Python 2.0 Quick Reference

                           

 16 May 2001  upgraded by Richard Gruet and Simon Brunning for Python 2.0
 2000/07/18  upgraded by Richard Gruet, [email protected] for Python 1.5.2 from V1.3 ref
1995/10/30, by Chris Hoffmann, [email protected]

NB: features added in 2.0 since 1.5.2 are colored dark magenta.

Based on:
    Python Bestiary, Author: Ken Manheimer, [email protected]
    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, [email protected]

    and the readers of comp.lang.python

Python's nest: http://www.python.org     Developement: http://python.sourceforge.net/    ActivePython : http://www.ActiveState.com/ASPN/Python/
newsgroup: comp.lang.python  Help desk: [email protected]
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)
                           

Contents

                           

Invocation Options

python [-diOStuUvxX?] [-c command | script | - ] [args]
Invocation Options
Option Effect
-d Outputs parser debugging information (also PYTHONDEBUG=x)
-i Inspect interactively after running script (also PYTHONINSPECT=x) and force prompts, even 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
-X Disable class based built-in exceptions (for backward compatibility management of exceptions)
-? Help!
-c command Specify the command to execute (see next section). This terminates the option list (following options are passed as arguments to the command).
script the name of a python file (.py) to execute read from stdin.
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.
                           

Environment variables

Environment variables
Variable Effect
PYTHONHOME Alternate prefix directory (or prefix;exec_prefix). The default module search path uses prefix/lib
PYTHONPATH 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!
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.
PYTHONSTARTUP 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 (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)

                           

Notable lexical entities

Keywords

and       del       for       is        raise    
assert    elif      from      lambda    return   
break     else      global    not       try      
class     except    if        or        while    
continue  exec      import    pass               
def       finally   in        print

Identifiers

        (letter | "_")  (letter | digit | "_")*

Strings

"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"
  • Use \ at end of line to continue a string on next line.
  • adjacent strings are concatened, e.g. 'Monty' ' Python' is the same as 'Monty Python'.
  • u'hello' + ' world'  --> u'hello world'   (coerced to unicode)
  • String Literal Escapes

         \newline  Ignored (escape newline)
         \\ Backslash (\)        \e Escape (ESC)        \v Vertical Tab (VT)
         \' Single quote (')     \f Formfeed (FF)       \OOO char with octal value OOO 
         \" Double quote (")     \n Linefeed (LF) 
         \a Bell (BEL)           \r Carriage Return (CR) \xHH  char with hex value HH
         \b Backspace (BS)       \t Horizontal Tab (TAB)
         \uHHHH  unicode char with hex value HHHH, can only be used in unicode string
         \UHHHHHHHH  unicode char with hex value HHHHHHHH, can only be used in unicode string
         \AnyOtherChar is left as-is

    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

    Indexing is 0-based. Negative indices (usually) mean count backwards from end of sequence.

    Sequence slicing [starting-at-index : but-less-than-index]. Start defaults to '0'; End defaults to 'sequence-length'.

    Dictionaries (Mappings)

    Dictionary of length 0, 1, 2, etc:
    {} {1 : 'first'} {1 : 'first',  'next': 'second'}

    Operators and their evaluation order

    Operators and their evaluation order
    Highest Operator Comment
    (...) [...] {...} `...` Tuple, list & dict. creation; string conv.
    s[i]  s[i:j]  s.attr f(...) indexing & slicing; attributes, fct calls
    +x, -x, ~x Unary operators
    x**y Power
    x*y  x/y  x%y mult, division, modulo
    x+y  x-y addition, substraction
    x<<y   x>>y Bit shifting
    x&y Bitwise and
    x^y Bitwise exclusive or
    x|y Bitwise or
    x<y  x<=y  x>y  x>=y  x==y x!=y  x<>
    x is y   x is not
    x in s   x not in s
    Comparison, 
    identity, 
    membership
    not x boolean negation
    x and y boolean and
    x or y boolean or
    Lowest lambda args: expr anonymous function
  • 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.

    Boolean values and operators

    Boolean values and operators
    Value or Operator Returns Notes
    None, numeric zeros, empty sequences and mappings False  
    all other values True  
    not x True if x is False, else True  
    x or y if x is False then y, else x
    (1)
    x and y if x is False then x, else y
    (1)
    Notes :
        Truth testing behavior can be overridden for a given class by defining special method __nonzero__.
        (1) Evaluate second arg only if necessary to determine outcome.

    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.

    Floats are implemented with C doubles.
    Integers are implemented with C longs.
    Long integers have unlimited size (only limit is system resources)

    Operators on all numeric types

    Operators on all numeric types
    Operation Result
    abs(x) the absolute value of x
    int(x) x converted to integer
    long(x) x converted to long integer
    float(x) x converted to floating point
    -x x negated
    +x x unchanged
    x + y the sum of x and y
    x - y difference of x and y
    x * y product of x and y
    x / y quotient of x and y
    x % y remainder of x / y
    divmod(x, y) the tuple (x/y, x%y)
    x ** y x to the power y (the same as pow(x, y))

    Bit operators on 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

    Operations on all sequence types (lists, tuples, strings)

    Operations on all sequence types
    Operation Result Notes
    x in s 1 if an item of s is equal to x, else 0  
    x not in s 0 if an item of s is equal to x, else 1
     
    s + t the concatenation of s and t  
    s * n, n*s n copies of s concatenated
     
    s[i] i'th item of s, origin 0
    (1)
    s[i:j] slice of s from i (included) to j (excluded)
    (1), (2)
    len(s) length of s  
    min(s) smallest item of s
     
    max(s) largest item of (s)
     
    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 than len(s), use len(s). If i is omitted, use len(s). If i is greater than or
              equal to j, the slice is empty.

    Operations on mutable (=modifiable) sequences (lists)

    Operations on mutable sequences
    Operation Result Notes
    s[i] =x item i of s is replaced by x  
    s[i:j] = t slice of s from i to j is replaced by t
     
    del s[i:j] same as s[i:j] = []  
    s.append(x) same as s[len(s) : len(s)] = [x]
     
    s.extend(x) same as s[len(s):len(s)]= x
    (5)
    s.count(x) return number of i's for which s[i] == x  
    s.index(x) return smallest i such that s[i] == x
    (1)
    s.insert(i, x) same as s[i:i] = [x] if i >= 0  
    s.remove(x) same as del s[s.index(x)]
    (1)
    s.pop([i]) same as x = s[i]; del s[i]; return x
    (4)
    s.reverse() reverse the items of s in place
    (3)
    s.sort([cmpFct]) sort the items of s in place
    (2), (3)

    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) [New 1.5.2] The pop() method is experimental and not supported by other mutable sequence types than lists.
              The optional  argument i defaults to -1, so that by default the last item is removed and returned.
         (5) [New 1.5.2] Experimental ! Raises an exception when x is not a list object.
     
