefix scheme)
  • Custom Installation
    • Modifying Python’s Search Path
  • Distutils Configuration Files
    • Location and names of config files
    • Syntax of config files
  • Building Extensions: Tips and Tricks
    • Tweaking compiler/linker flags
    • Using non-Microsoft compilers on Windows
      • Borland/CodeGear C++
      • GNU C / Cygwin / MinGW

• Documenting Python
  • Introduction
  • Style Guide
  • reStructuredText Primer
    • Paragraphs
    • Inline markup
    • Lists and Quotes
    • Source Code
    • Hyperlinks
      • External links
      • Internal links
    • Sections
    • Explicit Markup
    • Directives
    • Footnotes
    • Comments
    • Source encoding
    • Gotchas
  • Additional Markup Constructs
    • File-wide metadata
    • Meta-information markup
    • Module-specific markup
    • Information units
    • Showing code examples
    • Inline markup
    • Cross-linking markup
    • Paragraph-level markup
    • Table-of-contents markup
    • Index-generating markup
    • Grammar production displays
    • Substitutions
  • Differences to the LaTeX markup
    • Inline markup
    • Information units
    • Structure
  • The Sphinx build system
    • The build configuration file
      • Builder-specific variables

• Python HOWTOs
  • Python Advocacy HOWTO
    • Reasons to Use Python
      • Programmability
      • Prototyping
      • Simplicity and Ease of Understanding
      • Java Integration
    • Arguments and Rebuttals
    • Useful Resources
  • Porting Extension Modules to 3.0
    • Conditional compilation
    • Changes to Object APIs
      • str/unicode Unification
      • long/int Unification
    • Module initialization and state
    • Other options
  • Curses Programming with Python
    • What is curses?
      • The Python curses module
    • Starting and ending a curses application
    • Windows and Pads
    • Displaying Text
      • Attributes and Color
    • User Input
    • For More Information
  • Idioms and Anti-Idioms in Python
    • Language Constructs You Should Not Use
      • from module import *
        • Inside Function Definitions
        • At Module Level
        • When It Is Just Fine
      • Unadorned exec, execfile() and friends
      • from module import name1, name2
      • except:
    • Exceptions
    • Using the Batteries
    • Using Backslash to Continue Statements
  • Functional Programming HOWTO
    • Introduction
      • Formal provability
      • Modularity
      • Ease of debugging and testing
      • Composability
    • Iterators
      • Data Types That Support Iterators
    • Generator expressions and list comprehensions
    • Generators
      • Passing values into a generator
    • Built-in functions
    • Small functions and the lambda expression
    • The itertools module
      • Creating new iterators
      • Calling functions on elements
      • Selecting elements
      • Grouping elements
    • The functools module
      • The operator module
      • The functional module
    • Revision History and Acknowledgements
    • References
      • General
      • Python-specific
      • Python documentation
  • Regular Expression HOWTO
    • Introduction
    • Simple Patterns
      • Matching Characters
      • Repeating Things
    • Using Regular Expressions
      • Compiling Regular Expressions
      • The Backslash Plague
      • Performing Matches
      • Module-Level Functions
      • Compilation Flags
    • More Pattern Power
      • More Metacharacters
      • Grouping
      • Non-capturing and Named Groups
      • Lookahead Assertions
    • Modifying Strings
      • Splitting Strings
      • Search and Replace
    • Common Problems
      • Use String Methods
      • match() versus search()
      • Greedy versus Non-Greedy
      • Not Using re.VERBOSE
    • Feedback
  • Socket Programming HOWTO
    • Sockets
      • History
    • Creating a Socket
      • IPC
    • Using a Socket
      • Binary Data
    • Disconnecting
      • When Sockets Die
    • Non-blocking Sockets
      • Performance
  • Unicode HOWTO
    • Introduction to Unicode
      • History of Character Codes
      • Definitions
      • Encodings
      • References
    • Python’s Unicode Support
      • The Unicode Type
      • Unicode Literals in Python Source Code
      • Unicode Properties
      • References
    • Reading and Writing Unicode Data
      • Unicode filenames
      • Tips for Writing Unicode-aware Programs
      • References
    • Revision History and Acknowledgements
  • HOWTO Fetch Internet Resources Using urllib2
    • Introduction
    • Fetching URLs
      • Data
      • Headers
    • Handling Exceptions
      • URLError
      • HTTPError
        • Error Codes
      • Wrapping it Up
        • Number 1
        • Number 2
    • info and geturl
    • Openers and Handlers
    • Basic Authentication
    • Proxies
    • Sockets and Layers
    • Footnotes
  • HOWTO Use Python in the web
    • The low-level view
      • Common Gateway Interface
        • Simple script for testing CGI
        • Setting up CGI on your own server
        • Common problems with CGI scripts
      • mod_python
      • FastCGI and SCGI
        • Setting up FastCGI
      • mod_wsgi
    • Step back: WSGI
      • WSGI Servers
      • Case study: MoinMoin
    • Model-view-controller
    • Ingredients for web sites
      • Templates
      • Data persistence
    • Frameworks
      • Some notable frameworks
        • Django
        • TurboGears
        • Other notable frameworks

• Glossary

• About these documents
  • Contributors to the Python Documentation

• Reporting Bugs in Python

• Copyright

• History and License
  • History of the software
  • Terms and conditions for accessing or otherwise using Python
  • Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software
    • Mersenne Twister
    • Sockets
    • Floating point exception control
    • MD5 message digest algorithm
    • Asynchronous socket services
    • Cookie management
    • Profiling
    • Execution tracing
    • UUencode and UUdecode functions
    • XML Remote Procedure Calls
    • test_epoll
    • Select kqueue