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			1174 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			46 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			TeX
		
	
	
	
	
	
| \section{Built-in Types \label{types}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| The following sections describe the standard types that are built into
 | |
| the interpreter.  These are the numeric types, sequence types, and
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| several others, including types themselves.  There is no explicit
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| Boolean type; use integers instead.
 | |
| \indexii{built-in}{types}
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| \indexii{Boolean}{type}
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| 
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| Some operations are supported by several object types; in particular,
 | |
| all objects can be compared, tested for truth value, and converted to
 | |
| a string (with the \code{`\textrm{\ldots}`} notation).  The latter
 | |
| conversion is implicitly used when an object is written by the
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| \keyword{print}\stindex{print} statement.
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| 
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| 
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| \subsection{Truth Value Testing \label{truth}}
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| 
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| Any object can be tested for truth value, for use in an \keyword{if} or
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| \keyword{while} condition or as operand of the Boolean operations below.
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| The following values are considered false:
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| \stindex{if}
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| \stindex{while}
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| \indexii{truth}{value}
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| \indexii{Boolean}{operations}
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| \index{false}
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| 
 | |
| \begin{itemize}
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| 
 | |
| \item	\code{None}
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| 	\withsubitem{(Built-in object)}{\ttindex{None}}
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| 
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| \item	zero of any numeric type, for example, \code{0}, \code{0L},
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|         \code{0.0}, \code{0j}.
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| 
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| \item	any empty sequence, for example, \code{''}, \code{()}, \code{[]}.
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| 
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| \item	any empty mapping, for example, \code{\{\}}.
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| 
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| \item	instances of user-defined classes, if the class defines a
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| 	\method{__nonzero__()} or \method{__len__()} method, when that
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| 	method returns zero.\footnote{Additional information on these
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| special methods may be found in the \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python
 | |
| Reference Manual}.}
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| 
 | |
| \end{itemize}
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| 
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| All other values are considered true --- so objects of many types are
 | |
| always true.
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| \index{true}
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| 
 | |
| Operations and built-in functions that have a Boolean result always
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| return \code{0} for false and \code{1} for true, unless otherwise
 | |
| stated.  (Important exception: the Boolean operations
 | |
| \samp{or}\opindex{or} and \samp{and}\opindex{and} always return one of
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| their operands.)
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Boolean Operations \label{boolean}}
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| 
 | |
| These are the Boolean operations, ordered by ascending priority:
 | |
| \indexii{Boolean}{operations}
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| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} or \var{y}}{if \var{x} is false, then \var{y}, else \var{x}}{(1)}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} and \var{y}}{if \var{x} is false, then \var{x}, else \var{y}}{(1)}
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|   \hline
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|   \lineiii{not \var{x}}{if \var{x} is false, then \code{1}, else \code{0}}{(2)}
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| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \opindex{and}
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| \opindex{or}
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| \opindex{not}
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| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
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| 
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(1)]
 | |
| These only evaluate their second argument if needed for their outcome.
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| 
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| \item[(2)]
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| \samp{not} has a lower priority than non-Boolean operators, so
 | |
| \code{not \var{a} == \var{b}} is interpreted as \code{not (\var{a} ==
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| \var{b})}, and \code{\var{a} == not \var{b}} is a syntax error.
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| 
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
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| \subsection{Comparisons \label{comparisons}}
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| 
 | |
| Comparison operations are supported by all objects.  They all have the
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| same priority (which is higher than that of the Boolean operations).
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| Comparisons can be chained arbitrarily; for example, \code{\var{x} <
 | |
| \var{y} <= \var{z}} is equivalent to \code{\var{x} < \var{y} and
 | |
| \var{y} <= \var{z}}, except that \var{y} is evaluated only once (but
 | |
| in both cases \var{z} is not evaluated at all when \code{\var{x} <
 | |
| \var{y}} is found to be false).
 | |
| \indexii{chaining}{comparisons}
 | |
| 
 | |
| This table summarizes the comparison operations:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Meaning}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{<}{strictly less than}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{<=}{less than or equal}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{>}{strictly greater than}{}
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|   \lineiii{>=}{greater than or equal}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{==}{equal}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{!=}{not equal}{(1)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{<>}{not equal}{(1)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{is}{object identity}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{is not}{negated object identity}{}
 | |
| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \indexii{operator}{comparison}
 | |
| \opindex{==} % XXX *All* others have funny characters < ! >
 | |
| \opindex{is}
 | |
| \opindex{is not}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(1)]
 | |
| \code{<>} and \code{!=} are alternate spellings for the same operator.
 | |
| (I couldn't choose between \ABC{} and C! :-)
 | |
| \index{ABC language@\ABC{} language}
 | |
| \index{language!ABC@\ABC{}}
 | |
| \indexii{C}{language}
 | |
| \code{!=} is the preferred spelling; \code{<>} is obsolescent.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Objects of different types, except different numeric types, never
 | |
| compare equal; such objects are ordered consistently but arbitrarily
 | |
| (so that sorting a heterogeneous array yields a consistent result).
 | |
| Furthermore, some types (for example, file objects) support only a
 | |
| degenerate notion of comparison where any two objects of that type are
 | |
| unequal.  Again, such objects are ordered arbitrarily but
 | |
| consistently.
 | |
| \indexii{object}{numeric}
 | |
| \indexii{objects}{comparing}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Instances of a class normally compare as non-equal unless the class
 | |
| \withsubitem{(instance method)}{\ttindex{__cmp__()}}
 | |
| defines the \method{__cmp__()} method.  Refer to the
 | |
| \citetitle[../ref/customization.html]{Python Reference Manual} for
 | |
| information on the use of this method to effect object comparisons.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \strong{Implementation note:} Objects of different types except
 | |
| numbers are ordered by their type names; objects of the same types
 | |
| that don't support proper comparison are ordered by their address.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Two more operations with the same syntactic priority,
 | |
| \samp{in}\opindex{in} and \samp{not in}\opindex{not in}, are supported
 | |
| only by sequence types (below).