     

    Operations on mappings (dictionaries)

    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)
    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)
    s.encode([encoding[,errors]]) return an encoded version of s. Default encoding is the current default string encoding. 
    (3)
    s.endswith(suffix[,start[,end]]) return true if s ends with the specified suffix, otherwise return false. 
    (2)
    s.expandtabs([tabsize]) return a copy of s where all tab characters are expanded using spaces.
    (4)
    s.find(sub[,start[,end]]) return the lowest index in s where substring sub is found. Return -1 if sub is not found.
    (2)
    s.index(sub[,start[,end]]) like find(), but raise ValueError when the substring is not found.
    (2)
    s.isalnum() return true if all characters in s are alphanumeric, false otherwise. 
    (5)
    s.isalpha() return true if all characters in s are alphabetic, false otherwise. 
    (5)
    s.isdigit() return true if all characters in s are digit characters, false otherwise. 
    (5)
    s.islower() return true if all characters in s are lowercase, false otherwise. 
    (6)
    s.isspace() return true if all characters in s are whitespace characters, false otherwise. 
    (5)
    s.istitle() return true if string s is a titlecased string, false otherwise. 
    (7)
    s.isupper() return true if all characters in s are uppercase, false otherwise. 
    (6)
    s.join(seq) return a concatenation of the strings in the sequence 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.
     
    s.replace(old, new[, maxsplit]) return a copy of s with all occurrences of substring old replaced by new.
    (9)
    s.rfind(sub[,start[,end]]) return the highest index in s where substring sub is found. Return -1 if sub is not found.
    (2)
    s.rindex(sub[,start[,end]]) like rfind(), but raise ValueError when the substring is not found.
    (2)
    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.
     
    s.split([sep[,maxsplit]]) return a list of the words in s, using sep as the delimiter string.
    (10)
    s.splitlines([keepends]) return a list of the lines in s, breaking at line boundaries.
    (11)
    s.startswith(prefix[,start[,end]]) return true if s starts with the specified prefix, otherwise return false. 
    (2)
    s.strip() return a copy of s with leading and trailing whitespace removed.
     
    s.swapcase() return a copy of s with uppercase characters converted to lowercase and vice versa.
     
    s.title() return a titlecased copy of s, i.e. words start with uppercase 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.

    String formatting with the % operator

    formatString % args--> evaluates to a string
            '%s has %03d quote types.' % ('Python', 2)  # => 'Python has 002 quote types.'
            a = '%(lang)s has %(c)03d quote types.' % {'c':2, 'lang':'Python}
    (vars() function very handy to use on right-hand-side.) 
    Format codes
    Conversion Meaning
    Signed integer decimal. 
    Signed integer decimal. 
    Unsigned octal. 
    Unsigned decimal. 
    Unsigned hexidecimal (lowercase). 
    Unsigned hexidecimal (uppercase). 
    Floating point exponential format (lowercase). 
    Floating point exponential format (uppercase). 
    Floating point decimal format. 
    Floating point decimal format. 
    Same as "e" if exponent is greater than -4 or less than precision, "f" otherwise. 
    Same as "E" if exponent is greater than -4 or less than precision, "F" otherwise. 
    Single character (accepts integer or single character string). 
    String (converts any python object using repr()). 
    String (converts any python object using str()). 
    No argument is converted, results in a "%" character in the result. (The complete specification is %%.) 
    Conversion flag characters
    Flag Meaning
    The value conversion will use the ``alternate form''. 
    The conversion will be zero padded. 
    The converted value is left adjusted (overrides "-"). 
      (a space) A blank should be left before a positive number (or empty string) produced by a signed conversion. 
    A sign character ("+" or "-") will precede the conversion (overrides a "space" flag). 

    File Objects

    Created with built-in function open; may be created by other modules' functions as well.

    Operators on file objects

    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.
    f.read([size]) Read at most size bytes from file f and return as a string object. If 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.
    f.seek(offset[, whence=0]) Set file f's position, like "stdio's fseek()".
    whence == 0 then use absolute indexing.
    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 -
                               

    Statements

    pass            -- Null statement
    del name[,name]* -- Unbind name(s) from object. Object will be indirectly
                        (and automatically) deleted only if no longer referenced.
    print [>> fileobject,] [s1 [, s2 ]* [,]
                    -- Writes to sys.stdout, or to fileobject if supplied.
                       Puts spaces between arguments. Puts newline at end
                       unless statement ends with comma.
                       Print is not required when running interactively,
                       simply typing an expression will print its value,
                       unless the value is None.
    exec x [in globals [,locals]]
                    -- Executes x in namespaces provided. Defaults
                       to current namespaces. x can be a string, file
                       object or a function object.
    callable(value,... [id=value], [*args], [**kw])
                    -- Call function callable with parameters. Parameters can
                       be passed by name or be omitted if function 
                       defines default values. E.g. if callable is defined as
                       "def callable(p1=1, p2=2)"
                       "callable()"       <=>  "callable(1, 2)"
                       "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

    Caption
    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

    if condition: suite
    [elif condition: suite]*
    [else: suite]   -- usual if/else_if/else statement
    while condition: suite
    [else: suite]
                    -- usual while statement. "else" suite is executed
                       after loop exits, unless the loop is exited with
                       "break"
    for element in sequence: suite
    [else: suite]
                    -- iterates over sequence, assigning each element to element.
                       Use built-in range function to iterate a number of times.
                       "else" suite executed at end unless loop exited
                       with "break"
    break           -- immediately exits "for" or "while" loop
    continue        -- immediately does next iteration of "for" or "while" loop
    return [result] -- Exits from function (or method) and returns result (use a tuple to
                       return more than one value). If no result given, then returns None.

    Exception Statements

    assert expr[, message]
                    -- expr is evaluated. if false, raises exception AssertionError
                       with message. Inhibited if __debug__ is 0.
    try: suite1
    [except [exception [, value]: suite2]+
    [else: suite3]
                    -- statements in suite1 are executed. If an exception occurs, look
                       in "except" clauses for matching <exception>. If matches or bare
                       "except" execute suite of that clause. If no exception happens
                       suite in "else" clause is executed after suite1.
                       If exception has a value, it is put in value.
                       exception can also be tuple of exceptions, e.g.
                       "except (KeyError, NameError), val: print val"
    try: suite1
    finally: suite2
                    -- statements in suite1 are executed. If no
                       exception, execute suite2 (even if suite1 is
                       exited with a "return", "break" or "continue"
                       statement). If exception did occur, executes 
                       suite2 and then immediately reraises exception.
    raise exception [,value [, traceback]]
                    -- raises exception with optional value
                       value. Arg traceback specifies a traceback object to
                       use when printing the exception's backtrace.
    raise           -- a raise statement without arguments re-raises
                       the last exception raised in the current function
  • An exception is either a string (object) or a class instance.

