PythonQuickReference PDF
PythonQuickReference PDF
PythonQuickReference PDF
1 Quick Reference
Contents
Front matter
Invocation Options
Environment Variables
Lexical Entities : keywords, identifiers, strings, numbers, sequences, dictionaries, operators
Basic Types And Their Operations
Advanced Types
Statements
Built In Functions
Built In Exceptions
Standard methods & operators redefinition in user-created Classes
Special informative state attributes for some types
Important Modules : sys, os, posix, posixpath, shutil, time, string, re, math, getopt
List of modules In base distribution
Workspace Exploration And Idiom Hints
Python Mode for Emacs
The Python Debugger
Version 2.1.2
The latest version is to be found here.
NB: features added in 2.1 since 2.0 are coloured dark green.
NB: features added in 2.0 since 1.5.2 are coloured dark magenta.
Based on:
Python Bestiary, Author: Ken Manheimer, ken.manheimer@nist.gov
Python manuals, Authors: Guido van Rossum and Fred Drake
What’s new in Python 2.0, Authors: A.M. Kuchling and Moshe Zadka
python-mode.el, Author: Tim Peters, tim_one@email.msn.com
and the readers of comp.lang.python
Python’s nest: http://www.python.org
Development: http://python.sourceforge.net/
ActivePython : http://www.ActiveState.com/ASPN/Python/
newsgroup: comp.lang.python
Help desk: help@python.org
Resources: http://starship.python.net/ and http://www.vex.net/parnassus/
Full documentation: http://www.python.org/doc/
An excellent Python reference book: Python Essential Reference by David Beazley (New Riders)
Invocation Options
python [-diOStuUvxX?] [-c command | script | - ] [args]
Invocation Options
Option Effect
-d Outputs parser debugging information (also PYTHONDEBUG=x)
Inspect interactively after running script (also PYTHONINSPECT=x) and force prompts, even
-i
if stdin appears not to be a terminal
-O Optimize generated bytecode (set __debug__ = 0 =>s suppresses asserts)
-S Don’t perform ’import site’ on initialization
-t Issue warnings about inconsistent tab usage (-tt: issue errors)
-u Unbuffered binary stdout and stderr (also PYTHONUNBUFFERED=x).
-U Force Python to interpret all string literals as Unicode literals.
-v Verbose (trace import statements) (also PYTHONVERBOSE=x)
-x Skip first line of source, allowing use of non-unix Forms of #!cmd
Disable class based built-in exceptions (for backward compatibility management of
-X
exceptions)
-? Help!
Specify the command to execute (see next section). This terminates the option list
-c command
(following options are passed as arguments to the command).
the name of a python file (.py) to execute read from stdin.
script Anything afterward is passed as options to python script or command, not interpreted as
an option to interpreter itself.
args passed to script or command (in sys.argv[1:])
If no script or command, Python enters interactive mode.
Available IDEs in std distrib: IDLE (tkinter based, portable), Pythonwin (Windows).
Environment variables
Environment variables
Variable Effect
Alternate prefix directory (or prefix;exec_prefix). The default module
PYTHONHOME
search path uses prefix/lib
Augments the default search path for module files. The format is the same
as the shell’s $PATH: one or more directory pathnames separated by ’:’ or
’;’ without spaces around (semi-)colons!
PYTHONPATH On Windows first search for Registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Python\PythonCore\x.y\PythonPath
(default value). You may also define a key named after your application
with a default string value giving the root directory path of your app.
If this is the name of a readable file, the Python commands in that file are
PYTHONSTARTUP executed before the first prompt is displayed in interactive mode (no
default).
PYTHONDEBUG If non-empty, same as -d option
PYTHONINSPECT If non-empty, same as -i option
PYTHONSUPPRESS If non-empty, same as -s option
PYTHONUNBUFFERED If non-empty, same as -u option
PYTHONVERBOSE If non-empty, same as -v option
PYTHONCASEOK If non-empty, ignore case in file/module names (imports)
Exception: can always break when inside any (), [], or {} pair, or in triple-quoted strings.
More than one statement can appear on a line if they are separated with semicolons (";").
Comments start with "#" and continue to end of line.
Identifiers
(letter | "_") (letter | digit | "_")*
String literals
Literal
"a string enclosed by double quotes"
’another string delimited by single quotes and with a " inside’
’’’a string containing embedded newlines and quote (’) marks, can be delimited with triple quotes.’’’
""" may also use 3- double quotes as delimiters """
u’a unicode string’
U"Another unicode string"
r’a raw string where \ are kept (literalized): handy for regular expressions and windows paths!’
R"another raw string" -- raw strings cannot end with a \
ur’a unicode raw string’
UR"another raw unicode"
NUL byte (\000) is NOT an end-of-string marker; NULs may be embedded in strings.
Strings (and tuples) are immutable: they cannot be modified.
Numbers
Decimal integer: 1234, 1234567890546378940L (or l)
Octal integer: 0177, 0177777777777777777L (begin with a 0)
Hex integer: 0xFF, 0XFFFFffffFFFFFFFFFFL (begin with 0x or 0X)
Long integer (unlimited precision): 1234567890123456L (ends with L or l)
Float (double precision): 3.14e-10, .001, 10., 1E3
Complex: 1J, 2+3J, 4+5j (ends with J or j, + separates (float) real and imaginary
parts)
Sequences
String of length 0, 1, 2 (see above)
’’, ’1’, "12", ’hello\n’
Tuple of length 0, 1, 2, etc:
() (1,) (1,2) # parentheses are optional if len > 0
List of length 0, 1, 2, etc:
[] [1] [1,2]
Indexing is 0-based. Negative indices (usually) mean count backwards from end of sequence.
a = (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
a[3] ==> 3
a[-1] ==> 7
a[2:4] ==> (2, 3)
a[1:] ==> (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
a[:3] ==> (0, 1, 2)
a[:] ==> (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7) # makes a copy of the sequence.
