blob: d3473de1292eab8a997100683dc26e35ab16db17 [file] [log] [blame]
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001:mod:`sys` --- System-specific parameters and functions
2=======================================================
3
4.. module:: sys
5 :synopsis: Access system-specific parameters and functions.
6
Terry Jan Reedyfa089b92016-06-11 15:02:54 -04007--------------
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00008
9This module provides access to some variables used or maintained by the
10interpreter and to functions that interact strongly with the interpreter. It is
11always available.
12
13
Barry Warsawa40453d2010-10-16 14:17:50 +000014.. data:: abiflags
15
Georg Brandldf48b972014-03-24 09:06:18 +010016 On POSIX systems where Python was built with the standard ``configure``
Barry Warsawa40453d2010-10-16 14:17:50 +000017 script, this contains the ABI flags as specified by :pep:`3149`.
18
Miss Islington (bot)3fde7502019-06-14 18:31:44 -070019 .. versionchanged:: 3.8
20 Default flags became an empty string (``m`` flag for pymalloc has been
21 removed).
22
Barry Warsawa40453d2010-10-16 14:17:50 +000023 .. versionadded:: 3.2
24
Georg Brandldf48b972014-03-24 09:06:18 +010025
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070026.. function:: addaudithook(hook)
27
Miss Islington (bot)86d99332019-11-26 09:14:48 -080028 Append the callable *hook* to the list of active auditing hooks for the
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070029 current interpreter.
30
31 When an auditing event is raised through the :func:`sys.audit` function, each
32 hook will be called in the order it was added with the event name and the
33 tuple of arguments. Native hooks added by :c:func:`PySys_AddAuditHook` are
34 called first, followed by hooks added in the current interpreter.
35
Miss Skeleton (bot)11f0f112019-10-26 13:09:35 -070036 .. audit-event:: sys.addaudithook "" sys.addaudithook
37
Miss Islington (bot)86d99332019-11-26 09:14:48 -080038 Raise an auditing event ``sys.addaudithook`` with no arguments. If any
Steve Dowerb74a6f12019-11-28 08:46:23 -080039 existing hooks raise an exception derived from :class:`RuntimeError`, the
Miss Skeleton (bot)11f0f112019-10-26 13:09:35 -070040 new hook will not be added and the exception suppressed. As a result,
41 callers cannot assume that their hook has been added unless they control
42 all existing hooks.
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070043
44 .. versionadded:: 3.8
45
Steve Dowerb74a6f12019-11-28 08:46:23 -080046 .. versionchanged:: 3.8.1
47
48 Exceptions derived from :class:`Exception` but not :class:`RuntimeError`
49 are no longer suppressed.
50
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070051 .. impl-detail::
52
Miss Skeleton (bot)11f0f112019-10-26 13:09:35 -070053 When tracing is enabled (see :func:`settrace`), Python hooks are only
54 traced if the callable has a ``__cantrace__`` member that is set to a
55 true value. Otherwise, trace functions will skip the hook.
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070056
57
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000058.. data:: argv
59
60 The list of command line arguments passed to a Python script. ``argv[0]`` is the
61 script name (it is operating system dependent whether this is a full pathname or
62 not). If the command was executed using the :option:`-c` command line option to
63 the interpreter, ``argv[0]`` is set to the string ``'-c'``. If no script name
64 was passed to the Python interpreter, ``argv[0]`` is the empty string.
65
66 To loop over the standard input, or the list of files given on the
67 command line, see the :mod:`fileinput` module.
68
Inada Naoki38f4e462019-03-30 14:32:08 +090069 .. note::
70 On Unix, command line arguments are passed by bytes from OS. Python decodes
71 them with filesystem encoding and "surrogateescape" error handler.
72 When you need original bytes, you can get it by
73 ``[os.fsencode(arg) for arg in sys.argv]``.