  •   Can create a new one simply by creating a new string:

                  my_exception = 'You did something wrong'
          try:
                       if bad:
                  raise my_exception, bad
          except my_exception, value:
                        print 'Oops', value
     

  • 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().
    All built-in exception classes derives from StandardError, itself
    derived from Exception.

    Name Space Statements

    [1.51: On Mac & Windows, the case of module file names must now match the case as used
      in the import statement]
    Packages (>1.5): a package is a name space which maps to a directory including
                    module(s) and the special initialization module '__init__.py'
                    (possibly empty). Packages/dirs can be nested. You address a
                    module's symbol via '[package.[package...]module.symbol's.
    import module1 [as name1] [, module2]*
                    -- imports modules. Members of module must be 
                       referred to by qualifying with [package.]module name:
                       "import sys; print sys.argv:"
                       "import package1.subpackage.module; package1.subpackage.module.foo()"
                       module1 renamed as name1, if supplied.
    from module import name1 [as othername1] [, name2]*
                    -- imports names from module module in current namespace.
                       "from sys import argv; print argv"
                       "from package1 import module; module.foo()"
                       "from package1.module import foo; foo()"
                       name1 renamed as othername1, if supplied.
    from module import *
                    -- imports all names in module, except those starting with "_";
                       *to be used sparsely, beware of name clashes* :
                       "from sys import *; print argv"
                       "from package.module import *; print x'
                        NB: "from package import *" only imports the symbols defined
                        in the package's __init__.py file, not those in the
                        template modules!
    global name1 [, name2]*
                    -- names are from global scope (usually meaning from module)
                       rather than local (usually meaning only in function).
                    -- E.g. in fct without "global" statements, assuming
                       "a" is name that hasn't been used in fct or module
                       so far:
                       -Try to read from "a" -> NameError
                       -Try to write to "a" -> creates "a" local to fcn
                       -If "a" not defined in fct, but is in module, then
                           -Try to read from "a", gets value from module
                           -Try to write to "a", creates "a" local to fct
                       But note "a[0]=3" starts with search for "a",
                       will use to global "a" if no local "a".

    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
    [Args are passed by value.Thus only args representing a mutable object
    can be modified (are inout parameters). Use a tuple to return more than
    one value]
    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 furthur conditions:
                      result.append(expression)
    
    
                               

    Built-In Functions

    Built-In Functions
    Function Result
    __import__(name[, globals[, locals[, fromlist]]]) Imports module within the given context (see lib ref for more details)
    abs(x) Return the absolute value of number x.
    apply(f, args[, keywords]) Calls func/method f with arguments args and optional keywords.
    callable(x) Returns 1 if x callable, else 0.
    chr(i) Returns one-character string whose ASCII code isinteger i
    cmp(x,y) Returns negative, 0, positive if x <, ==, > to y
    coerce(x,y) Returns a tuple of the two numeric arguments converted to a common type.
    compile(string, filename, kind) Compiles string into a code object.filename is used in error message, can be any string. It isusually the file from which the code was read, or eg. '<string>'if not read from file.kind can be 'eval' if string is a single stmt, or 'single' which prints the output of expression statements thatevaluate to something else than None, or be 'exec'.
    complex(real[, image]) Builds a complex object (can also be done using J or j suffix,e.g. 1+3J)
    delattr(obj, name) deletes attribute named name of object obj <=> del obj.name
    dir([object]) If no args, returns the list of names in current localsymbol table. With a module, class or class instanceobject as arg, returns list of names in its attr. dict.
    divmod(a,b) Returns tuple of (a/b, a%b)
    eval(s[, globals[, locals]]) Eval string s in (optional) globals, locals contexts.s must have no NUL's or newlines. s can also be acode object.Example: x = 1; incr_x = eval('x + 1')
    execfile(file[, globals[, locals]]) Executes a file without creating a new module, unlike import.
    filter(function, sequence) Constructs a list from those elements of sequence for whichfunction returns true. function takes one parameter.
    float(x) Converts a number or a string to floating point.
    getattr(object, name[, default])) [<default> arg added in 1.5.2]Gets attribute called name from object,e.g. getattr(x, 'f') <=> x.f). If not found, raisesAttributeError or returns default if specified.
    globals() Returns a dictionary containing current global 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.
    int(x[, base]) Converts a number or a string to a plain integer. Optional base paramenter specifies base from which to convert string values.
    intern(aString) Enters aString in the table of "interned strings" andreturns the string. Interned strings are 'immortals'.
    isinstance(obj, class) returns true if obj is an instance of class. Ifissubclass(A,B) then isinstance(x,A) => isinstance(x,B)
    issubclass(class1, class2) returns true if class1 is derived from class2
    len(obj) Returns the length (the number of items) of an object(sequence, dictionary, or instance of class implementing __len__).
    list(sequence) Converts sequence into a list. If already a list,returns a copy of it.
    locals() Returns a dictionary containing current local variables.
    long(x[, base]) Converts a number or a string to a long integer. Optional base paramenter specifies base from which to convert string values.
    map(function, list, ...) Applies function to every item of list and returns a listof the results. If additional arguments are passed,function must take that many arguments and it is givento function on each call.
    max(seq) Returns the largest item of the non-empty sequence seq.
    min(seq) Returns the smallest item of a non-empty sequence seq.
    oct(x) Converts a number to an octal string.
    open(filename [, mode='r', [bufsize=implementation dependent]]) Returns a new file object. First two args are same asthose for C's "stdio open" function. bufsize is 0for unbuffered, 1 for line-buffered, negative forsys-default, all else, of (about) given size.
    ord(c) Returns integer ASCII value of c (a string of len 1). Works with Unicode char.
    pow(x, y [, z]) Returns x to power y [modulo z]. See also ** operator.
    range(start [,end [, step]]) Returns list of ints from >= start and < end.With 1 arg, list from 0..arg-1With 2 args, list from start..end-1With 3 args, list from start up to end by step
    raw_input([prompt]) Prints prompt if given, then reads string from stdinput (no trailing \n). See also input().
    reduce(f, list [, init]) Applies the binary function f to the items oflist so as to reduce the list to a single value.If init given, it is "prepended" to list.
    reload(module) Re-parses and re-initializes an already imported module. Useful in interactive mode, if you want to reload amodule after fixing it. If module was syntacticallycorrect but had an error in initialization, mustimport it one more time before calling reload().
    repr(object) Returns a string containing a printable and if possible evaluable representation of an object. <=> `object` (usingbackquotes). Class redefinissable (__repr__). See also str()
    round(x, n=0) Returns the floating point value x rounded to n digitsafter the decimal point.
    setattr(object, name, value) This is the counterpart of getattr().setattr(o, 'foobar', 3) <=> o.foobar = 3Creates attribute if it doesn't exist!
    slice([start,] stop[, step]) Returns a slice object representing a range, with R/Oattributes: start, stop, step.
    str(object) Returns a string containing a nicely printablerepresentation of an object. Class overridable (__str__).See also repr().
    tuple(sequence) Creates a tuple with same elements as sequence. If already a tuple, return itself (not a copy).
    type(obj) Returns a type object [see module types] representing thetype of obj. Example: import typesif type(x) == types.StringType: print 'It is a string'NB: it is recommanded to use the following form:if isinstance(x, types.StringType): etc...
    unichr(code) Returns a unicode string 1 char long with given code.
    unicode(string[, encoding[, error]]]) Creates a Unicode string from a 8-bit string, using thegiven encoding name and error treatment ('strict', 'ignore',or 'replace'}.
    vars([object]) Without arguments, returns a dictionary correspondingto the current local symbol table. With a module,class or class instance object as argumentreturns a dictionary corresponding to the object'ssymbol table. Useful with "%" formatting operator.
    xrange(start [, end [, step]]) Like range(), but doesn't actually store entire listall at once. Good to use in "for" loops when there is abig range and little memory.
    zip(seq1[, seq2, ...]) Returns a list of tuples where each tuple contains the 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