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Numeric Types \label{typesnumeric}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| There are four numeric types: \dfn{plain integers}, \dfn{long integers}, 
 | |
| \dfn{floating point numbers}, and \dfn{complex numbers}.
 | |
| Plain integers (also just called \dfn{integers})
 | |
| are implemented using \ctype{long} in C, which gives them at least 32
 | |
| bits of precision.  Long integers have unlimited precision.  Floating
 | |
| point numbers are implemented using \ctype{double} in C.  All bets on
 | |
| their precision are off unless you happen to know the machine you are
 | |
| working with.
 | |
| \obindex{numeric}
 | |
| \obindex{integer}
 | |
| \obindex{long integer}
 | |
| \obindex{floating point}
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| \obindex{complex number}
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| \indexii{C}{language}
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| 
 | |
| Complex numbers have a real and imaginary part, which are both
 | |
| implemented using \ctype{double} in C.  To extract these parts from
 | |
| a complex number \var{z}, use \code{\var{z}.real} and \code{\var{z}.imag}.  
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| 
 | |
| Numbers are created by numeric literals or as the result of built-in
 | |
| functions and operators.  Unadorned integer literals (including hex
 | |
| and octal numbers) yield plain integers.  Integer literals with an
 | |
| \character{L} or \character{l} suffix yield long integers
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| (\character{L} is preferred because \samp{1l} looks too much like
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| eleven!).  Numeric literals containing a decimal point or an exponent
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| sign yield floating point numbers.  Appending \character{j} or
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| \character{J} to a numeric literal yields a complex number.
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| \indexii{numeric}{literals}
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| \indexii{integer}{literals}
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| \indexiii{long}{integer}{literals}
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| \indexii{floating point}{literals}
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| \indexii{complex number}{literals}
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| \indexii{hexadecimal}{literals}
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| \indexii{octal}{literals}
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| 
 | |
| Python fully supports mixed arithmetic: when a binary arithmetic
 | |
| operator has operands of different numeric types, the operand with the
 | |
| ``smaller'' type is converted to that of the other, where plain
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| integer is smaller than long integer is smaller than floating point is
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| smaller than complex.
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| Comparisons between numbers of mixed type use the same rule.\footnote{
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| 	As a consequence, the list \code{[1, 2]} is considered equal
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|         to \code{[1.0, 2.0]}, and similar for tuples.
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| } The functions \function{int()}, \function{long()}, \function{float()},
 | |
| and \function{complex()} can be used
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| to coerce numbers to a specific type.
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| \index{arithmetic}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{int}
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| \bifuncindex{long}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{float}
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| \bifuncindex{complex}
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| 
 | |
| All numeric types support the following operations, sorted by
 | |
| ascending priority (operations in the same box have the same
 | |
| priority; all numeric operations have a higher priority than
 | |
| comparison operations):
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| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} + \var{y}}{sum of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} - \var{y}}{difference of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
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|   \hline
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} * \var{y}}{product of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} / \var{y}}{quotient of \var{x} and \var{y}}{(1)}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} \%{} \var{y}}{remainder of \code{\var{x} / \var{y}}}{}
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|   \hline
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|   \lineiii{-\var{x}}{\var{x} negated}{}
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|   \lineiii{+\var{x}}{\var{x} unchanged}{}
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|   \hline
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|   \lineiii{abs(\var{x})}{absolute value or magnitude of \var{x}}{}
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|   \lineiii{int(\var{x})}{\var{x} converted to integer}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{long(\var{x})}{\var{x} converted to long integer}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{float(\var{x})}{\var{x} converted to floating point}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{complex(\var{re},\var{im})}{a complex number with real part \var{re}, imaginary part \var{im}.  \var{im} defaults to zero.}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{c}.conjugate()}{conjugate of the complex number \var{c}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{divmod(\var{x}, \var{y})}{the pair \code{(\var{x} / \var{y}, \var{x} \%{} \var{y})}}{(3)}
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|   \lineiii{pow(\var{x}, \var{y})}{\var{x} to the power \var{y}}{}
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|   \lineiii{\var{x} ** \var{y}}{\var{x} to the power \var{y}}{}
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| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{numeric}{types}
 | |
| \withsubitem{(complex number method)}{\ttindex{conjugate()}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(1)]
 | |
| For (plain or long) integer division, the result is an integer.
 | |
| The result is always rounded towards minus infinity: 1/2 is 0, 
 | |
| (-1)/2 is -1, 1/(-2) is -1, and (-1)/(-2) is 0.  Note that the result
 | |
| is a long integer if either operand is a long integer, regardless of
 | |
| the numeric value.
 | |
| \indexii{integer}{division}
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| \indexiii{long}{integer}{division}
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| 
 | |
| \item[(2)]
 | |
| Conversion from floating point to (long or plain) integer may round or
 | |
| truncate as in C; see functions \function{floor()} and
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| \function{ceil()} in the \refmodule{math}\refbimodindex{math} module
 | |
| for well-defined conversions.
 | |
| \withsubitem{(in module math)}{\ttindex{floor()}\ttindex{ceil()}}
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| \indexii{numeric}{conversions}
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| \indexii{C}{language}
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| 
 | |
| \item[(3)]
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| See section \ref{built-in-funcs}, ``Built-in Functions,'' for a full
 | |
| description.
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| 
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| \end{description}
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| % XXXJH exceptions: overflow (when? what operations?) zerodivision
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| 
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| \subsubsection{Bit-string Operations on Integer Types \label{bitstring-ops}}
 | |
| \nodename{Bit-string Operations}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Plain and long integer types support additional operations that make
 | |
| sense only for bit-strings.  Negative numbers are treated as their 2's
 | |
| complement value (for long integers, this assumes a sufficiently large
 | |
| number of bits that no overflow occurs during the operation).
 | |
| 
 | |
| The priorities of the binary bit-wise operations are all lower than
 | |
| the numeric operations and higher than the comparisons; the unary
 | |
| operation \samp{\~} has the same priority as the other unary numeric
 | |
| operations (\samp{+} and \samp{-}).