Dictionaries (Mappings)
Dictionary of length 0, 1, 2, etc:
{} {1 : ’first’} {1 : ’first’, ’next’: ’second’}
Alternate names are defined in module operator (e.g. __add__ and add for +)
Most operators are overridable
Basic Types and Their Operations
Comparisons (defined between *any* types)
Comparisons
Comparison Meaning Notes
< strictly less than (1)
<= less than or equal to
> strictly greater than
>= greater than or equal to
== equal to
!= or <> not equal to
is object identity (2)
is not negated object identity (2)
Notes :
Comparison behavior can be overridden for a given class by defining special method __cmp__.
(1) X < Y < Z < W has expected meaning, unlike C
(2) Compare object identities (i.e. id(object)), not object values.
None
None is used as default return value on functions. Built-in single object with type NoneType.
Input that evaluates to None does not print when running Python interactively.
Numeric types
Floats, integers and long integers.
Bit operators
Operation >Result
~
x the bits of x inverted
x^y bitwise exclusive or of x and y
x&y bitwise and of x and y
x|y bitwise or of x and y
x << n x shifted left by n bits
x >> n x shifted right by n bits
Complex Numbers
Numeric exceptions
TypeError
raised on application of arithmetic operation to non-number
OverflowError
numeric bounds exceeded
ZeroDivisionError
raised when zero second argument of div or modulo op
Notes :
(1) if i or j is negative, the index is relative to the end of the string, ie len(s)+ i or len(s)+ j is
substituted. But note that -0 is still 0.
(2) The slice of s from i to j is defined as the sequence of items with index k such that i <= k < j.
If i or j is greater thanlen(s), use len(s). If i is omitted, use len(s). If i is greater than or
equal to j, the slice is empty.
Notes :
(1) raise a ValueError exception when x is not found in s (i.e. out of range).
(2) The sort() method takes an optional argument specifying a comparison fct of 2 arguments (list
items) which should
return -1, 0, or 1 depending on whether the 1st argument is considered smaller than, equal to, or
larger than the 2nd
argument. Note that this slows the sorting process down considerably.
(3) The sort() and reverse() methods modify the list in place for economy of space when sorting or
reversing a large list.
They don’t return the sorted or reversed list to remind you of this side effect.
(4) The pop() method is not supported by mutable sequence types other than lists.
The optional argument i defaults to -1, so that by default the last item is removed and returned.
(5) Raises an exception when x is not a list object.
Operations on mappings
Operation Result Notes
len(d) the number of items in d
d[k] the item of d with key k (1)
d[k] = x set d[k] to x
del d[k] remove d[k] from d (1)
d.clear() remove all items from d
d.copy() a shallow copy of d
d.has_key(k) 1 if d has key k, else 0
d.items() a copy of d’s list of (key, item) pairs (2)
d.keys() a copy of d’s list of keys (2)
d1.update(d2) for k, v in d2.items(): d1[k] = v (3)
d.values() a copy of d’s list of values (2)
d.get(k,defaultval) the item of d with key k (4)
d.setdefault(k,defaultval) the item of d with key k (5)
d.popitem() an arbitrary item of d, and removes item.
Notes :
TypeError is raised if key is not acceptable
(1) KeyError is raised if key k is not in the map
(2) Keys and values are listed in random order
(3) d2 must be of the same type as d1
(4) Never raises an exception if k is not in the map, instead it returns defaultVal. defaultVal
is optional, when not provided and k is not in the map, None is returned.
(5) Never raises an exception if k is not in the map, instead it returns defaultVal, and adds k
to map with value defaultVal. defaultVal is optional. When not provided and k is not in the
map, None is returned and added to map.
Operations on strings
Note that these string methods largely (but not completely) supersede the functions available in the
string module.
Operations on strings
Operation Result Notes
s.capitalize() return a copy of s with only its first character capitalized.
s.center(width) return a copy of s centered in a string of length width. (1)
s.count(sub[,start[,end]]) return the number of occurrences of substring sub in string s. (2)
return an encoded version of s. Default encoding is the
s.encode([encoding[,errors]]) (3)
current default string encoding.
return true if s ends with the specified suffix, otherwise return
s.endswith(suffix[,start[,end]]) (2)
false.
return a copy of s where all tab characters are expanded using
s.expandtabs([tabsize]) (4)
spaces.
return the lowest index in s where substring sub is found.
s.find(sub[,start[,end]]) (2)
Return -1 if sub is not found.
like find(), but raise ValueError when the substring is not
s.index(sub[,start[,end]]) (2)
found.
return true if all characters in s are alphanumeric, false
s.isalnum() (5)
otherwise.
return true if all characters in s are alphabetic, false
s.isalpha() (5)
otherwise.
return true if all characters in s are digit characters, false
s.isdigit() (5)
otherwise.
return true if all characters in s are lowercase, false
s.islower() (6)
otherwise.
return true if all characters in s are whitespace characters,
s.isspace() (5)
false otherwise.
s.istitle() return true if string s is a titlecased string, false otherwise. (7)
return true if all characters in s are uppercase, false
s.isupper() (6)
otherwise.
return a concatenation of the strings in the sequence seq,
s.join(seq)
seperated by ’s’s.
s.ljust(width) return s left justified in a string of length width. (1), (8)
s.lower() return a copy of s converted to lowercase.
s.lstrip() return a copy of s with leading whitespace removed.
return a copy of s with all occurrences of substring old
s.replace(old, new[, maxsplit]) (9)
replaced by new.
return the highest index in s where substring sub is found.
s.rfind(sub[,start[,end]]) (2)
Return -1 if sub is not found.