                            On excessively large arithmetic operation
                ZeroDivisionError
                  On division or modulo operation with 0 as 2nd arg

            AssertionError
                    When an assert statement fails.
            AttributeError

                    On attribute reference or assignment failure
            EnvironmentError    [new in 1.5.2]
                    On error outside Python; error arg tuple is (errno, errMsg...)
                IOError    [changed in 1.5.2]
               I/O-related operation failure
                OSError    [new in 1.5.2]
               used by the os module's os.error exception.
            EOFError

                    Immediate end-of-file hit by input() or raw_input()
            ImportError
         On failure of `import' to find module or name
            KeyboardInterrupt
         On user entry of the interrupt key (often `Control-C')
            LookupError
                    base class for IndexError, KeyError
                IndexError
                 On out-of-range sequence subscript
                KeyError
                 On reference to a non-existent mapping (dict) key
            MemoryError
         On recoverable memory exhaustion
            NameError
         On failure to find a local or global (unqualified) name
            RuntimeError
         Obsolete catch-all; define a suitable error instead

          NotImplementedError   [new in 1.5.2]
                On method not implemented
            SyntaxError
         On parser encountering a syntax error

       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
                               

    Standard methods & operators redefinition in classes

    Standard methods & operators map to special '__methods__' and thus may be
     redefined (mostly in in user-defined classes), e.g.:
        class x: 
             def __init__(self, v): self.value = v
             def __add__(self, r): return self.value + r
        a = x(3) # sort of like calling x.__init__(a, 3)
        a + 4    # is equivalent to a.__add__(4)

    Special methods for any class

    (s: self, o: other)
            __init__(s, args) instance initialization (on construction) 
            __del__(s)        called on object demise (refcount becomes 0)
            __repr__(s)       repr() and `...` conversions
            __str__(s)        str() and 'print' statement
            __cmp__(s, o)     Compares s to o and returns <0, 0, or >0. 
                              Implements >, <, == etc...
            __hash__(s)       Compute a 32 bit hash code; hash() and dictionary ops
            __nonzero__(s)    Returns 0 or 1 for truth value testing
            __getattr__(s, name)  called when attr lookup doesn't find <name>
            __setattr__(s, name, val) called when setting an attr
                                      (inside, don't use "self.name = value"
                                       use "self.__dict__[name] = val")
            __delattr__(s, name)  called to delete attr <name>
            __call__(self, *args) called when an instance is called as function.

    Operators

    See list in the operator module. Operator function names are provided with 2 variants, with or without
    ading & trailing '__' (eg. __add__ or add).

    Numeric operations special methods
    (s: self, o: other)

            s+o       =  __add__(s,o)         s-o        =  __sub__(s,o)
            s*o       =  __mul__(s,o)         s/o        =  __div__(s,o)
            s%o       =  __mod__(s,o)         divmod(s,o) = __divmod__(s,o)
            s**o      =  __pow__(s,o)
            s&o       =  __and__(s,o)         
            s^o       =  __xor__(s,o)         s|o        =  __or__(s,o)
            s<<o      =  __lshift__(s,o)      s>>o       =  __rshift__(s,o)
            nonzero(s) = __nonzero__(s) (used in boolean testing)
            -s        =  __neg__(s)           +s         =  __pos__(s)  
            abs(s)    =  __abs__(s)           ~s         =  __invert__(s)  (bitwise)
            s+=o      =  __iadd__(s,o)        s-=o       =  __isub__(s,o)
            s*=o      =  __imul__(s,o)        s/=o       =  __idiv__(s,o)
            s%=o      =  __imod__(s,o)
            s**=o     =  __ipow__(s,o)
            s&=o      =  __iand__(s,o)         
            s^=o      =  __ixor__(s,o)        s|=o       =  __ior__(s,o)
            s<<=o     =  __ilshift__(s,o)     s>>=o      =  __irshift__(s,o)
            Conversions
            int(s)    =  __int__(s)           long(s)    =  __long__(s)
            float(s)  =  __float__(s)         complex(s)    =  __complex__(s)
            oct(s)    =  __oct__(s)           hex(s)     =  __hex__(s)
            coerce(s,o) = __coerce__(s,o)
            Right-hand-side equivalents for all binary operators exist;
            are called when class instance is on r-h-s of operator:
            a + 3  calls __add__(a, 3)
            3 + a  calls __radd__(a, 3)
    All seqs and maps, general operations plus:
    (s: self, i: index or key)
            len(s)    = __len__(s)        length of object, >= 0.  Length 0 == false
            s[i]      = __getitem__(s,i)  Element at index/key i, origin 0
    Sequences, general methods, plus:
      s[i]=v           = __setitem__(s,i,v)
      del s[i]         = __delitem__(s,i)
      s[i:j]           = __getslice__(s,i,j)
      s[i:j]=seq       = __setslice__(s,i,j,seq)
      del s[i:j]       = __delslice__(s,i,j)   == s[i:j] = []
      seq * n          = __repeat__(seq, n)
      s1 + s2          = __concat__(s1, s2)
      i in s           = __contains__(s, i)
    
    Mappings, general methods, plus
      hash(s)          = __hash__(s) - hash value for dictionary references
      s[k]=v           = __setitem__(s,k,v)
      del s[k]         = __delitem__(s,k)

    Special informative state attributes for some types:

        Lists & Dictionaries:
            __methods__ (list, R/O): list of method names of the object
     
        Modules:
            __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
            __file__(string/undefined, R/O): pathname of .pyc, .pyo or .pyd (undef for
                     modules statically linked to the interpreter)
            __path__(string/undefined, R/O): fully qualified package name when applies.
     