 | |
| 
 | |
| This table lists the bit-string operations sorted in ascending
 | |
| priority (operations in the same box have the same priority):
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} | \var{y}}{bitwise \dfn{or} of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} \^{} \var{y}}{bitwise \dfn{exclusive or} of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} \&{} \var{y}}{bitwise \dfn{and} of \var{x} and \var{y}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} << \var{n}}{\var{x} shifted left by \var{n} bits}{(1), (2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} >> \var{n}}{\var{x} shifted right by \var{n} bits}{(1), (3)}
 | |
|   \hline
 | |
|   \lineiii{\~\var{x}}{the bits of \var{x} inverted}{}
 | |
| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{integer}{types}
 | |
| \indexii{bit-string}{operations}
 | |
| \indexii{shifting}{operations}
 | |
| \indexii{masking}{operations}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| \item[(1)] Negative shift counts are illegal and cause a
 | |
| \exception{ValueError} to be raised.
 | |
| \item[(2)] A left shift by \var{n} bits is equivalent to
 | |
| multiplication by \code{pow(2, \var{n})} without overflow check.
 | |
| \item[(3)] A right shift by \var{n} bits is equivalent to
 | |
| division by \code{pow(2, \var{n})} without overflow check.
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Sequence Types \label{typesseq}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| There are six sequence types: strings, Unicode strings, lists,
 | |
| tuples, buffers, and xrange objects.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Strings literals are written in single or double quotes:
 | |
| \code{'xyzzy'}, \code{"frobozz"}.  See chapter 2 of the
 | |
| \citetitle[../ref/strings.html]{Python Reference Manual} for more about
 | |
| string literals.  Unicode strings are much like strings, but are
 | |
| specified in the syntax using a preceeding \character{u} character:
 | |
| \code{u'abc'}, \code{u"def"}.  Lists are constructed with square brackets,
 | |
| separating items with commas: \code{[a, b, c]}.  Tuples are
 | |
| constructed by the comma operator (not within square brackets), with
 | |
| or without enclosing parentheses, but an empty tuple must have the
 | |
| enclosing parentheses, e.g., \code{a, b, c} or \code{()}.  A single
 | |
| item tuple must have a trailing comma, e.g., \code{(d,)}.  Buffers are
 | |
| not directly supported by Python syntax, but can be created by calling the
 | |
| builtin function \function{buffer()}.\bifuncindex{buffer}  XRanges
 | |
| objects are similar to buffers in that there is no specific syntax to
 | |
| create them, but they are created using the \function{xrange()}
 | |
| function.\bifuncindex{xrange}
 | |
| \obindex{sequence}
 | |
| \obindex{string}
 | |
| \obindex{Unicode}
 | |
| \obindex{buffer}
 | |
| \obindex{tuple}
 | |
| \obindex{list}
 | |
| \obindex{xrange}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Sequence types support the following operations.  The \samp{in} and
 | |
| \samp{not in} operations have the same priorities as the comparison
 | |
| operations.  The \samp{+} and \samp{*} operations have the same
 | |
| priority as the corresponding numeric operations.\footnote{They must
 | |
| have since the parser can't tell the type of the operands.}
 | |
| 
 | |
| This table lists the sequence operations sorted in ascending priority
 | |
| (operations in the same box have the same priority).  In the table,
 | |
| \var{s} and \var{t} are sequences of the same type; \var{n}, \var{i}
 | |
| and \var{j} are integers:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} in \var{s}}{\code{1} if an item of \var{s} is equal to \var{x}, else \code{0}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{x} not in \var{s}}{\code{0} if an item of \var{s} is
 | |
| equal to \var{x}, else \code{1}}{}
 | |
|   \hline
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s} + \var{t}}{the concatenation of \var{s} and \var{t}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s} * \var{n}\textrm{,} \var{n} * \var{s}}{\var{n} copies of \var{s} concatenated}{(1)}
 | |
|   \hline
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}[\var{i}]}{\var{i}'th item of \var{s}, origin 0}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}[\var{i}:\var{j}]}{slice of \var{s} from \var{i} to \var{j}}{(2), (3)}
 | |
|   \hline
 | |
|   \lineiii{len(\var{s})}{length of \var{s}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{min(\var{s})}{smallest item of \var{s}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{max(\var{s})}{largest item of \var{s}}{}
 | |
| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{sequence}{types}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{len}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{min}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{max}
 | |
| \indexii{concatenation}{operation}
 | |
| \indexii{repetition}{operation}
 | |
| \indexii{subscript}{operation}
 | |
| \indexii{slice}{operation}
 | |
| \opindex{in}
 | |
| \opindex{not in}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| \item[(1)] Values of \var{n} less than \code{0} are treated as
 | |
|   \code{0} (which yields an empty sequence of the same type as
 | |
|   \var{s}).
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(2)] If \var{i} or \var{j} is negative, the index is relative to
 | |
|   the end of the string, i.e., \code{len(\var{s}) + \var{i}} or
 | |
|   \code{len(\var{s}) + \var{j}} is substituted.  But note that \code{-0} is
 | |
|   still \code{0}.
 | |
|   
 | |
| \item[(3)] The slice of \var{s} from \var{i} to \var{j} is defined as
 | |
|   the sequence of items with index \var{k} such that \code{\var{i} <=
 | |
|   \var{k} < \var{j}}.  If \var{i} or \var{j} is greater than
 | |
|   \code{len(\var{s})}, use \code{len(\var{s})}.  If \var{i} is omitted,
 | |
|   use \code{0}.  If \var{j} is omitted, use \code{len(\var{s})}.  If
 | |
|   \var{i} is greater than or equal to \var{j}, the slice is empty.