like rfind(), but raise ValueError when the substring is not
s.rindex(sub[,start[,end]]) (2)
found.
s.rjust(width) return s right justified in a string of length width. (1), (8)
s.rstrip() return a copy of s with trailing whitespace removed.
return a list of the words in s, using sep as the delimiter
s.split([sep[,maxsplit]]) (10)
string.
s.splitlines([keepends]) return a list of the lines in s, breaking at line boundaries. (11)
return true if s starts with the specified prefix, otherwise
s.startswith(prefix[,start[,end]]) (2)
return false.
return a copy of s with leading and trailing whitespace
s.strip()
removed.
return a copy of s with uppercase characters converted to
s.swapcase()
lowercase and vice versa.
return a titlecased copy of s, i.e. words start with uppercase
s.title()
characters, all remaining cased characters are lowercase.
s.translate(table[,deletechars]) return a copy of s mapped through translation table table. (12)
s.upper() return a copy of s converted to uppercase.
Notes :
(1) Padding is done using spaces.
(2) If optional argument start is supplied, substring s[start:] is processed. If optional arguments start
and end are supplied, substring s[start:end] is processed.
(3) Optional argument errors may be given to set a different error handling scheme. The default for
errors is ’strict’, meaning that encoding errors raise a ValueError. Other possible values are ’ignore’
and ’replace’.
(4) If optional argument tabsize is not given, a tab size of 8 characters is assumed.
(5) Returns false if string s does not contain at least one character.
(6) Returns false if string s does not contain at least one cased character.
(7) A titlecased string is a string in which uppercase characters may only follow uncased characters
and lowercase characters only cased ones.
(8) s is returned if width is less than len(s).
(9) If the optional argument maxsplit is given, only the first maxsplit occurrences are replaced.
(10) If sep is not specified or None, any whitespace string is a separator. If maxsplit is given, at most
maxsplit splits are done.
(11) Line breaks are not included in the resulting list unless keepends is given and true.
(12) table must be a string of length 256. All characters occurring in the optional argument
deletechars are removed prior to translation.
File Objects
Created with built-in function open; may be created by other modules’ functions as well.
File operations
Operation Result
f .close() Close file f .
f .fileno() Get fileno (fd) for file f .
f .flush() Flush file f ’s internal buffer.
f .isatty() 1 if file f is connected to a tty-like dev, else 0.
Read at most size bytes from file f and return as a string object. If size
f .read([size])
omitted, read to EOF.
f .readline() Read one entire line from file f .
f .readlines() Read until EOF with readline() and return list of lines read.
Return a sequence-like object for reading a file line-by-line without reading
f .xreadlines()
the entire file into memory.
Set file f ’s position, like "stdio’s fseek()".
whence == 0 then use absolute indexing.
f .seek(offset[, whence=0])
whence == 1 then offset relative to current pos.
whence == 2 then offset relative to file end.
f .tell() Return file f ’s current position (byte offset).
f .write(str) Write string to file f .
f .writelines(list) Write list of strings to file f .
File Exceptions
EOFError
End-of-file hit when reading (may be raised many times, e.g. if f is a tty).
IOError
Other I/O-related I/O operation failure
Advanced Types
-See manuals for more details -
Module objects
Class objects
Class instance objects
Type objects (see module: types)
File objects (see above)
Slice objects
XRange objects
Callable types:
Statements
Statement Result
pass Null statement
Unbind name(s) from object. Object will be indirectly(and
del name[,name]*
automatically) deleted only if no longer referenced.
Writes to sys.stdout, or to fileobject if supplied. Puts spaces
between arguments. Puts newline at endunless statement ends
print[>> fileobject,] [s1 [, s2 ]* [,] with comma. Print is not required when running interactively,
simply typing an expression will print its value, unless the value
is None.
Executes x in namespaces provided. Defaultsto current
exec x [in globals [,locals]]
namespaces. x can be a string, fileobject or a function object.
Call function callable with parameters. Parameters can be passed
by name or be omitted if functiondefines default values. E.g. if
callable is defined as "def callable(p1=1, p2=2)"
callable(value,... [id=value], [*args], "callable()" <=> "callable(1, 2)"
[**kw]) "callable(10)" <=> "callable(10, 2)"
"callable(p2=99)" <=> "callable(1, 99)"
*args is a tuple of positional arguments.
**kw is a dictionary of keyword arguments.
Assignment operators
Assignment operators
Operator Result Notes
a=b Basic assignment - assign object b to label a (1)
a += b Roughly equivalent to a = a + b (2)
a -= b Roughly equivalent to a = a - b (2)
a *= b Roughly equivalent to a = a * b (2)
a /= b Roughly equivalent to a = a / b (2)
a %= b Roughly equivalent to a = a % b (2)
a **= b Roughly equivalent to a = a ** b (2)
a &= b Roughly equivalent to a = a & b (2)
a |= b Roughly equivalent to a = a | b (2)
a ^= b Roughly equivalent to a = a ^ b (2)
a >>= b Roughly equivalent to a = a >> b (2)
a <<= b Roughly equivalent to a = a << b (2)
Notes :
(1) Can unpack tuples, lists, and strings.
first, second = a[0:2]; [f, s] = range(2); c1,c2,c3=’abc’
Tip: x,y = y,x swaps x and y.
(2) Not exactly equivalent - a is evaluated only once. Also, where possible, operation performed
in-place - a is modified rather than replaced.
Control flow statements
Statement Result
if condition: suite
[elif condition: suite]* usual if/else_if/else statement
[else: suite]
while condition: suite usual while statement. "else" suite is executedafter loop exits, unless the
[else: suite] loop is exited with"break"
for element in sequence: iterates over sequence, assigning each element to element.Use built-in
suite range function to iterate a number of times."else" suite executed at end
[else: suite] unless loop exitedwith "break"
break immediately exits "for" or "while" loop
continue immediately does next iteration of "for" or "while" loop
Exits from function (or method) and returns result (use a tuple to return
return [result]
more than one value). If no result given, then returns None.
