Doc/lib/libatexit.tex

\section{\module{atexit} ---
         Exit handlers}

\declaremodule{builtin}{atexit}
\moduleauthor{Skip Montanaro}{skip@mojam.com}
\sectionauthor{Skip Montanaro}{skip@mojam.com}
\modulesynopsis{Register and execute cleanup functions.}

\versionadded{2.0}


The \module{atexit} module defines functions to register and
unregister cleanup functions.  Functions thus registered are
automatically executed upon normal interpreter termination.

Note: the functions registered via this module are not called when
the program is killed by a signal, when a Python fatal internal
error is detected, or when \function{os._exit()} is called.

\begin{funcdesc}{register}{func\optional{, *args\optional{, **kargs}}}
Register \var{func} as a function to be executed at termination.  Any
optional arguments that are to be passed to \var{func} must be passed
as arguments to \function{register()}.

At normal program termination (for instance, if
\function{sys.exit()} is called or the main module's execution
completes), all functions registered are called in last in, first out
order.  The assumption is that lower level modules will normally be
imported before higher level modules and thus must be cleaned up
later.

If an exception is raised during execution of the exit handlers, a
traceback is printed (unless \exception{SystemExit} is raised) and the
exception information is saved.  After all exit handlers have had a
chance to run the last exception to be raised is re-raised.

\versionchanged[This function now returns \var{func} which makes it
                possible to use it as a decorator without binding the
                original name to \code{None}]{2.6}
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{funcdesc}{unregister}{func}
Remove a function \var{func} from the list of functions to be run at
interpreter-shutdown.  After calling \function{unregister()},
\var{func} is guaranteed not to be called when the interpreter
shuts down.

\versionadded{3.0}
\end{funcdesc}


\begin{seealso}
  \seemodule{readline}{Useful example of \module{atexit} to read and
                       write \refmodule{readline} history files.}
\end{seealso}


\subsection{\module{atexit} Example \label{atexit-example}}

The following simple example demonstrates how a module can initialize
a counter from a file when it is imported and save the counter's
updated value automatically when the program terminates without
relying on the application making an explicit call into this module at
termination.

\begin{verbatim}
try:
    _count = int(open("/tmp/counter").read())
except IOError:
    _count = 0

def incrcounter(n):
    global _count
    _count = _count + n

def savecounter():
    open("/tmp/counter", "w").write("%d" % _count)

import atexit
atexit.register(savecounter)
\end{verbatim}

Positional and keyword arguments may also be passed to
\function{register()} to be passed along to the registered function
when it is called:

\begin{verbatim}
def goodbye(name, adjective):
    print 'Goodbye, %s, it was %s to meet you.' % (name, adjective)

import atexit
atexit.register(goodbye, 'Donny', 'nice')

# or:
atexit.register(goodbye, adjective='nice', name='Donny')
\end{verbatim}

Usage as a decorator:

\begin{verbatim}
import atexit

@atexit.register
def goodbye():
    print "You are now leaving the Python sector."
\end{verbatim}

This obviously only works with functions that don't take arguments.