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{String Methods \label{string-methods}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| These are the string methods which both 8-bit strings and Unicode
 | |
| objects support:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{capitalize}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with only its first character capitalized.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{center}{width}
 | |
| Return centered in a string of length \var{width}. Padding is done
 | |
| using spaces.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{count}{sub\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Return the number of occurrences of substring \var{sub} in string
 | |
| S\code{[\var{start}:\var{end}]}.  Optional arguments \var{start} and
 | |
| \var{end} are interpreted as in slice notation.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{encode}{\optional{encoding\optional{,errors}}}
 | |
| Return an encoded version of the string.  Default encoding is the current
 | |
| default string encoding.  \var{errors} may be given to set a different
 | |
| error handling scheme.  The default for \var{errors} is
 | |
| \code{'strict'}, meaning that encoding errors raise a
 | |
| \exception{ValueError}.  Other possible values are \code{'ignore'} and
 | |
| \code{'replace'}.
 | |
| \versionadded{2.0}
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{endswith}{suffix\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Return true if the string ends with the specified \var{suffix},
 | |
| otherwise return false.  With optional \var{start}, test beginning at
 | |
| that position.  With optional \var{end}, stop comparing at that position.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{expandtabs}{\optional{tabsize}}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string where all tab characters are expanded
 | |
| using spaces.  If \var{tabsize} is not given, a tab size of \code{8}
 | |
| characters is assumed.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{find}{sub\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Return the lowest index in the string where substring \var{sub} is
 | |
| found, such that \var{sub} is contained in the range [\var{start},
 | |
| \var{end}).  Optional arguments \var{start} and \var{end} are
 | |
| interpreted as in slice notation.  Return \code{-1} if \var{sub} is
 | |
| not found.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{index}{sub\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Like \method{find()}, but raise \exception{ValueError} when the
 | |
| substring is not found.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{isalnum}{}
 | |
| Return true if all characters in the string are alphanumeric and there
 | |
| is at least one character, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{isalpha}{}
 | |
| Return true if all characters in the string are alphabetic and there
 | |
| is at least one character, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{isdigit}{}
 | |
| Return true if there are only digit characters, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{islower}{}
 | |
| Return true if all cased characters in the string are lowercase and
 | |
| there is at least one cased character, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{isspace}{}
 | |
| Return true if there are only whitespace characters in the string and
 | |
| the string is not empty, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{istitle}{}
 | |
| Return true if the string is a titlecased string, i.e.\ uppercase
 | |
| characters may only follow uncased characters and lowercase characters
 | |
| only cased ones.  Return false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{isupper}{}
 | |
| Return true if all cased characters in the string are uppercase and
 | |
| there is at least one cased character, false otherwise.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{join}{seq}
 | |
| Return a string which is the concatenation of the strings in the
 | |
| sequence \var{seq}.  The separator between elements is the string
 | |
| providing this method.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{ljust}{width}
 | |
| Return the string left justified in a string of length \var{width}.
 | |
| Padding is done using spaces.  The original string is returned if
 | |
| \var{width} is less than \code{len(\var{s})}.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{lower}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string converted to lowercase.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{lstrip}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with leading whitespace removed.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{replace}{old, new\optional{, maxsplit}}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with all occurrences of substring
 | |
| \var{old} replaced by \var{new}.  If the optional argument
 | |
| \var{maxsplit} is given, only the first \var{maxsplit} occurrences are
 | |
| replaced.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{rfind}{sub \optional{,start \optional{,end}}}
 | |
| Return the highest index in the string where substring \var{sub} is
 | |
| found, such that \var{sub} is contained within s[start,end].  Optional
 | |
| arguments \var{start} and \var{end} are interpreted as in slice
 | |
| notation.  Return \code{-1} on failure.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{rindex}{sub\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Like \method{rfind()} but raises \exception{ValueError} when the
 | |
| substring \var{sub} is not found.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{rjust}{width}
 | |
| Return the string right justified in a string of length \var{width}.
 | |
| Padding is done using spaces.  The original string is returned if
 | |
| \var{width} is less than \code{len(\var{s})}.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{rstrip}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with trailing whitespace removed.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{split}{\optional{sep \optional{,maxsplit}}}
 | |
| Return a list of the words in the string, using \var{sep} as the
 | |
| delimiter string.  If \var{maxsplit} is given, at most \var{maxsplit}
 | |
| splits are done.  If \var{sep} is not specified or \code{None}, any
 | |
| whitespace string is a separator.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{splitlines}{\optional{keepends}}
 | |
| Return a list of the lines in the string, breaking at line
 | |
| boundaries.  Line breaks are not included in the resulting list unless
 | |
| \var{keepends} is given and true.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{startswith}{prefix\optional{, start\optional{, end}}}
 | |
| Return true if string starts with the \var{prefix}, otherwise
 | |
| return false.  With optional \var{start}, test string beginning at
 | |
| that position.  With optional \var{end}, stop comparing string at that
 | |
| position.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{strip}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with leading and trailing whitespace
 | |
| removed.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{swapcase}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string with uppercase characters converted to
 | |
| lowercase and vice versa.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{title}{}
 | |
| Return a titlecased version of, i.e.\ words start with uppercase
 | |
| characters, all remaining cased characters are lowercase.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{translate}{table\optional{, deletechars}}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string where all characters occurring in the
 | |
| optional argument \var{deletechars} are removed, and the remaining
 | |
| characters have been mapped through the given translation table, which
 | |
| must be a string of length 256.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[string]{upper}{}
 | |
| Return a copy of the string converted to uppercase.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{String Formatting Operations \label{typesseq-strings}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \index{formatting, string}
 | |
| \index{string!formatting}
 | |
| \index{printf-style formatting}
 | |
| \index{sprintf-style formatting}
 | |
| 
 | |
| String objects have one unique built-in operation: the \code{\%}
 | |
| operator (modulo) with a string left argument interprets this string
 | |
| as a C \cfunction{sprintf()} format string to be applied to the
 | |
| right argument, and returns the string resulting from this formatting
 | |
| operation.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The right argument should be a tuple with one item for each argument
 | |
| required by the format string; if the string requires a single
 | |
| argument, the right argument may also be a single non-tuple
 | |
| object.\footnote{A tuple object in this case should be a singleton.
 | |
| }  The following format characters are understood:
 | |
| \code{\%}, \code{c}, \code{s}, \code{i}, \code{d}, \code{u}, \code{o},
 | |
| \code{x}, \code{X}, \code{e}, \code{E}, \code{f}, \code{g}, \code{G}. 
 | |
| Width and precision may be a \code{*} to specify that an integer argument
 | |
| specifies the actual width or precision.  The flag characters
 | |
| \code{-}, \code{+}, blank, \code{\#} and \code{0} are understood.  The 
 | |
| size specifiers \code{h}, \code{l} or \code{L} may be present but are
 | |
| ignored.  The \code{\%s} conversion takes any Python object and
 | |
| converts it to a string using \code{str()} before formatting it.  The
 | |
| ANSI features \code{\%p} and \code{\%n} are not supported.  Since
 | |
| Python strings have an explicit length, \code{\%s} conversions don't
 | |
| assume that \code{'\e0'} is the end of the string.