        Classes:    [in bold: writable since 1.5.2]
            __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:
            __class__ (class, R/W): instance's class
            __dict__ (dict, R/W): attributes
        User-defined functions: [bold: writable since 1.5.2]
            __doc__ (string/None, R/W): doc string
            __name__(string, R/O): function name
            func_doc (R/W): same as __doc__
            func_name (R/O): same as __name__
            func_defaults (tuple/None, R/W): default args values if any
            func_code (code, R/W): code object representing the compiled function body
            func_globals (dict, R/O): ref to dictionary of func global variables
     
        User-defined Methods:
            __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
        Built-in Functions & methods:
            __doc__ (string/None, R/O): doc string
            __name__ (string, R/O): function name
            __self__ : [methods only] target object
            __members__ = list of attr names: ['__doc__','__name__','__self__'])
        Codes:
            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): litterals used by the bytecode, 1st one is
                                    fct 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
            co_flags (int, R/O): flags for the interpreter
                               bit 2 set if fct uses "*arg" syntax
                               bit 3 set if fct uses '**keywords' syntax
        Frames:
            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:
            tb_next (frame/None, R/O): next level in stack trace (toward the frame where
                                      the exception 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:
            start (any/None, R/O): lowerbound
            stop (any/None, R/O): upperbound
            step (any/None, R/O): step value
     
        Complex numbers:
            real (float, R/O): real part
            imag (float, R/O): imaginary part
        XRanges:
            tolist (Built-in method, R/O): ?
                               

    Important Modules

    sys
    Some sys variables
    Variable Content
    argv The list of command line arguments passed to aPython script. sys.argv[0] is the script name.
    builtin_module_names A list of strings giving the names of all moduleswritten in C that are linked into this interpreter.
    check_interval How often to check for thread switches or signals(measured in number of virtual machine instructions)
    exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback Deprecated since release 1.5. Use exc_info() instead.
    exitfunc User can set to a parameterless fcn. It will getcalled before interpreter exits.
    last_type, last_value, last_traceback Set only when an exception not handled andinterpreter prints an error. Used by debuggers.
    maxint maximum positive value for integers
    modules Dictionary of modules that have already been loaded.
    path Search path for external modules. Can be modifiedby program. sys.path[0] == dir of script executing
    platform The current platform, e.g. "sunos5", "win32"
    ps1, ps2 prompts to use in interactive mode.
    stdin, stdout, stderr File objects used for I/O. One can redirect byassigning a new file object to them (or any object:.with a method write(string) for stdout/stderr,.with a method readline() for stdin)
    version string containing version info about Python interpreter. (and also: copyright, dllhandle, exec_prefix, prefix)
    version_info tuple containing Python version info - (major, minor, micro, level, serial).
    Some sys functions
    Function Result
    exit(n) Exits with status n. Raises SystemExit exception.(Hence can be caught and ignored by program)
    getrefcount(object) Returns the reference count of the object. Generally 1 higherthan you might expect, because of object arg temp reference.
    setcheckinterval(interval) Sets the interpreter's thread switching interval (in number ofvirtualcode 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.
    exc_info() Info on exception currently being handled; this is atuple (exc_type, exc_value, exc_traceback).Warning: assigning the traceback return value to a loca variable in a functionhandling 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 http://www.lemburg.com/files/python/platform.py)
    Some os variables
    Variable Meaning
    name name of O/S-specific module (e.g. "posix", "mac", "nt")
    path O/S-specific module for path manipulations.
    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
    makedirs(path[, mode=0777]) Recursive directory creation (create required intermediary dirs); os.error 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'].
    error exception raised on POSIX-related error.
    Corresponding value is tuple of errno code and perror() string.
    Some posix functions
    Function Result
    chdir(path) Changes current directory to path.
    chmod(path, mode) Changes the mode of path to the numeric mode
    close(fd) Closes file descriptor fd opened with posix.open.
    _exit(n) Immediate exit, with no cleanups, no SystemExit,etc. Should use this to exit a child process.
    execv(p, args) "Become" executable p with args args
    getcwd() Returns a string representing the current working directory
    getpid() Returns the current process id
    fork() Like C's fork(). Returns 0 to child, child pid to parent.[Not on Windows]
    kill(pid, signal) Like C's kill [Not on Windows]
    listdir(path) Lists (base)names of entries in directory path, excluding '.' and '..'
    lseek(fd, pos, how) Sets current position in file fd to position pos, expressedas an offset relative to beginning of file (how=0), tocurrent position (how=1), or to end of file (how=2)
    mkdir(path[, mode]) Creates a directory named path with numeric mode (default 0777)
    open(file, flags, mode) Like C's open(). Returns file descriptor. Use file object fctsrather than this low level ones.
    pipe() Creates a pipe. Returns pair of file descriptors (r, w) [Not on Windows].
    popen(command, mode='r', bufSize=0) Opens a pipe to or from command. Result is a file object to read to orwrite from, as indicated by mode being 'r' or 'w'. Use it to catch acommand output ('r' mode) or to feed it ('w' mode).
    remove(path) See unlink.
    rename(src, dst) Renames/moves the file or directory src to dst. [error iftarget name already exists]
    rmdir(path) Removes the empty directory path
    read(fd, n) Reads n bytes from file descriptor fd and return as string.
    stat(path) Returns st_mode, st_ino, st_dev, st_nlink, st_uid,st_gid, st_size, st_atime, st_mtime, st_ctime.[st_ino, st_uid, st_gid are dummy on Windows]
    system(command) Executes string command in a subshell. Returns exitstatus of subshell (usually 0 means OK).
    times() Returns accumulated CPU times in sec (user, system, children's user,children's sys, elapsed real time). [3 last not on Windows]
    unlink(path) Unlinks ("deletes") the file (not dir!) path. same as: remove
    utime(path, (aTime, mTime)) Sets the access & modified time of the file to the given tuple of values.
    wait() Waits for child process completion. Returns tuple ofpid, exit_status [Not on Windows]
    waitpid(pid, options) Waits for process pid to complete. Returns tuple ofpid, exit_status [Not on Windows]
    write(fd, str) Writes str to file fd. Returns nb of bytes written.