74
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000075
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070076.. _auditing:
77
78.. function:: audit(event, *args)
79
80 .. index:: single: auditing
81
Miss Islington (bot)86d99332019-11-26 09:14:48 -080082 Raise an auditing event with any active hooks. The event name is a string
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -070083 identifying the event and its associated schema, which is the number and
84 types of arguments. The schema for a given event is considered public and
85 stable API and should not be modified between releases.
86
87 This function will raise the first exception raised by any hook. In general,
88 these errors should not be handled and should terminate the process as
89 quickly as possible.
90
91 Hooks are added using the :func:`sys.addaudithook` or
92 :c:func:`PySys_AddAuditHook` functions.
93
94 The native equivalent of this function is :c:func:`PySys_Audit`. Using the
95 native function is preferred when possible.
96
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -070097 See the :ref:`audit events table <audit-events>` for all events raised by
Miss Skeleton (bot)11f0f112019-10-26 13:09:35 -070098 CPython.
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -070099
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -0700100 .. versionadded:: 3.8
101
102
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +0100103.. data:: base_exec_prefix
104
105 Set during Python startup, before ``site.py`` is run, to the same value as
Vinay Sajipcd9b7462012-07-09 10:37:01 +0100106 :data:`exec_prefix`. If not running in a
107 :ref:`virtual environment <venv-def>`, the values will stay the same; if
108 ``site.py`` finds that a virtual environment is in use, the values of
109 :data:`prefix` and :data:`exec_prefix` will be changed to point to the
110 virtual environment, whereas :data:`base_prefix` and
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +0100111 :data:`base_exec_prefix` will remain pointing to the base Python
112 installation (the one which the virtual environment was created from).
113
Georg Brandl039b01d2012-05-26 09:11:22 +0200114 .. versionadded:: 3.3
115
116
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +0100117.. data:: base_prefix
118
119 Set during Python startup, before ``site.py`` is run, to the same value as
Vinay Sajipcd9b7462012-07-09 10:37:01 +0100120 :data:`prefix`. If not running in a :ref:`virtual environment <venv-def>`, the values
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +0100121 will stay the same; if ``site.py`` finds that a virtual environment is in
122 use, the values of :data:`prefix` and :data:`exec_prefix` will be changed to
123 point to the virtual environment, whereas :data:`base_prefix` and
124 :data:`base_exec_prefix` will remain pointing to the base Python
125 installation (the one which the virtual environment was created from).
126
Georg Brandl039b01d2012-05-26 09:11:22 +0200127 .. versionadded:: 3.3
128
129
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000130.. data:: byteorder
131
132 An indicator of the native byte order. This will have the value ``'big'`` on
133 big-endian (most-significant byte first) platforms, and ``'little'`` on
134 little-endian (least-significant byte first) platforms.
135
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000136
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000137.. data:: builtin_module_names
138
139 A tuple of strings giving the names of all modules that are compiled into this
140 Python interpreter. (This information is not available in any other way ---
141 ``modules.keys()`` only lists the imported modules.)
142
143
Georg Brandl85271262010-10-17 11:06:14 +0000144.. function:: call_tracing(func, args)
145
146 Call ``func(*args)``, while tracing is enabled. The tracing state is saved,
147 and restored afterwards. This is intended to be called from a debugger from
148 a checkpoint, to recursively debug some other code.
149
150
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000151.. data:: copyright
152
153 A string containing the copyright pertaining to the Python interpreter.
154
155
Christian Heimes15ebc882008-02-04 18:48:49 +0000156.. function:: _clear_type_cache()
157
158 Clear the internal type cache. The type cache is used to speed up attribute
159 and method lookups. Use the function *only* to drop unnecessary references
160 during reference leak debugging.
161
162 This function should be used for internal and specialized purposes only.
Christian Heimes26855632008-01-27 23:50:43 +0000163
Christian Heimes26855632008-01-27 23:50:43 +0000164
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000165.. function:: _current_frames()
166
167 Return a dictionary mapping each thread's identifier to the topmost stack frame
168 currently active in that thread at the time the function is called. Note that
169 functions in the :mod:`traceback` module can build the call stack given such a
170 frame.