Exception statements
Statement Result
expr is evaluated. if false, raises exception AssertionErrorwith message.
assert expr[, message]
Inhibited if __debug__ is 0.
Statements in suite1 are executed. If an exception occurs, lookin
try: suite1 "except" clauses for matching <exception>. If matches or bare"except"
[except [exception [, value]: execute suite of that clause. If no exception happenssuite in "else"
suite2]+ clause is executed after suite1.If exception has a value, it is put in
[else: suite3] value.exception can also be tuple of exceptions, e.g."except (KeyError,
NameError), val: print val"
Statements in suite1 are executed. If noexception, execute suite2 (even
try: suite1 if suite1 isexited with a "return", "break" or "continue"statement). If
finally: suite2 exception did occur, executessuite2 and then immediately reraises
exception.
raise exception [,value [, Raises exception with optional valuevalue. Arg traceback specifies a
traceback]] traceback object touse when printing the exception’s backtrace.
A raise statement without arguments re-raises the last exception raised
raise
in the current function
Exception classes must be derived from the predefined class: Exception, e.g.:
class text_exception(Exception): pass
try:
if bad:
raise text_exception()
# This is a shorthand for the form
# "raise <class>, <instance>"
except Exception:
print ’Oops’
# This will be printed because
# text_exception is a subclass of Exception
When an error message is printed for an unhandled exception which is a
class, the class name is printed, then a colon and a space, and
finally the instance converted to a string using the built-in function
str().
Function Definition
def func_id ([param_list]): suite
-- Creates a function object & binds it to name func_id.
param_list ::= [id [, id]*]
id ::= value | id = value | *id | **id
Example:
def test (p1, p2 = 1+1, *rest, **keywords):
-- Parameters with "=" have default value (v is
evaluated when function defined).
If list has "*id" then id is assigned a tuple of
all remaining args passed to function (like C vararg)
If list has "**id" then id is assigned a dictionary of
all extra arguments passed as keywords.
Class Definition
class <class_id> [(<super_class1> [,<super_class2>]*)]: <suite>
-- Creates a class object and assigns it name <class_id>
<suite> may contain local "defs" of class methods and
assignments to class attributes.
Example:
class my_class (class1, class_list[3]): ...
Creates a class object inheriting from both "class1" and whatever
class object "class_list[3]" evaluates to. Assigns new
class object to name "my_class".
- First arg to class methods is always instance object, called ’self’
by convention.
- Special method __init__() is called when instance is created.
- Special method __del__() called when no more reference to object.
- Create instance by "calling" class object, possibly with arg
(thus instance=apply(aClassObject, args...) creates an instance!)
- In current implementation, can’t subclass off built-in
classes. But can "wrap" them, see UserDict & UserList modules,
and see __getattr__() below.
Example:
class c (c_parent):
def __init__(self, name): self.name = name
def print_name(self): print "I’m", self.name
def call_parent(self): c_parent.print_name(self)
instance = c(’tom’)
print instance.name
’tom’
instance.print_name()
"I’m tom"
Call parent’s super class by accessing parent’s method
directly and passing "self" explicitly (see "call_parent"
in example above).
Many other special methods available for implementing
arithmetic operators, sequence, mapping indexing, etc.
Documentation Strings
Modules, classes and functions may be documented by placing a string literal by itself as the first
statement in the suite. The documentation can be retrieved by getting the ’__doc__’ attribute from the
module, class or function.
Example:
class C:
"A description of C"
def __init__(self):
"A description of the constructor"
# etc.
Then c.__doc__ == "A description of C".
Then c.__init__.__doc__ == "A description of the constructor".
Others
lambda [param_list]: returnedExpr
-- Creates an anonymous function. returnedExpr must be
an expression, not a statement (e.g., not "if xx:...",
"print xxx", etc.) and thus can’t contain newlines.
Used mostly for filter(), map(), reduce() functions, and GUI callbacks..
List comprehensions
result = [expression for item1 in sequence1 [if condition1]
[for item2 in sequence2 ... for itemN in sequenceN]
]
is equivalent to:
result = []
for item1 in sequence1:
for item2 in sequence2:
...
for itemN in sequenceN :
if (condition1) and further conditions:
result.append(expression)
Built-In Functions
Built-In Functions
Function Result
__import__(name[, globals[, locals[, from Imports module within the given context (see lib ref
list]]]) for more details)
abs(x) Return the absolute value of number x.
Calls func/method f with arguments args and optional
apply( f , args[, keywords])
keywords.
callable(x) Returns 1 if x callable, else 0.
Returns one-character string whose ASCII code
chr(i)
isinteger i
cmp(x,y) Returns negative, 0, positive if x <, ==, > to y
Returns a tuple of the two numeric arguments
coerce(x,y)
converted to a common type.
Compiles string into a code object. filename is used in
error message, can be any string. It is usually the file
from which the code was read, or eg. ’<string>’if not
compile(string, filename, kind) read from file.kind can be ’eval’ if string is a single
stmt, or ’single’ which prints the output of expression
statements that evaluate to something else than None,
or be ’exec’.
Builds a complex object (can also be done using J or j
complex(real[, image])
suffix,e.g. 1+3J)
deletes attribute named name of object obj <=> del
delattr(obj, name)
obj.name
If no args, returns the list of names in current local
dir([object]) symbol table. With a module, class or class instance
object as arg, returns list of names in its attr. dict.
divmod(a,b) Returns tuple of (a/b, a%b)
Eval string s in (optional) globals, locals contexts. s
eval(s[, globals[, locals]]) must have no NUL’s or newlines. s can also be a code
object.Example: x = 1; incr_x = eval(’x + 1’)
Executes a file without creating a new module, unlike
execfile( file[, globals[, locals]])
import.