                               
    posixpath
    Do not import this module directly, import os instead and refer to this module as os.path. (e.g. os.path.exists(p)) !
    Some posixpath functions
    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.
    expandvars(p) Returns string that is (a copy of) p with environment vars expanded.[Windows: 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.
    split(p) Splits p into (head, tail) where tail is lastpathname component and <head> is everything leadingup to that. <=> (dirname(p), basename(p))
    splitdrive(p) Splits path p in a pair ('drive:', tail) [Windows]
    splitext(p) Splits into (root, ext) where last comp of root contains no periods and ext is empty or startswith a period.
    walk(p, visit, arg) Calls the function visit with arguments(arg, dirname, names) for each directory recursively inthe directory tree rooted at p (including p itself if it's a dir)The argument dirname specifies the visited directory, the argumentnames lists the files in the directory. The visit function maymodify 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
    copy(src, dst) Copies the contents of file src to file dst, retaining file permissions.
    copytree(src, dst[, symlinks]) Recursively copies an entire directory tree rooted at srcinto dst (which should not already exist). If symlinks is true, links insrc are kept as such in dst.
    rmtree(path[, ignore_errors[, onerror]]) Deletes an entire directory tree, ignoring errors if ignore_errors true,or calling onerror(func, path, sys.exc_info()) if supplied with
    (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.
    gmtime(secs), localtime(secs) return a tuple representing time : (year aaaa, month(1-12),day(1-31), 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.
    find/rfind(s, sub[, start=0[, end=0]) Return the lowest/highest index in <s> where the substring<sub> is found such that <sub> is wholly contained ins[start:end]. Return -1 if <sub> not found.
    ljust/rjust/center(s, width) Return a copy of string <s> left/right justified/centerd in afield of given width, padded with spaces. <s> is nevertruncated.
    lower/upper(s) Return a string that is (a copy of) <s> in lowercase/uppercase
    split(s[, sep=whitespace[, maxsplit=0]]) Return a list containing the words of the string <s>,using the string <sep> as a separator.
    join(words[, sep=' ']) Concatenate a list or tuple of words with interveningseparators; inverse of split.
    replace(s, old, new[, maxsplit=0] Returns a copy of string <s> with all occurences of substring<old> replaced by <new>. Limits to <maxsplit> firstsubstitutions if specified.
    strip(s) Return a string that is (a copy of) <s> without leadingand trailing 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.
     
    Regular expression syntax
    Form Description
    . matches any character (including newline if DOTALL flag specified)
    ^ matches start of the string (of every line in MULTILINE mode)
    $ matches end of the string (of every line in MULTILINE mode)
    * 0 or more of preceding regular expression (as many as possible)
    + 1 or more of preceding regular expression (as many as possible)
    ? 0 or 1 occurence of preceding regular expression
    *?, +?, ?? Same as *, + and ? but matches as few characters as possible
    {m,n} matches from m to n repetitions of preceding RE
    {m,n}? idem, attempting to match as few repetitions as possible
    [ ] defines character set: e.g. '[a-zA-Z]' to match all letters(see also \w \S)
    [^ ] defines complemented character set: matches if char is NOT in set
    \ escapes special chars '*?+&$|()' and introduces special sequences(see below). Due to Python string rules, write as '\\' orr'\' in the pattern string.
    \\ matches a litteral '\'; due to Python string rules, write as '\\\\'in pattern string, or better using raw string: r'\\'.
    | specifies alternative: 'foo|bar' matches 'foo' or 'bar'
    (...) matches any RE inside (), and delimits a group.
    (?:...) idem but doesn't delimit a group.
    (?=...) matches if ... matches next, but doesn't consume any of the string e.g. 'Isaac (?=Asimov)' matches 'Isaac' only if followed by 'Asimov'.
    (?!...) matches if ... doesn't match next. Negative of (?=...)
    (?P<name>...) matches any RE inside (), and delimits a named group. (e.g. r'(?P<id>[a-zA-Z_]\w*)' defines a group named id)
    (?P=name) matches whatever text was matched by the earlier group named name.
    (?#...) A comment; ignored.
    (?letter) letter is one of 'i','L', 'm', 's', 'x'. Set the corresponding flags (re.I, re.L, re.M, re.S, re.X) for the entire RE.
    Special sequences
    Sequence Description
    number matches content of the group of the same number; groups are numbered starting from 1
    \A matches only at the start of the string
    \b empty str at beg or end of word: '\bis\b' matches 'is', but not 'his'
    \B empty str NOT at beginning or end of word
    \d any decimal digit (<=> [0-9])
    \D any non-decimal digit char (<=> [^O-9])
    \s any whitespace char (<=> [ \t\n\r\f\v])
    \S any non-whitespace char (<=> [^ \t\n\r\f\v])
    \w any alphaNumeric char (depends on LOCALE flag)
    \W any non-alphaNumeric char (depends on LOCALE flag)
    \Z matches only at the end of the string
    Variables
    Variable Meaning
    error Exception when pattern string isn't a valid regexp.
    Functions
    Function Result
    compile(pattern[, flags=0]) Compile a RE pattern string into a regular expression object.
    Flags (combinable by |):
    I or IGNORECASE or (?i)
    case insensitive matching
    L or LOCALE or (?L)
    make \w, \W, \b, \B dependent on thecurrent locale
    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
    escape(string) return (a copy of) string with all non-alphanumerics backslashed.
    match(pattern, string[, flags]) if 0 or more chars at beginning of <string> match the RE pattern string,return a corresponding MatchObject instance, or None if no match.
    search(pattern, string[, flags]) scan thru <string> for a location matching <pattern>, return acorresponding MatchObject instance, or None if no match.
    split(pattern, string[, maxsplit=0]) split <string> by occurrences of <pattern>. If capturing () are used inpattern, then occurrences of patterns or subpatterns are also returned.
    findall(pattern, string) return a list of non-overlapping matches in <pattern>, either a list ofgroups or a list of tuples if the pattern has more than 1 group.
    sub(pattern, repl, string[, count=0]) return string obtained by replacing the (<count> first) lefmost non-overlapping occurrences of <pattern> (a string or a RE object) in <string>by <repl>; <repl> can be a string or a fct called with a single MatchObj arg, which must return the replacement string.
    subn(pattern, repl, string[, count=0]) same as sub(), but returns a tuple (newString, numberOfSubsMade)

    Regular Expression Objects


    (RE objects are returned by the compile fct)
    re object attributes
    Attribute Descrition
    flags flags arg used when RE obj was compiled, or 0 if none provided
    groupindex dictionary of {group name: group number} in pattern
    pattern pattern string from which RE obj was compiled
    re object methods
    Method Result
    match(string[, pos][, endpos]) If zero or more characters at the beginning of string match this regular expression, return a corresponding MatchObject instance. Return None if the string does not match the pattern; note that this is different from a zero-length match.
    The optional second parameter pos gives an index in the string where the search is to start; it defaults to 0. This is not completely equivalent to slicing the string; the '' pattern character matches at the real beginning of the string and at positions just after a newline, but not necessarily at the index where the search is to start.
    The optional parameter endpos limits how far the string will be searched; it will be as if the string is endpos characters long, so only the characters from pos to endpos will be searched for a match.
    search(string[, pos][, endpos]) Scan through string looking for a location where this regular expression produces a match, and return a corresponding MatchObject instance. Return None if no position in the string matches the pattern; note that this is different from finding a zero-length match at some point in the string.
    The optional pos and endpos parameters have the same meaning as for the match() method.
    split(string[, maxsplit=0]) Identical to the split() function, using the compiled pattern.
    findall(string) Identical to the findall() function, using the compiled pattern.
    sub(repl, string[, count=0]) Identical to the sub() function, using the compiled pattern.
    subn(repl, string[, count=0]) Identical to the subn() function, using the compiled pattern.

