PYTHON(1)PYTHON(1)
NAME
python – an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language
SYNOPSIS
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DESCRIPTION
Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming
language that combines remarkable power with very clear syntax.
For an introduction to programming in Python you are referred to the
Python Tutorial.
The Python Library Reference documents built-in and standard types,
constants, functions and modules.
Finally, the Python Reference Manual describes the syntax and
semantics of the core language in (perhaps too) much detail.
(These documents may be located via the
Python’s basic power can be extended with your own modules written in C or C++. On most systems such modules may be dynamically loaded. Python is also adaptable as an extension language for existing applications. See the internal documentation for hints.
Documentation for installed Python modules and packages can be
viewed by running the
COMMAND
Specify the command to execute (see next section). This terminates the option list (following options are passed as arguments to the command).
Turn on parser debugging output (for wizards only, depending on compilation options).
Ignore environment variables like PYTHONPATH and PYTHONHOME that modify the behavior of the interpreter.
Prints the usage for the interpreter executable and exits.
When a script is passed as first argument or the –c option is used, enter interactive mode after executing the script or the command. It does not read the $PYTHONSTARTUP file. This can be useful to inspect global variables or a stack trace when a script raises an exception.
Searches
Turn on basic optimizations. This changes the filename extension for
compiled (bytecode) files from
Division control; see PEP 238. The argument must be one of "old" (the default, int/int and long/long return an int or long), "new" (new division semantics, i.e. int/int and long/long returns a float), "warn" (old division semantics with a warning for int/int and long/long), or "warnall" (old division semantics with a warning for all use of the division operator). For a use of "warnall", see the Tools/scripts/fixdiv.py script.
Disable the import of the module
Issue a warning when a source file mixes tabs and spaces for indentation in a way that makes it depend on the worth of a tab expressed in spaces. Issue an error when the option is given twice.
Force stdin, stdout and stderr to be totally unbuffered. On systems where it matters, also put stdin, stdout and stderr in binary mode. Note that there is internal buffering in xreadlines(), readlines() and file-object iterators ("for line in sys.stdin") which is not influenced by this option. To work around this, you will want to use "sys.stdin.readline()" inside a "while 1:" loop.
Print a message each time a module is initialized, showing the place (filename or built-in module) from which it is loaded. When given twice, print a message for each file that is checked for when searching for a module. Also provides information on module cleanup at exit.
Prints the Python version number of the executable and exits.
Warning control. Python sometimes prints warning message to
The simplest form of
The full form of
Skip the first line of the source. This is intended for a DOS specific hack only. Warning: the line numbers in error messages will be off by one!
INTERPRETER
The interpreter interface resembles that of the UNIX shell: when
called with standard input connected to a tty device, it prompts for
commands and executes them until an EOF is read; when called with a
file name argument or with a file as standard input, it reads and
executes a
If available, the script name and additional arguments thereafter are
passed to the script in the Python variable
In interactive mode, the primary prompt is ‘>>>’; the second prompt
(which appears when a command is not complete) is ‘...’.
The prompts can be changed by assignment to
FILES
These are subject to difference depending on local installation conventions; ${prefix} and ${exec_prefix} are installation-dependent and should be interpreted as for GNU software; they may be the same. The default for both is /usr/local.
Recommended location of the interpreter.
Recommended locations of the directories containing the standard modules.
Recommended locations of the directories containing the include files needed for developing Python extensions and embedding the interpreter.
User-specific initialization file loaded by the user module; not used by default or by most applications.
ENVIRONMENT
Change the location of the standard Python libraries. By default, the libraries are searched in ${prefix}/lib/python<version> and ${exec_prefix}/lib/python<version>, where ${prefix} and ${exec_prefix} are installation-dependent directories, both defaulting to /usr/local. When $PYTHONHOME is set to a single directory, its value replaces both ${prefix} and ${exec_prefix}. To specify different values for these, set $PYTHONHOME to ${prefix}:${exec_prefix}.
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 colons.
Non-existent directories are silently ignored.
The default search path is installation dependent, but generally
begins with ${prefix}/lib/python<version> (see PYTHONHOME above).
The default search path is always appended to $PYTHONPATH.
If a script argument is given, the directory containing the script is
inserted in the path in front of $PYTHONPATH.
The search path can be manipulated from within a Python program as the
variable
If this is the name of a readable file, the Python commands in that
file are executed before the first prompt is displayed in interactive
mode.
The file is executed in the same name space where interactive commands
are executed so that objects defined or imported in it can be used
without qualification in the interactive session.
You can also change the prompts
Set this to a non-empty string to cause the time module to require dates specified as strings to include 4-digit years, otherwise 2-digit years are converted based on rules described in the time module documentation.
If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the –O option. If set to an integer, it is equivalent to specifying –O multiple times.
If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the –d option. If set to an integer, it is equivalent to specifying –d multiple times.
If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the –i option.
If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the –u option.
If this is set to a non-empty string it is equivalent to specifying the –v option. If set to an integer, it is equivalent to specifying –v multiple times.
AUTHOR
The Python Software Foundation: http://www.python.org/psf
INTERNET
Main website: http://www.python.org/
Documentation: http://docs.python.org/
Community website: http://starship.python.net/
Developer resources: http://www.python.org/dev/
FTP: ftp://ftp.python.org/pub/python/
Module repository: http://www.vex.net/parnassus/
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python, comp.lang.python.announce
LICENSING
Python is distributed under an Open Source license. See the file "LICENSE" in the Python source distribution for information on terms & conditions for accessing and otherwise using Python and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.