Constructs a list from those elements of sequence for
filter( function, sequence) which function returns true. function takes one
parameter.
float(x) Converts a number or a string to floating point.
Gets attribute called name from object,e.g. getattr(x,
getattr(object, name[, default])) ’f’) <=> x.f). If not found, raises AttributeError or
returns default if specified.
Returns a dictionary containing current global
globals()
variables.
hasattr(object, name) Returns true if object has attr called name.
hash(object) Returns the hash value of the object (if it has one)
hex(x) Converts a number x to a hexadecimal string.
id(object) Returns a unique ’identity’ integer for an object.
input([prompt]) Prints prompt if given. Reads input and evaluates it.
Converts a number or a string to a plain integer.
int(x[, base]) Optional base paramenter specifies base from which
to convert string values.
Enters aString in the table of "interned strings" and
intern(aString)
returns the string. Interned strings are ’immortals’.
returns true if obj is an instance of class. If
isinstance(obj, class) issubclass(A,B) then isinstance(x,A) =>
isinstance(x,B)
issubclass(class1, class2) returns true if class1 is derived from class2
Returns the length (the number of items) of an object
len(obj) (sequence, dictionary, or instance of class
implementing __len__).
Converts sequence into a list. If already a list, returns
list(sequence)
a copy of it.
Returns a dictionary containing current local
locals()
variables.
Converts a number or a string to a long integer.
long(x[, base]) Optional base paramenter specifies base from which
to convert string values.
Applies function to every item of list and returns a list
of the results. If additional arguments are passed,
map( function, list, ...)
function must take that many arguments and it is
givent o function on each call.
Returns the largest item of the non-empty sequence
max(seq)
seq.
Returns the smallest item of a non-empty sequence
min(seq)
seq.
oct(x) Converts a number to an octal string.
Returns a new file object. filename is the file name to
be opened. mode indicates how the file is to be
opened:
’r’ for reading
’w’ for writing (truncating an existing file)
open( filename [, mode=’r’, ’a’ opens it for appending
[bufsize=implementation dependent]]) ’+’ (appended to any of the previous modes) open the
file for updating (note that ’w+’ truncates the file)
’b’ (appended to any of the previous modes) open the
file in binary mode
bufsize is 0 for unbuffered, 1 for line-buffered,
negative for sys-default, all else, of (about) given size.
Returns integer ASCII value of c (a string of len 1).
ord(c)
Works with Unicode char.
pow(x, y [, z
Applies the binary function f to the items oflist so as
reduce( f , list [, init]) to reduce the list to a single value.I f init given, it is
"prepended" to list.
Re-parses and re-initializes an already imported
module. Useful in interactive mode, if you want to
reload(module) reload a module after fixing it. If module was
syntactically correct but had an error in initialization,
must import it one more time before calling reload().
Returns a string containing a printable and if possible
evaluable representation of an object. <=> ‘object‘
repr(object)
(using backquotes). Class redefineable (__repr__). See
also str()
Returns the floating point value x rounded to n digits
round(x, n=0)
after the decimal point.
This is the counterpart of getattr().setattr(o, ’foobar’,
setattr(object, name, value) 3) <=> o.foobar = 3 Creates attribute if it doesn’t
exist!
Returns a slice object representing a range, with R/O
slice([start,] stop[, step])
attributes: start, stop, step.
Returns a string containing a nicely printable
str(object) representation of an object. Class overridable
(__str__).See also repr().
Creates a tuple with same elements as sequence. If
tuple(sequence)
already a tuple, return itself (not a copy).
Returns a type object [see module types] representing
the type of obj. Example: import types if type(x) ==
type(obj) types.StringType: print ’It is a string’NB: it is
recommended to use the following form:if
isinstance(x, types.StringType): etc...
unichr(code) Returns a unicode string 1 char long with given code.
Creates a Unicode string from a 8-bit string, using the
unicode(string[, encoding[, error]]]) given encoding name and error treatment (’strict’,
’ignore’,or ’replace’}.
Without arguments, returns a dictionary corresponding
to the current local symbol table. With a module,class
vars([object]) or class instance object as argument returns a
dictionary corresponding to the object’ss ymbol table.
Useful with "%" formatting operator.
Like range(), but doesn’t actually store entire list all at
xrange(start [, end [, step]]) once. Good to use in "for" loops when there is abig
range and little memory.
Returns a list of tuples where each tuple contains the
zip(seq1[, seq2, ...])
nth element of each of the argument sequences.
Built-In Exceptions
Exception
Root class for all exceptions
SystemExit
On ’sys.exit()’
StandardError
Base class for all built-in exceptions; derived from Exception root class.
ArithmeticError
Base class for OverflowError, ZeroDivisionError, FloatingPointError
FloatingPointError
When a floating point operation fails.
OverflowError
AssertionError
When an assert statement fails.
AttributeError
IndentationError
On parser encountering an indentation syntax error
TabError
On parser encountering an indentation syntax error
SystemError
On non-fatal interpreter error - bug - report it
TypeError
On passing inappropriate type to built-in op or func
ValueError
On arg error not covered by TypeError or more precise
Operators
See list in the operator module. Operator function names are provided with 2 variants, with
or without leading & trailing ’__’ (eg. __add__ or add).