171
172 This is most useful for debugging deadlock: this function does not require the
173 deadlocked threads' cooperation, and such threads' call stacks are frozen for as
174 long as they remain deadlocked. The frame returned for a non-deadlocked thread
175 may bear no relationship to that thread's current activity by the time calling
176 code examines the frame.
177
178 This function should be used for internal and specialized purposes only.
179
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -0700180 .. audit-event:: sys._current_frames "" sys._current_frames
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -0700181
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000182
Barry Warsaw36c1d1f2017-10-05 12:11:18 -0400183.. function:: breakpointhook()
184
185 This hook function is called by built-in :func:`breakpoint`. By default,
186 it drops you into the :mod:`pdb` debugger, but it can be set to any other
187 function so that you can choose which debugger gets used.
188
189 The signature of this function is dependent on what it calls. For example,
190 the default binding (e.g. ``pdb.set_trace()``) expects no arguments, but
191 you might bind it to a function that expects additional arguments
192 (positional and/or keyword). The built-in ``breakpoint()`` function passes
193 its ``*args`` and ``**kws`` straight through. Whatever
194 ``breakpointhooks()`` returns is returned from ``breakpoint()``.
195
196 The default implementation first consults the environment variable
197 :envvar:`PYTHONBREAKPOINT`. If that is set to ``"0"`` then this function
198 returns immediately; i.e. it is a no-op. If the environment variable is
199 not set, or is set to the empty string, ``pdb.set_trace()`` is called.
200 Otherwise this variable should name a function to run, using Python's
201 dotted-import nomenclature, e.g. ``package.subpackage.module.function``.
202 In this case, ``package.subpackage.module`` would be imported and the
203 resulting module must have a callable named ``function()``. This is run,
204 passing in ``*args`` and ``**kws``, and whatever ``function()`` returns,
205 ``sys.breakpointhook()`` returns to the built-in :func:`breakpoint`
206 function.
207
208 Note that if anything goes wrong while importing the callable named by
209 :envvar:`PYTHONBREAKPOINT`, a :exc:`RuntimeWarning` is reported and the
210 breakpoint is ignored.
211
212 Also note that if ``sys.breakpointhook()`` is overridden programmatically,
213 :envvar:`PYTHONBREAKPOINT` is *not* consulted.
214
215 .. versionadded:: 3.7
216
David Malcolm49526f42012-06-22 14:55:41 -0400217.. function:: _debugmallocstats()
218
219 Print low-level information to stderr about the state of CPython's memory
220 allocator.
221
222 If Python is configured --with-pydebug, it also performs some expensive
223 internal consistency checks.
224
225 .. versionadded:: 3.3
226
227 .. impl-detail::
228
229 This function is specific to CPython. The exact output format is not
230 defined here, and may change.
231
232
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000233.. data:: dllhandle
234
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -0400235 Integer specifying the handle of the Python DLL.
236
237 .. availability:: Windows.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000238
239
240.. function:: displayhook(value)
241
Victor Stinner13d49ee2010-12-04 17:24:33 +0000242 If *value* is not ``None``, this function prints ``repr(value)`` to
243 ``sys.stdout``, and saves *value* in ``builtins._``. If ``repr(value)`` is
244 not encodable to ``sys.stdout.encoding`` with ``sys.stdout.errors`` error
245 handler (which is probably ``'strict'``), encode it to
246 ``sys.stdout.encoding`` with ``'backslashreplace'`` error handler.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000247
Christian Heimesd8654cf2007-12-02 15:22:16 +0000248 ``sys.displayhook`` is called on the result of evaluating an :term:`expression`
249 entered in an interactive Python session. The display of these values can be
250 customized by assigning another one-argument function to ``sys.displayhook``.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000251
Victor Stinner13d49ee2010-12-04 17:24:33 +0000252 Pseudo-code::
253
254 def displayhook(value):
255 if value is None:
256 return
257 # Set '_' to None to avoid recursion
258 builtins._ = None
259 text = repr(value)
260 try:
261 sys.stdout.write(text)
262 except UnicodeEncodeError:
263 bytes = text.encode(sys.stdout.encoding, 'backslashreplace')
264 if hasattr(sys.stdout, 'buffer'):
265 sys.stdout.buffer.write(bytes)
266 else:
267 text = bytes.decode(sys.stdout.encoding, 'strict')
268 sys.stdout.write(text)
269 sys.stdout.write("\n")