    Match Objects


    (Match objects are returned by the match & search functions)
    Match object attributes
    Attribute Description
    pos value of pos passed to search or match functions; index intostring at which RE engine started search.
    endpos value of endpos passed to search or match functions; index intostring beyond which RE engine won't go.
    re RE object whose match or search fct produced this MatchObj instance
    string string passed to match() or search()
    Match object functions
    Function Result
    group([g1, g2, ...]) returns one or more groups of the match. If one arg, result is a string;if multiple args, result is a tuple with one item per arg. If gi is 0,return value is entire matching string; if 1 <= gi <= 99, returnstring matching group #gi (or None if no such group); gi may also bea group name.
    groups() returns a tuple of all groups of the match; groups not participatingto the match have a value of None. Returns a string instead of tupleif len(tuple)=1
    start(group), end(group) returns indices of start & end of substring matched by group (or Noneif group exists but doesn't contribute to the match)
    span(group) returns the 2-tuple (start(group), end(group)); can be (None, None)if group didn't contibute to the match.

                               
    math

    Variables:

    pi
    e
    Functions (see ordinary C man pages for info):
    acos(x)
    asin(x)
    atan(x)
    atan2(x, y)
    ceil(x)
    cos(x)
    cosh(x)
    exp(x)
    fabs(x)
    floor(x)
    fmod(x, y)
    frexp(x)        -- Unlike C: (float, int) = frexp(float)
    ldexp(x, y)
    log(x)
    log10(x)
    modf(x)         -- Unlike C: (float, float) = modf(float)
    pow(x, y)
    sin(x)
    sinh(x)
    sqrt(x)
    tan(x)
    tanh(x)
                               
    getopt

    Functions:

    getopt(list, optstr)    -- Similar to C. <optstr> is option
                               letters to look for. Put ':' after letter
                               if option takes arg. E.g.
        # invocation was "python test.py -c hi -a arg1 arg2"
           opts, args =  getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], 'ab:c:')   
        # opts would be
           [('-c', 'hi'), ('-a', '')]
        # args would be
           ['arg1', 'arg2']
                               

    List of modules and packages in base distribution

    (built-ins and content of python Lib directory)
    (Python NT distribution, may be slightly different in other distributions)

    Standard library modules
    Operation Result
    aifc Stuff to parse AIFF-C and AIFF files.
    anydbm Generic interface to all dbm clones. (dbhash, gdbm, dbm,dumbdbm)
    asynchat Support for 'chat' style protocols
    asyncore Asynchronous File I/O (in select style)
    atexit Register functions to be called at exit of Python interpreter.
    audiodev Audio support for a few platforms.
    base64 Conversions to/from base64 RFC-MIME transport encoding .
    BaseHTTPServer Base class forhttp services.
    Bastion "Bastionification" utility (control access to instance vars)
    bdb A generic Python debugger base class.
    binhex Macintosh binhex compression/decompression.
    bisect List bisection algorithms.
    calendar Calendar printing functions.
    cgi Wraps the WWW Forms Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
    CGIHTTPServer CGI http services.
    cmd A generic class to build line-oriented command interpreters.
    cmp Efficiently compare files, boolean outcome only.
    cmpcache Same, but caches 'stat' results for speed.
    code Utilities needed to emulate Python's interactive interpreter
    codecs Lookup existing Unicode encodings and register new ones.
    colorsys Conversion functions between RGB and other color systems.
    commands Tools for executing UNIX commands .
    compileall Force "compilation" of all .py files in a directory.
    ConfigParser Configuration file parser (much like windows .ini files)
    copy Generic shallow and deep copying operations.
    copy_reg Helper to provide extensibility for pickle/cPickle.
    dbhash (g)dbm-compatible interface to bsdhash.hashopen.
    dircache Sorted list of files in a dir, using a cache.
    dircmp Defines a class to build directory diff tools on.
    dis Bytecode disassembler.
    distutils Package installation system.
    dospath Common operations on DOS pathnames.
    dumbdbm A dumb and slow but simple dbm clone.
    dump Print python code that reconstructs a variable.
    exceptions Class based built-in exception hierarchy.
    filecmp File comparison.
    fileinput Helper class to quickly write a loop over all standard input files.
    find Find files directory hierarchy matching a pattern.
    fnmatch Filename matching with shell patterns.
    formatter A test formatter.
    fpformat General floating point formatting functions.
    ftplib An FTP client class. Based on RFC 959.
    gc Perform garbacge collection, obtain GC debug stats, and tune GC parameters.
    getopt Standard command line processing. See also ftp://www.pauahtun.org/pub/getargspy.zip
    getpass Utilities to get a password and/or the current user name.
    glob filename globbing.
    gopherlib Gopher protocol client interface.
    grep 'grep' utilities.
    gzip Read & write gzipped files.
    htmlentitydefs Proposed entity definitions for HTML.
    htmllib HTML parsing utilities.
    httplib HTTP client class.
    ihooks Hooks into the "import" mechanism.
    imaplib IMAP4 client.Based on RFC 2060.
    imghdr Recognizing image files based on their first few bytes.
    imputil Privides a way of writing customised import hooks.
    keyword List of Python keywords.
    knee A Python re-implementation of hierarchical module import.
    linecache Cache lines from files.
    linuxaudiodev Lunix /dev/audio support.
    locale Support for number formatting using the current locale settings.
    macpath Pathname (or related) operations for the Macintosh.
    macurl2path Mac specific module for conversion between pathnames and URLs.
    mailbox A class to handle a unix-style or mmdf-style mailbox.
    mailcap Mailcap file handling (RFC 1524).
    mhlib MH (mailbox) interface.
    mimetools Various tools used by MIME-reading or MIME-writing programs.
    mimetypes Guess the MIME type of a file.
    MimeWriter Generic MIME writer.
    mimify Mimification and unmimification of mail messages.
    mmap Interface to memory-mapped files - they behave like mutable strings.
    multifile Class to make multi-file messages easier to handle.
    mutex Mutual exclusion -- for use with module sched.
    netrc
    nntplib An NNTP client class. Based on RFC 977.
    ntpath Common operations on DOS pathnames.
    nturl2path Mac specific module for conversion between pathnames and URLs.
    os Either mac, dos or posix depending system.
    packmail Create a self-unpacking shell archive.
    pdb A Python debugger.
    pickle Pickling (save and restore) of Python objects (a faster Cimplementation exists in built-in module: cPickle).
    pipes Conversion pipeline templates.
    poly Polynomials.
    popen2 variations on pipe open.
    poplib A POP3 client class. Based on the J. Myers POP3 draft.
    posixfile Extended (posix) file operations.
    posixpath Common operations on POSIX pathnames.
    pprint Support to pretty-print lists, tuples, & dictionaries recursively.
    profile Class for profiling python code.
    pstats Class for printing reports on profiled python code.
    pty Pseudo terminal utilities.
    pyexpat Interface to the Expay XML parser.
    py_compile Routine to "compile" a .py file to a .pyc file.
    pyclbr Parse a Python file and retrieve classes and methods.
    Queue A multi-producer, multi-consumer queue.
    quopri Conversions to/from quoted-printable transport encoding.
    rand Don't use unless you want compatibility with C's rand().
    random Random variable generators (obsolete, use whrandom)
    re Regular Expressions.
    reconvert Convert old ("regex") regular expressions to new syntax ("re").
    regex_syntax Flags for regex.set_syntax().
    regexp Backward compatibility for module "regexp" using "regex".
    regsub Regular expression subroutines.
    repr Redo repr() but with limits on most sizes.
    rexec Restricted execution facilities ("safe" exec, eval, etc).
    rfc822 RFC-822 message manipulation class.
    rlcompleter Word completion for GNU readline 2.0.
    robotparser Parse robot.txt files, useful for web spiders.
    sched A generally useful event scheduler class.
    sgmllib A parser for SGML.
    shelve Manage shelves of pickled objects.
    shlex Lexical analyzer class for simple shell-like syntaxes.
    shutil Utility functions usable in a shell-like program.
    SimpleHTTPServer Simple extension to base http class
    site Append module search paths for third-party packages to sys.path.
    smtplib SMTP Client class (RFC 821)
    sndhdr Several routines that help recognizing sound.
    SocketServer Generic socket server classes.
    stat Constants and functions for interpreting stat/lstat struct.
    statcache Maintain a cache of file stats.
    statvfs Constants for interpreting statvfs struct as returned by os.statvfs()and os.fstatvfs() (if they exist).
    string A collection of string operations.
    StringIO File-like objects that read/write a string buffer (a fasterC implementation exists in built-in module: cStringIO).
    sunau Stuff to parse Sun and NeXT audio files.
    sunaudio Interpret sun audio headers.
    symbol Non-terminal symbols of Python grammar (from "graminit.h").
    tabnanny Check Python source for ambiguous indentation.
    telnetlib TELNET client class. Based on RFC 854.
    tempfile Temporary file name allocation.
    threading Proposed new higher-level threading interfaces
    threading_api (doc of the threading module)
    toaiff Convert "arbitrary" sound files to AIFF files .
    token Tokens (from "token.h").
    tokenize Compiles a regular expression that recognizes Python tokens.
    traceback Format and print Python stack traces.
    tty Terminal utilities.
    turtle LogoMation-like turtle graphics
    types Define names for all type symbols in the std interpreter.
    tzparse Parse a timezone specification.
    unicodedata Interface to unicode properties.
    urllib Open an arbitrary URL.
    urlparse Parse URLs according to latest draft of standard.
    user Hook to allow user-specified customization code to run.
    UserDict A wrapper to allow subclassing of built-in dict class.
    UserList A wrapper to allow subclassing of built-in list class.
    UserString A wrapper to allow subclassing of built-in string class.
    util some useful functions that don't fit elsewhere !!
    uu UUencode/UUdecode.
    wave Stuff to parse WAVE files.
    webbrowser Platform independent URL launcher.
    whatsound Several routines that help recognizing sound files.
    whichdb Guess which db package to use to open a db file.
    whrandom Wichmann-Hill random number generator.
    xdrlib Implements (a subset of) Sun XDR (eXternal Data Representation)
    xmllib A parser for XML, using the derived class as static DTD.
    xml.dom Classes for processing XML using the Document Object Model.
    xml.sax Classes for processing XML using the SAX API.
    zipfile Read & write PK zipped files.
    zmod Demonstration of abstruse mathematical concepts.
                               