Modules
Attribute Meaning
__doc__ (string/None, R/O): doc string (<=> __dict__[’__doc__’])
__name__ (string, R/O): module name (also in __dict__[’__name__’])
__dict__ (dict, R/O): module’s name space
(string/undefined, R/O): pathname of .pyc, .pyo or .pyd (undef for modules statically linked
__file__
to the interpreter)
__path__ (string/undefined, R/O): fully qualified package name when applies.
Classes
Attribute Meaning
__doc__ (string/None, R/W): doc string (<=> __dict__[’__doc__’])
__name__ (string, R/W): class name (also in __dict__[’__name__’])
__bases__ (tuple, R/W): parent classes
__dict__ (dict, R/W): attributes (class name space)
Instances
Attribute Meaning
__class__ (class, R/W): instance’s class
__dict__ (dict, R/W): attributes
User-defined Methods
Attribute Meaning
__doc__ (string/None, R/O): doc string
__name__ (string, R/O): method name (same as im_func.__name__)
im_class (class, R/O): class defining the method (may be a base class)
im_self (instance/None, R/O): target instance object (None if unbound)
im_func (function, R/O): function object
Codes
Attribute Meaning
co_name (string, R/O): function name
co_argcount (int, R/0): number of positional args
co_nlocals (int, R/O): number of local vars (including args)
co_varnames (tuple, R/O): names of local vars (starting with args)
co_code (string, R/O): sequence of bytecode instructions
co_consts (tuple, R/O): literals used by the bytecode, 1st one is function doc (or None)
co_names (tuple, R/O): names used by the bytecode
co_filename (string, R/O): filename from which the code was compiled
co_firstlineno (int, R/O): first line number of the function
co_lnotab (string, R/O): string encoding bytecode offsets to line numbers.
co_stacksize (int, R/O): required stack size (including local vars)
co_firstlineno (int, R/O): first line number of the function
(int, R/O): flags for the interpreter bit 2 set if fct uses "*arg" syntaxbit 3 set if fct uses
co_flags
’**keywords’ syntax
Frames
Attribute Meaning
f_back (frame/None, R/O): previous stack frame (toward the caller)
f_code (code, R/O): code object being executed in this frame
f_locals (dict, R/O): local vars
f_globals (dict, R/O): global vars
f_builtins (dict, R/O): built-in (intrinsic) names
f_restricted (int, R/O): flag indicating whether fct is executed in restricted mode
f_lineno (int, R/O): current line number
f_lasti (int, R/O): precise instruction (index into bytecode)
f_trace (function/None, R/W): debug hook called at start of each source line
f_exc_type (Type/None, R/W): Most recent exception type
f_exc_value (any, R/W): Most recent exception value
f_exc_traceback (traceback/None, R/W): Most recent exception traceback
Tracebacks
Attribute Meaning
(frame/None, R/O): next level in stack trace (toward the frame where the exception
tb_next
occurred)
tb_frame (frame, R/O): execution frame of the current level
tb_lineno (int, R/O): line number where the exception occured
tb_lasti (int, R/O): precise instruction (index into bytecode)
Slices
Attribute Meaning
start (any/None, R/O): lowerbound
stop (any/None, R/O): upperbound
step (any/None, R/O): step value
Complex numbers
Attribute Meaning
real (float, R/O): real part
imag (float, R/O): imaginary part
xranges
Attribute Meaning
tolist (Built-in method, R/O): ?
Important Modules
sys
Some sys variables
Variable Content
The list of command line arguments passed to a Python script.
argv
sys.argv[0] is the script name.
A list of strings giving the names of all modules written in C that
builtin_module_names
are linked into this interpreter.
How often to check for thread switches or signals (measured in
check_interval
number of virtual machine instructions)
User can set to a parameterless function. It will get called before
exitfunc
interpreter exits.
Set only when an exception not handled and interpreter prints an
last_type, last_value, last_traceback
error. Used by debuggers.
maxint maximum positive value for integers
modules Dictionary of modules that have already been loaded.
Search path for external modules. Can be modified by program.
path
sys.path[0] == dir of script executing
platform The current platform, e.g. "sunos5", "win32"
ps1, ps2 prompts to use in interactive mode.
File objects used for I/O. One can redirect by assigning a new file
stdin, stdout, stderr object to them (or any object: with a method write(string) for
stdout/stderr, or with a method readline() for stdin)
string containing version info about Python interpreter. (and also:
version
copyright, dllhandle, exec_prefix, prefix)
tuple containing Python version info - (major, minor, micro, level,
version_info
serial).
Some sys functions
Function Result
The function used to display the output of commands issued in
displayhook
interactive mode - defaults to the builtin repr().
Can be set to a user defined function, to which any uncaught exceptions
excepthook
are passed.
Exits with status n. Raises SystemExit exception.(Hence can be caught
exit(n)
and ignored by program)
Returns the reference count of the object. Generally 1 higher than you
getrefcount(object)
might expect, because of object arg temp reference.
Sets the interpreter’s thread switching interval (in number of virtualcode
setcheckinterval(interval)
instructions, default:10).
settrace( func) Sets a trace function: called before each line ofcode is exited.
setprofile( func) Sets a profile function for performance profiling.
Info on exception currently being handled; this is atuple (exc_type,
exc_value, exc_traceback).Warning: assigning the traceback return
exc_info()
value to a local variable in a function handling an exception will cause a
circular reference.
setdefaultencoding(encoding) Change default Unicode encoding - defaults to 7-bit ASCII.
getrecursionlimit() Retrieve maximum recursion depth.
setrecursionlimit() Set maximum recursion depth. (Defaults to 1000.)
os
"synonym" for whatever O/S-specific module is proper for current environment. this module uses posix
whenever possible.