270 builtins._ = value
271
272 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
273 Use ``'backslashreplace'`` error handler on :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError`.
274
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000275
Éric Araujoda272632011-10-05 01:17:38 +0200276.. data:: dont_write_bytecode
277
Brett Cannonf299abd2015-04-13 14:21:02 -0400278 If this is true, Python won't try to write ``.pyc`` files on the
Éric Araujoda272632011-10-05 01:17:38 +0200279 import of source modules. This value is initially set to ``True`` or
280 ``False`` depending on the :option:`-B` command line option and the
281 :envvar:`PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE` environment variable, but you can set it
282 yourself to control bytecode file generation.
283
284
Carl Meyerb193fa92018-06-15 22:40:56 -0600285.. data:: pycache_prefix
286
287 If this is set (not ``None``), Python will write bytecode-cache ``.pyc``
288 files to (and read them from) a parallel directory tree rooted at this
289 directory, rather than from ``__pycache__`` directories in the source code
290 tree. Any ``__pycache__`` directories in the source code tree will be ignored
291 and new `.pyc` files written within the pycache prefix. Thus if you use
292 :mod:`compileall` as a pre-build step, you must ensure you run it with the
293 same pycache prefix (if any) that you will use at runtime.
294
295 A relative path is interpreted relative to the current working directory.
296
297 This value is initially set based on the value of the :option:`-X`
298 ``pycache_prefix=PATH`` command-line option or the
299 :envvar:`PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX` environment variable (command-line takes
300 precedence). If neither are set, it is ``None``.
301
302 .. versionadded:: 3.8
303
304
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000305.. function:: excepthook(type, value, traceback)
306
307 This function prints out a given traceback and exception to ``sys.stderr``.
308
309 When an exception is raised and uncaught, the interpreter calls
310 ``sys.excepthook`` with three arguments, the exception class, exception
311 instance, and a traceback object. In an interactive session this happens just
312 before control is returned to the prompt; in a Python program this happens just
313 before the program exits. The handling of such top-level exceptions can be
314 customized by assigning another three-argument function to ``sys.excepthook``.
315
Steve Dowerb74a6f12019-11-28 08:46:23 -0800316 .. audit-event:: sys.excepthook hook,type,value,traceback sys.excepthook
317
318 Raise an auditing event ``sys.excepthook`` with arguments ``hook``,
319 ``type``, ``value``, ``traceback`` when an uncaught exception occurs.
320 If no hook has been set, ``hook`` may be ``None``. If any hook raises
321 an exception derived from :class:`RuntimeError` the call to the hook will
322 be suppressed. Otherwise, the audit hook exception will be reported as
323 unraisable and ``sys.excepthook`` will be called.
324
Victor Stinnercd590a72019-05-28 00:39:52 +0200325 .. seealso::
326
327 The :func:`sys.unraisablehook` function handles unraisable exceptions
328 and the :func:`threading.excepthook` function handles exception raised
329 by :func:`threading.Thread.run`.
