Added new helpers for easy access to codecs. Docs will follow.
diff --git a/Lib/codecs.py b/Lib/codecs.py
index 827719b..df203c6 100644
--- a/Lib/codecs.py
+++ b/Lib/codecs.py
@@ -539,6 +539,48 @@
sr.file_encoding = file_encoding
return sr
+### Helpers for codec lookup
+
+def getencoder(encoding):
+
+ """ Lookup up the codec for the given encoding and return
+ its encoder function.
+
+ Raises a LookupError in case the encoding cannot be found.
+
+ """
+ return lookup(encoding)[0]
+
+def getdecoder(encoding):
+
+ """ Lookup up the codec for the given encoding and return
+ its decoder function.
+
+ Raises a LookupError in case the encoding cannot be found.
+
+ """
+ return lookup(encoding)[1]
+
+def getreader(encoding):
+
+ """ Lookup up the codec for the given encoding and return
+ its StreamReader class or factory function.
+
+ Raises a LookupError in case the encoding cannot be found.
+
+ """
+ return lookup(encoding)[2]
+
+def getwriter(encoding):
+
+ """ Lookup up the codec for the given encoding and return
+ its StreamWriter class or factory function.
+
+ Raises a LookupError in case the encoding cannot be found.
+
+ """
+ return lookup(encoding)[3]
+
### Helpers for charmap-based codecs
def make_identity_dict(rng):