(see also M.A. Lemburg’s utility platform.py)
Some os variables
Variable Meaning
name name of O/S-specific module (e.g. "posix", "mac", "nt")
O/S-specific module for path manipulations.
path
On Unix, os.path.split() <=> posixpath.split()
curdir string used to represent current directory (’.’)
pardir string used to represent parent directory (’..’)
sep string used to separate directories (’/’ or ’\’). Tip: use os.path.join() to build portable paths.
altsep Alternate sep if applicable (None otherwise)
pathsep character used to separate search path components (as in $PATH), eg. ’;’ for windows.
linesep line separator as used in binary files, ie ’\n’ on Unix, ’\r\n’ on Dos/Win, ’\r’
Some os functions
Function Result
Recursive directory creation (create required intermediary dirs); os.error
makedirs(path[, mode=0777])
if fails.
removedirs(path) Recursive directory delete (delete intermediary empty dirs); if fails.
renames(old, new) Recursive directory or file renaming; os.error if fails.
posix
don’t import this module directly, import os instead !
(see also module: shutil for file copy & remove fcts)
posix Variables
Variable Meaning
environ dictionary of environment variables, e.g.posix.environ[’HOME’].
exception raised on POSIX-related error.
error
Corresponding value is tuple of errno code and perror()
Opens a pipe to or from command. Result is a file object to read
popen(command, mode=’r’,
to or write from, as indicated by mode being ’r’ or ’w’. Use it to
bufSize=0)
catch a command output (’r’ mode) or to feed it (’w’ mode).
remove(path) See unlink.
Renames/moves the file or directory src to dst. [error if target
rename(src, dst)
name already exists]
rmdir(path) Removes the empty directory path
read( fd, n) Reads n bytes from file descriptor fd and return as string.
Returns st_mode, st_ino, st_dev, st_nlink, st_uid,st_gid, st_size,
stat(path) st_atime, st_mtime, st_ctime. [st_ino, st_uid, st_gid are dummy
on Windows]
Executes string command in a subshell. Returns exit status of
system(command)
subshell (usually 0 means OK).
Returns accumulated CPU times in sec (user, system, children’s
times()
user,children’s sys, elapsed real time). [3 last not on Windows]
unlink(path) Unlinks ("deletes") the file (not dir!) path. same as: remove
Sets the access & modified time of the file to the given tuple of
utime(path, (aTime, mTime))
values.
Waits for child pro3 0 ile cdionll. Returnn tuple p_uiof
wait()
Function Result
abspath(p) Returns absolute path for path p, taking current working dir in account.
dirname/basename(p) directory and name parts of the path p. See also split.
exists(p) True if string p is an existing path (file or directory)
expanduser(p) Returns string that is (a copy of) p with "~" expansion done.
Returns string that is (a copy of) p with environment vars expanded. [Windows:
expandvars(p)
case significant; must use Unix: $var notation, not %var%]
getsize( filename) return the size in bytes of filename. raise os.error.
getmtime( filename) return last modification time of filename (integer nb of seconds since epoch).
getatime( filename) return last access time of filename (integer nb of seconds since epoch).
isabs(p) True if string p is an absolute path.
isdir(p) True if string p is a directory.
islink(p) True if string p is a symbolic link.
ismount(p) True if string p is a mount point [true for all dirs on Windows].
join(p[,q[,...]]) Joins one or more path components intelligently.
Splits p into (head, tail) where tail is last pathname component and <head> is
split(p)
everything leading up to that. <=> (dirname(p), basename(p))
splitdrive(p) Splits path p in a pair (’drive:’, tail) [Windows]
Splits into (root, ext) where last comp of root contains no periods and ext is
splitext(p)
empty or starts with a period.
Calls the function visit with arguments(arg, dirname, names) for each directory
recursively in the directory tree rooted at p (including p itself if it’s a dir.) The
argument dirname specifies the visited directory, the argument names lists the
walk(p, visit, arg)
files in the directory. The visit function may modify names to influence the set
of directories visited belowdirname, e.g., to avoid visiting certain parts of the
tree.
shutil
high-level file operations (copying, deleting).
Main shutil functions
Function Result
Copies the contents of file src to file dst, retaining file
copy(src, dst)
permissions.
Recursively copies an entire directory tree rooted at srcinto dst
copytree(src, dst[, symlinks]) (which should not already exist). If symlinks is true, links insrc
are kept as such in dst.
Deletes an entire directory tree, ignoring errors if ignore_errors
rmtree(path[, ignore_errors[,
true,or calling onerror(func, path, sys.exc_info()) if supplied
onerror]])
with func: faulty function, path: concerned file.
(and also: copyfile, copymode, copystat, copy2)
time
Variables
Variable Meaning
altzone signed offset of local DST timezone in sec west of the 0th meridian.
daylight nonzero if a DST timezone is specified
Functions
Function Result
time() return a float representing UTC time in seconds since the epoch.
return a tuple representing time : (year aaaa, month(1-12),day(1-31),
gmtime(secs), localtime(secs) hour(0-23), minute(0-59), second(0-59), weekday(0-6, 0 is monday),
Julian day(1-366), daylight flag(-1,0 or 1))
asctime(timeTuple),
strftime( format, timeTuple) return a formated string representing time.
mktime(tuple) inverse of localtime(). Return a float.
strptime(string[, format]) parse a formated string representing time, return tuple as in gmtime().
sleep(secs) Suspend execution for <secs> seconds. <secs> can be a float.
and also: clock, ctime.
string
As of Python 2.0, much (though not all) of the functionality provided by the string module have been
superseded by built-in string methods - see Operations on strings for details.
Some string variables
Variable Meaning
digits The string ’0123456789’
hexdigits, octdigits legal hexadecimal & octal digits
letters, uppercase, lowercase, whitespace Strings containing the appropriate characters
index_error Exception raised by index() if substr not found.
Some string functions
Function Result
expandtabs(s, tabSize) returns a copy of string <s> with tabs expanded.