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +0200330
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000331
Barry Warsaw36c1d1f2017-10-05 12:11:18 -0400332.. data:: __breakpointhook__
333 __displayhook__
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000334 __excepthook__
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +0200335 __unraisablehook__
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000336
Barry Warsaw36c1d1f2017-10-05 12:11:18 -0400337 These objects contain the original values of ``breakpointhook``,
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +0200338 ``displayhook``, ``excepthook``, and ``unraisablehook`` at the start of the
339 program. They are saved so that ``breakpointhook``, ``displayhook`` and
340 ``excepthook``, ``unraisablehook`` can be restored in case they happen to
341 get replaced with broken or alternative objects.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000342
Barry Warsaw36c1d1f2017-10-05 12:11:18 -0400343 .. versionadded:: 3.7
344 __breakpointhook__
345
Miss Islington (bot)0c915e62020-02-07 16:54:06 -0800346 .. versionadded:: 3.8
347 __unraisablehook__
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000348
349.. function:: exc_info()
350
351 This function returns a tuple of three values that give information about the
352 exception that is currently being handled. The information returned is specific
353 both to the current thread and to the current stack frame. If the current stack
354 frame is not handling an exception, the information is taken from the calling
355 stack frame, or its caller, and so on until a stack frame is found that is
356 handling an exception. Here, "handling an exception" is defined as "executing
Benjamin Petersoneec3d712008-06-11 15:59:43 +0000357 an except clause." For any stack frame, only information about the exception
358 being currently handled is accessible.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000359
360 .. index:: object: traceback
361
Georg Brandl482b1512010-03-21 09:02:59 +0000362 If no exception is being handled anywhere on the stack, a tuple containing
363 three ``None`` values is returned. Otherwise, the values returned are
364 ``(type, value, traceback)``. Their meaning is: *type* gets the type of the
365 exception being handled (a subclass of :exc:`BaseException`); *value* gets
366 the exception instance (an instance of the exception type); *traceback* gets
Miss Islington (bot)f79a0222019-09-11 11:12:35 -0700367 a :ref:`traceback object <traceback-objects>` which encapsulates the call
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000368 stack at the point where the exception originally occurred.
369
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000370
371.. data:: exec_prefix
372
373 A string giving the site-specific directory prefix where the platform-dependent
374 Python files are installed; by default, this is also ``'/usr/local'``. This can
Éric Araujo713d3032010-11-18 16:38:46 +0000375 be set at build time with the ``--exec-prefix`` argument to the
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000376 :program:`configure` script. Specifically, all configuration files (e.g. the
Éric Araujo58a91532011-10-05 01:28:24 +0200377 :file:`pyconfig.h` header file) are installed in the directory
Georg Brandleb25fb72012-02-23 21:12:39 +0100378 :file:`{exec_prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/config`, and shared library modules are
Éric Araujo58a91532011-10-05 01:28:24 +0200379 installed in :file:`{exec_prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}/lib-dynload`, where *X.Y*
380 is the version number of Python, for example ``3.2``.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000381
Larry Hastings3732ed22014-03-15 21:13:56 -0700382 .. note::
383
384 If a :ref:`virtual environment <venv-def>` is in effect, this
Vinay Sajipcd9b7462012-07-09 10:37:01 +0100385 value will be changed in ``site.py`` to point to the virtual environment.
386 The value for the Python installation will still be available, via
387 :data:`base_exec_prefix`.
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +0100388
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000389
390.. data:: executable
391
Petri Lehtinen97133212012-02-02 20:59:48 +0200392 A string giving the absolute path of the executable binary for the Python
393 interpreter, on systems where this makes sense. If Python is unable to retrieve
394 the real path to its executable, :data:`sys.executable` will be an empty string
395 or ``None``.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000396
397
398.. function:: exit([arg])
399
400 Exit from Python. This is implemented by raising the :exc:`SystemExit`
401 exception, so cleanup actions specified by finally clauses of :keyword:`try`
Georg Brandl6f4e68d2010-10-17 10:51:45 +0000402 statements are honored, and it is possible to intercept the exit attempt at
403 an outer level.
