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.. _library-index:
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The Python Standard Library
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While :ref:`reference-index` describes the exact syntax and
semantics of the Python language, this library reference manual
describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also
describes some of the optional components that are commonly included
in Python distributions.
Python's standard library is very extensive, offering a wide range of
facilities as indicated by the long table of contents listed below. The
library contains built-in modules (written in C) that provide access to
system functionality such as file I/O that would otherwise be
inaccessible to Python programmers, as well as modules written in Python
that provide standardized solutions for many problems that occur in
everyday programming. Some of these modules are explicitly designed to
encourage and enhance the portability of Python programs by abstracting
away platform-specifics into platform-neutral APIs.
The Python installers for the Windows platform usually includes
the entire standard library and often also include many additional
components. For Unix-like operating systems Python is normally provided
as a collection of packages, so it may be necessary to use the packaging
tools provided with the operating system to obtain some or all of the
optional components.
In addition to the standard library, there is a growing collection of
several thousand components (from individual programs and modules to
packages and entire application development frameworks), available from
the `Python Package Index <http://pypi.python.org/pypi>`_.
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 2
:numbered:
intro.rst
functions.rst
constants.rst
stdtypes.rst
exceptions.rst
text.rst
binary.rst
datatypes.rst
numeric.rst
functional.rst
filesys.rst
persistence.rst
archiving.rst
fileformats.rst
crypto.rst
allos.rst
concurrency.rst
ipc.rst
netdata.rst
markup.rst
internet.rst
mm.rst
i18n.rst
frameworks.rst
tk.rst
development.rst
debug.rst
python.rst
custominterp.rst
modules.rst
language.rst
misc.rst
windows.rst
unix.rst
undoc.rst