Return the lowest/highest index in <s> where the substring <sub>
find/rfind(s, sub[, start=0[, end=0]) is found such that <sub> is wholly contained in s[start:end].
Return -1 if <sub> not found.
Return a copy of string <s> left/right justified/centerd in a field of
ljust/rjust/center(s, width)
given width, padded with spaces. <s> is never truncated.
lower/upper(s) Return a string that is (a copy of) <s> in lowercase/uppercase
split(s[, sep=whitespace[, Return a list containing the words of the string <s>,using the
maxsplit=0]]) string <sep> as a separator.
Concatenate a list or tuple of words with intervening separators;
join(words[, sep=’ ’])
inverse of split.
Returns a copy of string <s> with all occurences of
replace(s, old, new[, maxsplit=0] substring<old> replaced by <new>. Limits to <maxsplit> first
substitutions if specified.
Return a string that is (a copy of) <s> without leading and trailing
strip(s)
whitespace. see also lstrip, rstrip.
re (sre)
Handles Unicode strings. Implemented in new module sre, re now a mere front-end for compatibility.
Patterns are specified as strings. Tip: Use raw strings (e.g. r’\w*’) to litteralize backslashes.
I or IGNORECASE or (?i)
case insensitive matching
L or LOCALE or (?L)
make \w, \W, \b, \B dependent on thecurrent locale
compile(pattern[, flags=0]) M or MULTILINE or (?m)
matches every new line and not onlystart/end of the whole
string
S or DOTALL or (?s)
’.’ matches ALL chars, including newline
X or VERBOSE or (?x)
Ignores whitespace outside character sets
Match Objects
math
Variables:
pi
e
getopt
Functions:
* Built-ins *
sys Interpreter state vars and functions
__built-in__ Access to all built-in python identifiers
__main__ Scope of the interpreters main program, script or stdin
array Obj efficiently representing arrays of basic values
math Math functions of C standard
time Time-related functions
regex Regular expression matching operations
marshal Read and write some python values in binary format
struct Convert between python values and C structs
* Standard *
getopt Parse cmd line args in sys.argv. A la UNIX ’getopt’.
os A more portable interface to OS dependent functionality
re Functions useful for working with regular expressions
string Useful string and characters functions and exceptions
whrandom Wichmann-Hill pseudo-random number generator
thread Low-level primitives for working with process threads
threading idem, new recommanded interface.
* Unix/Posix *
dbm Interface to Unix ndbm database library
grp Interface to Unix group database
posix OS functionality standardized by C and POSIX standards
posixpath POSIX pathname functions
pwd Access to the Unix password database
select Access to Unix select multiplex file synchronization
socket Access to BSD socket interface
* Tk User-interface Toolkit *
tkinter Main interface to Tk
* Multimedia *
audioop Useful operations on sound fragments
imageop Useful operations on images
jpeg Access to jpeg image compressor and decompressor
rgbimg Access SGI imglib image files
* Cryptographic Extensions *
md5 Interface to RSA’s MD5 message digest algorithm
mpz Interface to int part of GNU multiple precision library
rotor Implementation of a rotor-based encryption algorithm
* Suns *
sunaudiodev Access to sun audio interface
Accessing
import pdb (it’s a module written in Python)
-- defines functions :
run(statement[,globals[, locals]])
-- execute statement string under debugger control, with optional
global & local environment.
runeval(expression[,globals[, locals]])
-- same as run, but evaluate expression and return value.
runcall(function[, argument, ...])
-- run function object with given arg(s)
pm() -- run postmortem on last exception (like debugging a core file)
post_mortem(t)
-- run postmortem on traceback object <t>
Commands
h, help
brief reminder of commands
b, break [<arg>]
if <arg> numeric, break at line <arg> in current file
if <arg> is function object, break on entry to function <arg>
if no arg, list breakpoints
cl, clear [<arg>]
if <arg> numeric, clear breakpoint at <arg> in current file
if no arg, clear all breakpoints after confirmation
w, where
print current call stack
u, up
move up one stack frame (to top-level caller)
d, down
move down one stack frame
s, step
advance one line in the program, stepping into calls
n, next
advance one line, stepping over calls
r, return
continue execution until current function returns
(return value is saved in variable "__return__", which
can be printed or manipulated from debugger)
c, continue
continue until next breakpoint
a, args
print args to current function
rv, retval
prints return value from last function that returned
p, print <arg>
prints value of <arg> in current stack frame
l, list [<first> [, <last>]]
List source code for the current file.
Without arguments, list 11 lines around the current line
or continue the previous listing.
With one argument, list 11 lines starting at that line.
With two arguments, list the given range;
if the second argument is less than the first, it is a count.
whatis <arg>
prints type of <arg>
!
executes rest of line as a Python statement in the current stack frame
q quit
immediately stop execution and leave debugger
<return>
executes last command again
Any input debugger doesn’t recognize as a command is assumed to be a
Python statement to execute in the current stack frame, the same way
the exclamation mark ("!") command does.
Example
(1394) python
Python 1.0.3 (Sep 26 1994)
Copyright 1991-1994 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam
>>> import rm
>>> rm.run()
Traceback (innermost last):
File "<stdin>", line 1
File "./rm.py", line 7
x = div(3)
File "./rm.py", line 2
return a / r
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo
>>> import pdb
>>> pdb.pm()
> ./rm.py(2)div: return a / r
(Pdb) list
1 def div(a):
2 -> return a / r
3
4 def run():
5 global r
6 r = 0
7 x = div(3)
8 print x
[EOF]
(Pdb) print r
0
(Pdb) q
>>> pdb.runcall(rm.run)
etc.
Quirks
Breakpoints are stored as filename, line number tuples. If a module is reloaded after editing, any
remembered breakpoints are likely to be wrong.
Always single-steps through top-most stack frame. That is, "c" acts like "n".