 | |
| 
 | |
| For safety reasons, floating point precisions are clipped to 50;
 | |
| \code{\%f} conversions for numbers whose absolute value is over 1e25
 | |
| are replaced by \code{\%g} conversions.\footnote{
 | |
|   These numbers are fairly arbitrary.  They are intended to
 | |
|   avoid printing endless strings of meaningless digits without hampering
 | |
|   correct use and without having to know the exact precision of floating
 | |
|   point values on a particular machine.
 | |
| }  All other errors raise exceptions.
 | |
| 
 | |
| If the right argument is a dictionary (or any kind of mapping), then
 | |
| the formats in the string must have a parenthesized key into that
 | |
| dictionary inserted immediately after the \character{\%} character,
 | |
| and each format formats the corresponding entry from the mapping.
 | |
| For example:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{verbatim}
 | |
| >>> count = 2
 | |
| >>> language = 'Python'
 | |
| >>> print '%(language)s has %(count)03d quote types.' % vars()
 | |
| Python has 002 quote types.
 | |
| \end{verbatim}
 | |
| 
 | |
| In this case no \code{*} specifiers may occur in a format (since they
 | |
| require a sequential parameter list).
 | |
| 
 | |
| Additional string operations are defined in standard module
 | |
| \refmodule{string} and in built-in module \refmodule{re}.
 | |
| \refstmodindex{string}
 | |
| \refstmodindex{re}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{XRange Type \label{typesseq-xrange}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| The xrange\obindex{xrange} type is an immutable sequence which is
 | |
| commonly used for looping.  The advantage of the xrange type is that an
 | |
| xrange object will always take the same amount of memory, no matter the
 | |
| size of the range it represents.  There are no consistent performance
 | |
| advantages.
 | |
| 
 | |
| XRange objects behave like tuples, and offer a single method:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[xrange]{tolist}{}
 | |
|   Return a list object which represents the same values as the xrange
 | |
|   object.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Mutable Sequence Types \label{typesseq-mutable}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| List objects support additional operations that allow in-place
 | |
| modification of the object.
 | |
| These operations would be supported by other mutable sequence types
 | |
| (when added to the language) as well.
 | |
| Strings and tuples are immutable sequence types and such objects cannot
 | |
| be modified once created.
 | |
| The following operations are defined on mutable sequence types (where
 | |
| \var{x} is an arbitrary object):
 | |
| \indexiii{mutable}{sequence}{types}
 | |
| \obindex{list}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}[\var{i}] = \var{x}}
 | |
| 	{item \var{i} of \var{s} is replaced by \var{x}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}[\var{i}:\var{j}] = \var{t}}
 | |
|   	{slice of \var{s} from \var{i} to \var{j} is replaced by \var{t}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{del \var{s}[\var{i}:\var{j}]}
 | |
| 	{same as \code{\var{s}[\var{i}:\var{j}] = []}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.append(\var{x})}
 | |
| 	{same as \code{\var{s}[len(\var{s}):len(\var{s})] = [\var{x}]}}{(1)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.extend(\var{x})}
 | |
|         {same as \code{\var{s}[len(\var{s}):len(\var{s})] = \var{x}}}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.count(\var{x})}
 | |
|     {return number of \var{i}'s for which \code{\var{s}[\var{i}] == \var{x}}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.index(\var{x})}
 | |
|     {return smallest \var{i} such that \code{\var{s}[\var{i}] == \var{x}}}{(3)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.insert(\var{i}, \var{x})}
 | |
| 	{same as \code{\var{s}[\var{i}:\var{i}] = [\var{x}]}
 | |
| 	  if \code{\var{i} >= 0}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.pop(\optional{\var{i}})}
 | |
|     {same as \code{\var{x} = \var{s}[\var{i}]; del \var{s}[\var{i}]; return \var{x}}}{(4)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.remove(\var{x})}
 | |
| 	{same as \code{del \var{s}[\var{s}.index(\var{x})]}}{(3)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.reverse()}
 | |
| 	{reverses the items of \var{s} in place}{(5)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{s}.sort(\optional{\var{cmpfunc}})}
 | |
| 	{sort the items of \var{s} in place}{(5), (6)}
 | |
| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| \indexiv{operations on}{mutable}{sequence}{types}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{sequence}{types}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{list}{type}
 | |
| \indexii{subscript}{assignment}
 | |
| \indexii{slice}{assignment}
 | |
| \stindex{del}
 | |
| \withsubitem{(list method)}{
 | |
|   \ttindex{append()}\ttindex{extend()}\ttindex{count()}\ttindex{index()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{insert()}\ttindex{pop()}\ttindex{remove()}\ttindex{reverse()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{sort()}}
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| \item[(1)] The C implementation of Python has historically accepted
 | |
|   multiple parameters and implicitly joined them into a tuple; this
 | |
|   no longer works in Python 2.0.  Use of this misfeature has been
 | |
|   deprecated since Python 1.4.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(2)] Raises an exception when \var{x} is not a list object.  The 
 | |
|   \method{extend()} method is experimental and not supported by
 | |
|   mutable sequence types other than lists.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(3)] Raises \exception{ValueError} when \var{x} is not found in
 | |
|   \var{s}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(4)] The \method{pop()} method is only supported by the list and
 | |
|   array types.  The optional argument \var{i} defaults to \code{-1},
 | |
|   so that by default the last item is removed and returned.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(5)] The \method{sort()} and \method{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.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(6)] The \method{sort()} method takes an optional argument
 | |
|   specifying a comparison function of two arguments (list items) which
 | |
|   should return \code{-1}, \code{0} or \code{1} depending on whether
 | |
|   the first argument is considered smaller than, equal to, or larger
 | |
|   than the second argument.  Note that this slows the sorting process
 | |
|   down considerably; e.g. to sort a list in reverse order it is much
 | |
|   faster to use calls to the methods \method{sort()} and
 | |
|   \method{reverse()} than to use the built-in function
 | |
|   \function{sort()} with a comparison function that reverses the
 | |
|   ordering of the elements.