    (following list not revised)

    * 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

    * Stdwin * Standard Window System

                stdwin              Standard Window System interface
                stdwinevents        Stdwin event, command, and selection constants
                rect                Rectangle manipulation operations

    * SGI IRIX * (4 & 5)

                al          SGI audio facilities
                AL          al constants
                fl          Interface to FORMS library
                FL          fl constants
                flp Functions for form designer
                fm          Access to font manager library
                gl          Access to graphics library
                GL          Constants for gl
                DEVICE      More constants for gl
                imgfile     Imglib image file interface

    * Suns *

                sunaudiodev Access to sun audio interface
                               

    Workspace exploration and idiom hints

            dir(<module>)                                list functions, variables in <module>
            dir();                                       get object keys, defaults to local name space
            X.__methods__;                               list of methods supported by X (if any)
            X.__members__                                List of X's data attributes
            if __name__ == '__main__': main()            invoke main if running as script
            map(None, lst1, lst2, ...)                   merge lists
            b = a[:]                                     create copy of seq structure
            _                                            in interactive mode, is last value printed
    
    
    
    
    
    
                               

    Python Mode for Emacs

    (Not revised, possibly not up to date)
    Type C-c ? when in python-mode for extensive help.
    INDENTATION
    Primarily for entering new code:
            TAB      indent line appropriately
            LFD      insert newline, then indent
            DEL      reduce indentation, or delete single character
    Primarily for reindenting existing code:
            C-c :    guess py-indent-offset from file content; change locally
            C-u C-c :        ditto, but change globally
            C-c TAB  reindent region to match its context
            C-c <    shift region left by py-indent-offset
            C-c >    shift region right by py-indent-offset
    MARKING & MANIPULATING REGIONS OF CODE
    C-c C-b         mark block of lines
    M-C-h           mark smallest enclosing def
    C-u M-C-h       mark smallest enclosing class
    C-c #           comment out region of code
    C-u C-c #       uncomment region of code
    MOVING POINT
    C-c C-p         move to statement preceding point
    C-c C-n         move to statement following point
    C-c C-u         move up to start of current block
    M-C-a           move to start of def
    C-u M-C-a       move to start of class
    M-C-e           move to end of def
    C-u M-C-e       move to end of class
    EXECUTING PYTHON CODE
    C-c C-c sends the entire buffer to the Python interpreter
    C-c |   sends the current region
    C-c !   starts a Python interpreter window; this will be used by
            subsequent C-c C-c or C-c | commands
    VARIABLES
    py-indent-offset        indentation increment
    py-block-comment-prefix comment string used by py-comment-region
    py-python-command       shell command to invoke Python interpreter
    py-scroll-process-buffer        t means always scroll Python process buffer
    py-temp-directory       directory used for temp files (if needed)
    py-beep-if-tab-change   ring the bell if tab-width is changed
                               

    The Python Debugger

    (Not revised, possibly not up to date, see 1.5.2 Library Ref section 9.1; in 1.5.2, you may also use debugger integrated in IDLE)

    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>
            
            -- defines class Pdb :
               use Pdb to create reusable debugger objects. Object
               preserves state (i.e. break points) between calls.
     
            runs until a breakpoint hit, exception, or end of program
            If exception, variable '__exception__' holds (exception,value).

    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 fcn <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".