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Mapping Types \label{typesmapping}}
 | |
| \obindex{mapping}
 | |
| \obindex{dictionary}
 | |
| 
 | |
| A \dfn{mapping} object maps values of one type (the key type) to
 | |
| arbitrary objects.  Mappings are mutable objects.  There is currently
 | |
| only one standard mapping type, the \dfn{dictionary}.  A dictionary's keys are
 | |
| almost arbitrary values.  The only types of values not acceptable as
 | |
| keys are values containing lists or dictionaries or other mutable
 | |
| types that are compared by value rather than by object identity.
 | |
| Numeric types used for keys obey the normal rules for numeric
 | |
| comparison: if two numbers compare equal (e.g. \code{1} and
 | |
| \code{1.0}) then they can be used interchangeably to index the same
 | |
| dictionary entry.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Dictionaries are created by placing a comma-separated list of
 | |
| \code{\var{key}: \var{value}} pairs within braces, for example:
 | |
| \code{\{'jack': 4098, 'sjoerd': 4127\}} or
 | |
| \code{\{4098: 'jack', 4127: 'sjoerd'\}}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The following operations are defined on mappings (where \var{a} and
 | |
| \var{b} are mappings, \var{k} is a key, and \var{v} and \var{x} are
 | |
| arbitrary objects):
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{mapping}{types}
 | |
| \indexiii{operations on}{dictionary}{type}
 | |
| \stindex{del}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{len}
 | |
| \withsubitem{(dictionary method)}{
 | |
|   \ttindex{clear()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{copy()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{has_key()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{items()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{keys()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{update()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{values()}
 | |
|   \ttindex{get()}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Operation}{Result}{Notes}
 | |
|   \lineiii{len(\var{a})}{the number of items in \var{a}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}[\var{k}]}{the item of \var{a} with key \var{k}}{(1)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}[\var{k}] = \var{v}}
 | |
|           {set \code{\var{a}[\var{k}]} to \var{v}}
 | |
|           {}
 | |
|   \lineiii{del \var{a}[\var{k}]}
 | |
|           {remove \code{\var{a}[\var{k}]} from \var{a}}
 | |
|           {(1)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.clear()}{remove all items from \code{a}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.copy()}{a (shallow) copy of \code{a}}{}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.has_key(\var{k})}
 | |
|           {\code{1} if \var{a} has a key \var{k}, else \code{0}}
 | |
|           {}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.items()}
 | |
|           {a copy of \var{a}'s list of (\var{key}, \var{value}) pairs}
 | |
|           {(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.keys()}{a copy of \var{a}'s list of keys}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.update(\var{b})}
 | |
|           {\code{for k in \var{b}.keys(): \var{a}[k] = \var{b}[k]}}
 | |
|           {(3)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.values()}{a copy of \var{a}'s list of values}{(2)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.get(\var{k}\optional{, \var{x}})}
 | |
|           {\code{\var{a}[\var{k}]} if \code{\var{a}.has_key(\var{k})},
 | |
|            else \var{x}}
 | |
|           {(4)}
 | |
|   \lineiii{\var{a}.setdefault(\var{k}\optional{, \var{x}})}
 | |
|           {\code{\var{a}[\var{k}]} if \code{\var{a}.has_key(\var{k})},
 | |
|            else \var{x} (also setting it)}
 | |
|           {(5)}
 | |
| \end{tableiii}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \noindent
 | |
| Notes:
 | |
| \begin{description}
 | |
| \item[(1)] Raises a \exception{KeyError} exception if \var{k} is not
 | |
| in the map.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(2)] Keys and values are listed in random order.  If
 | |
| \method{keys()} and \method{values()} are called with no intervening
 | |
| modifications to the dictionary, the two lists will directly
 | |
| correspond.  This allows the creation of \code{(\var{value},
 | |
| \var{key})} pairs using \function{map()}: \samp{pairs = map(None,
 | |
| \var{a}.values(), \var{a}.keys())}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(3)] \var{b} must be of the same type as \var{a}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(4)] Never raises an exception if \var{k} is not in the map,
 | |
| instead it returns \var{x}.  \var{x} is optional; when \var{x} is not
 | |
| provided and \var{k} is not in the map, \code{None} is returned.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \item[(5)] \function{setdefault()} is like \function{get()}, except
 | |
| that if \var{k} is missing, \var{x} is both returned and inserted into
 | |
| the dictionary as the value of \var{k}.
 | |
| \end{description}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Other Built-in Types \label{typesother}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| The interpreter supports several other kinds of objects.
 | |
| Most of these support only one or two operations.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Modules \label{typesmodules}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| The only special operation on a module is attribute access:
 | |
| \code{\var{m}.\var{name}}, where \var{m} is a module and \var{name}
 | |
| accesses a name defined in \var{m}'s symbol table.  Module attributes
 | |
| can be assigned to.  (Note that the \keyword{import} statement is not,
 | |
| strictly speaking, an operation on a module object; \code{import
 | |
| \var{foo}} does not require a module object named \var{foo} to exist,
 | |
| rather it requires an (external) \emph{definition} for a module named
 | |
| \var{foo} somewhere.)
 | |
| 
 | |
| A special member of every module is \member{__dict__}.
 | |
| This is the dictionary containing the module's symbol table.
 | |
| Modifying this dictionary will actually change the module's symbol
 | |
| table, but direct assignment to the \member{__dict__} attribute is not
 | |
| possible (i.e., you can write \code{\var{m}.__dict__['a'] = 1}, which
 | |
| defines \code{\var{m}.a} to be \code{1}, but you can't write
 | |
| \code{\var{m}.__dict__ = \{\}}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Modules built into the interpreter are written like this:
 | |
| \code{<module 'sys' (built-in)>}.  If loaded from a file, they are
 | |
| written as \code{<module 'os' from
 | |
| '/usr/local/lib/python\shortversion/os.pyc'>}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Classes and Class Instances \label{typesobjects}}
 | |
| \nodename{Classes and Instances}
 | |
| 
 | |
| See chapters 3 and 7 of the \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python
 | |
| Reference Manual} for these.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Functions \label{typesfunctions}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Function objects are created by function definitions.  The only
 | |
| operation on a function object is to call it:
 | |
| \code{\var{func}(\var{argument-list})}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| There are really two flavors of function objects: built-in functions
 | |
| and user-defined functions.  Both support the same operation (to call
 | |
| the function), but the implementation is different, hence the
 | |
| different object types.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The implementation adds two special read-only attributes:
 | |
| \code{\var{f}.func_code} is a function's \dfn{code
 | |
| object}\obindex{code} (see below) and \code{\var{f}.func_globals} is
 | |
| the dictionary used as the function's global namespace (this is the
 | |
| same as \code{\var{m}.__dict__} where \var{m} is the module in which
 | |
| the function \var{f} was defined).
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Methods \label{typesmethods}}
 | |
| \obindex{method}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Methods are functions that are called using the attribute notation.
 | |
| There are two flavors: built-in methods (such as \method{append()} on
 | |
| lists) and class instance methods.  Built-in methods are described
 | |
| with the types that support them.
 | |
| 
 | |
| The implementation adds two special read-only attributes to class
 | |
| instance methods: \code{\var{m}.im_self} is the object on which the
 | |
| method operates, and \code{\var{m}.im_func} is the function
 | |
| implementing the method.  Calling \code{\var{m}(\var{arg-1},
 | |
| \var{arg-2}, \textrm{\ldots}, \var{arg-n})} is completely equivalent to
 | |
| calling \code{\var{m}.im_func(\var{m}.im_self, \var{arg-1},
 | |
| \var{arg-2}, \textrm{\ldots}, \var{arg-n})}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| See the \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python Reference Manual} for more
 | |
| information.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Code Objects \label{bltin-code-objects}}
 | |
| \obindex{code}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Code objects are used by the implementation to represent
 | |
| ``pseudo-compiled'' executable Python code such as a function body.
 | |
| They differ from function objects because they don't contain a
 | |
| reference to their global execution environment.  Code objects are
 | |
| returned by the built-in \function{compile()} function and can be
 | |
| extracted from function objects through their \member{func_code}
 | |
| attribute.
 | |
| \bifuncindex{compile}
 | |
| \withsubitem{(function object attribute)}{\ttindex{func_code}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| A code object can be executed or evaluated by passing it (instead of a
 | |
| source string) to the \keyword{exec} statement or the built-in
 | |
| \function{eval()} function.
 | |
| \stindex{exec}
 | |
| \bifuncindex{eval}
 | |
| 
 | |
| See the \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python Reference Manual} for more
 | |
| information.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Type Objects \label{bltin-type-objects}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Type objects represent the various object types.  An object's type is
 | |
| accessed by the built-in function \function{type()}.  There are no special
 | |
| operations on types.  The standard module \module{types} defines names
 | |
| for all standard built-in types.
 | |
| \bifuncindex{type}
 | |
| \refstmodindex{types}
 | |
| 
 | |
| Types are written like this: \code{<type 'int'>}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{The Null Object \label{bltin-null-object}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| This object is returned by functions that don't explicitly return a
 | |
| value.  It supports no special operations.  There is exactly one null
 | |
| object, named \code{None} (a built-in name).
 | |
| 
 | |
| It is written as \code{None}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{The Ellipsis Object \label{bltin-ellipsis-object}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| This object is used by extended slice notation (see the
 | |
| \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python Reference Manual}).  It supports no
 | |
| special operations.  There is exactly one ellipsis object, named
 | |
| \constant{Ellipsis} (a built-in name).
 | |
| 
 | |
| It is written as \code{Ellipsis}.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{File Objects\obindex{file}
 | |
|                \label{bltin-file-objects}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| File objects are implemented using C's \code{stdio} package and can be
 | |
| created with the built-in function
 | |
| \function{open()}\bifuncindex{open} described in section 
 | |
| \ref{built-in-funcs}, ``Built-in Functions.''  They are also returned
 | |
| by some other built-in functions and methods, e.g.,
 | |
| \function{os.popen()} and \function{os.fdopen()} and the
 | |
| \method{makefile()} method of socket objects.
 | |
| \refstmodindex{os}
 | |
| \refbimodindex{socket}
 | |
| 
 | |
| When a file operation fails for an I/O-related reason, the exception
 | |
| \exception{IOError} is raised.  This includes situations where the
 | |
| operation is not defined for some reason, like \method{seek()} on a tty
 | |
| device or writing a file opened for reading.
 | |
| 
 | |
| Files have the following methods:
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{close}{}
 | |
|   Close the file.  A closed file cannot be read or written anymore.
 | |
|   Any operation which requires that the file be open will raise an
 | |
|   \exception{IOError} after the file has been closed.  Calling
 | |
|   \method{close()} more than once is allowed.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{flush}{}
 | |
|   Flush the internal buffer, like \code{stdio}'s
 | |
|   \cfunction{fflush()}.  This may be a no-op on some file-like
 | |
|   objects.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{isatty}{}
 | |
|   Return true if the file is connected to a tty(-like) device, else
 | |
|   false.  \strong{Note:} If a file-like object is not associated
 | |
|   with a real file, this method should \emph{not} be implemented.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{fileno}{}
 | |
|   \index{file descriptor}
 | |
|   \index{descriptor, file}
 | |
|   Return the integer ``file descriptor'' that is used by the
 | |
|   underlying implementation to request I/O operations from the
 | |
|   operating system.  This can be useful for other, lower level
 | |
|   interfaces that use file descriptors, e.g.\ module
 | |
|   \refmodule{fcntl}\refbimodindex{fcntl} or \function{os.read()} and
 | |
|   friends.  \strong{Note:} File-like objects which do not have a real
 | |
|   file descriptor should \emph{not} provide this method!
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{read}{\optional{size}}
 | |
|   Read at most \var{size} bytes from the file (less if the read hits
 | |
|   \EOF{} before obtaining \var{size} bytes).  If the \var{size}
 | |
|   argument is negative or omitted, read all data until \EOF{} is
 | |
|   reached.  The bytes are returned as a string object.  An empty
 | |
|   string is returned when \EOF{} is encountered immediately.  (For
 | |
|   certain files, like ttys, it makes sense to continue reading after
 | |
|   an \EOF{} is hit.)  Note that this method may call the underlying
 | |
|   C function \cfunction{fread()} more than once in an effort to
 | |
|   acquire as close to \var{size} bytes as possible.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{readline}{\optional{size}}
 | |
|   Read one entire line from the file.  A trailing newline character is
 | |
|   kept in the string\footnote{
 | |
| 	The advantage of leaving the newline on is that an empty string 
 | |
| 	can be returned to mean \EOF{} without being ambiguous.  Another 
 | |
| 	advantage is that (in cases where it might matter, e.g. if you 
 | |
| 	want to make an exact copy of a file while scanning its lines) 
 | |
| 	you can tell whether the last line of a file ended in a newline
 | |
| 	or not (yes this happens!).
 | |
|   } (but may be absent when a file ends with an
 | |
|   incomplete line).  If the \var{size} argument is present and
 | |
|   non-negative, it is a maximum byte count (including the trailing
 | |
|   newline) and an incomplete line may be returned.
 | |
|   An empty string is returned when \EOF{} is hit
 | |
|   immediately.  Note: Unlike \code{stdio}'s \cfunction{fgets()}, the
 | |
|   returned string contains null characters (\code{'\e 0'}) if they
 | |
|   occurred in the input.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{readlines}{\optional{sizehint}}
 | |
|   Read until \EOF{} using \method{readline()} and return a list containing
 | |
|   the lines thus read.  If the optional \var{sizehint} argument is
 | |
|   present, instead of reading up to \EOF{}, whole lines totalling
 | |
|   approximately \var{sizehint} bytes (possibly after rounding up to an
 | |
|   internal buffer size) are read.  Objects implementing a file-like
 | |
|   interface may choose to ignore \var{sizehint} if it cannot be
 | |
|   implemented, or cannot be implemented efficiently.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{seek}{offset\optional{, whence}}
 | |
|   Set the file's current position, like \code{stdio}'s \cfunction{fseek()}.
 | |
|   The \var{whence} argument is optional and defaults to \code{0}
 | |
|   (absolute file positioning); other values are \code{1} (seek
 | |
|   relative to the current position) and \code{2} (seek relative to the
 | |
|   file's end).  There is no return value.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{tell}{}
 | |
|   Return the file's current position, like \code{stdio}'s
 | |
|   \cfunction{ftell()}.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{truncate}{\optional{size}}
 | |
|   Truncate the file's size.  If the optional \var{size} argument
 | |
|   present, the file is truncated to (at most) that size.  The size
 | |
|   defaults to the current position.  Availability of this function
 | |
|   depends on the operating system version (for example, not all
 | |
|   \UNIX{} versions support this operation).
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{write}{str}
 | |
| Write a string to the file.  There is no return value.  Note: Due to
 | |
| buffering, the string may not actually show up in the file until
 | |
| the \method{flush()} or \method{close()} method is called.
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{methoddesc}[file]{writelines}{list}
 | |
| Write a list of strings to the file.  There is no return value.
 | |
| (The name is intended to match \method{readlines()};
 | |
| \method{writelines()} does not add line separators.)
 | |
| \end{methoddesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| File objects also offer a number of other interesting attributes.
 | |
| These are not required for file-like objects, but should be
 | |
| implemented if they make sense for the particular object.
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdesc}[file]{closed}
 | |
| Boolean indicating the current state of the file object.  This is a
 | |
| read-only attribute; the \method{close()} method changes the value.
 | |
| It may not be available on all file-like objects.
 | |
| \end{memberdesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdesc}[file]{mode}
 | |
| The I/O mode for the file.  If the file was created using the
 | |
| \function{open()} built-in function, this will be the value of the
 | |
| \var{mode} parameter.  This is a read-only attribute and may not be
 | |
| present on all file-like objects.
 | |
| \end{memberdesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdesc}[file]{name}
 | |
| If the file object was created using \function{open()}, the name of
 | |
| the file.  Otherwise, some string that indicates the source of the
 | |
| file object, of the form \samp{<\mbox{\ldots}>}.  This is a read-only
 | |
| attribute and may not be present on all file-like objects.
 | |
| \end{memberdesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdesc}[file]{softspace}
 | |
| Boolean that indicates whether a space character needs to be printed
 | |
| before another value when using the \keyword{print} statement.
 | |
| Classes that are trying to simulate a file object should also have a
 | |
| writable \member{softspace} attribute, which should be initialized to
 | |
| zero.  This will be automatic for most classes implemented in Python
 | |
| (care may be needed for objects that override attribute access); types
 | |
| implemented in C will have to provide a writable
 | |
| \member{softspace} attribute.
 | |
| \strong{Note:}  This attribute is not used to control the
 | |
| \keyword{print} statement, but to allow the implementation of
 | |
| \keyword{print} to keep track of its internal state.
 | |
| \end{memberdesc}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsubsection{Internal Objects \label{typesinternal}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| See the \citetitle[../ref/ref.html]{Python Reference Manual} for this
 | |
| information.  It describes stack frame objects, traceback objects, and
 | |
| slice objects.
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| \subsection{Special Attributes \label{specialattrs}}
 | |
| 
 | |
| The implementation adds a few special read-only attributes to several
 | |
| object types, where they are relevant:
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdescni}{__dict__}
 | |
| A dictionary of some sort used to store an
 | |
| object's (writable) attributes.
 | |
| \end{memberdescni}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdescni}{__methods__}
 | |
| List of the methods of many built-in object types,
 | |
| e.g., \code{[].__methods__} yields
 | |
| \code{['append', 'count', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove',
 | |
| 'reverse', 'sort']}.
 | |
| \end{memberdescni}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdescni}{__members__}
 | |
| Similar to \member{__methods__}, but lists data attributes.
 | |
| \end{memberdescni}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdescni}{__class__}
 | |
| The class to which a class instance belongs.
 | |
| \end{memberdescni}
 | |
| 
 | |
| \begin{memberdescni}{__bases__}
 | |
| The tuple of base classes of a class object.
 | |
| \end{memberdescni}
 | 