404
405 The optional argument *arg* can be an integer giving the exit status
406 (defaulting to zero), or another type of object. If it is an integer, zero
407 is considered "successful termination" and any nonzero value is considered
408 "abnormal termination" by shells and the like. Most systems require it to be
Martin Panterb4ce1fc2015-11-30 03:18:29 +0000409 in the range 0--127, and produce undefined results otherwise. Some systems
Georg Brandl6f4e68d2010-10-17 10:51:45 +0000410 have a convention for assigning specific meanings to specific exit codes, but
411 these are generally underdeveloped; Unix programs generally use 2 for command
412 line syntax errors and 1 for all other kind of errors. If another type of
413 object is passed, ``None`` is equivalent to passing zero, and any other
414 object is printed to :data:`stderr` and results in an exit code of 1. In
415 particular, ``sys.exit("some error message")`` is a quick way to exit a
416 program when an error occurs.
417
418 Since :func:`exit` ultimately "only" raises an exception, it will only exit
419 the process when called from the main thread, and the exception is not
420 intercepted.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000421
Martin Panterb4ce1fc2015-11-30 03:18:29 +0000422 .. versionchanged:: 3.6
423 If an error occurs in the cleanup after the Python interpreter
424 has caught :exc:`SystemExit` (such as an error flushing buffered data
425 in the standard streams), the exit status is changed to 120.
426
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000427
Christian Heimesd32ed6f2008-01-14 18:49:24 +0000428.. data:: flags
429
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +0100430 The :term:`named tuple` *flags* exposes the status of command line
Benjamin Peterson2b8ef2d2011-04-20 18:31:22 -0500431 flags. The attributes are read only.
Christian Heimesd32ed6f2008-01-14 18:49:24 +0000432
Éric Araujo5ab47762011-03-26 00:47:04 +0100433 ============================= =============================
434 attribute flag
435 ============================= =============================
436 :const:`debug` :option:`-d`
Éric Araujo5ab47762011-03-26 00:47:04 +0100437 :const:`inspect` :option:`-i`
438 :const:`interactive` :option:`-i`
Danish Prakash656d52d2018-10-07 16:12:31 +0000439 :const:`isolated` :option:`-I`
Éric Araujo5ab47762011-03-26 00:47:04 +0100440 :const:`optimize` :option:`-O` or :option:`-OO`
441 :const:`dont_write_bytecode` :option:`-B`
442 :const:`no_user_site` :option:`-s`
443 :const:`no_site` :option:`-S`
444 :const:`ignore_environment` :option:`-E`
445 :const:`verbose` :option:`-v`
446 :const:`bytes_warning` :option:`-b`
Éric Araujo722bec42011-03-26 01:59:47 +0100447 :const:`quiet` :option:`-q`
Georg Brandl2daf6ae2012-02-20 19:54:16 +0100448 :const:`hash_randomization` :option:`-R`
Victor Stinner5e3806f2017-11-30 11:40:24 +0100449 :const:`dev_mode` :option:`-X` ``dev``
Victor Stinner91106cd2017-12-13 12:29:09 +0100450 :const:`utf8_mode` :option:`-X` ``utf8``
Éric Araujo5ab47762011-03-26 00:47:04 +0100451 ============================= =============================
Georg Brandl8aa7e992010-12-28 18:30:18 +0000452
453 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
454 Added ``quiet`` attribute for the new :option:`-q` flag.
Christian Heimesd32ed6f2008-01-14 18:49:24 +0000455
Georg Brandl09a7c722012-02-20 21:31:46 +0100456 .. versionadded:: 3.2.3
Georg Brandl2daf6ae2012-02-20 19:54:16 +0100457 The ``hash_randomization`` attribute.
458
Éric Araujo3e898702011-04-24 04:37:00 +0200459 .. versionchanged:: 3.3
460 Removed obsolete ``division_warning`` attribute.
461
Danish Prakash656d52d2018-10-07 16:12:31 +0000462 .. versionchanged:: 3.4
463 Added ``isolated`` attribute for :option:`-I` ``isolated`` flag.
464
Victor Stinner5e3806f2017-11-30 11:40:24 +0100465 .. versionchanged:: 3.7
Victor Stinner91106cd2017-12-13 12:29:09 +0100466 Added ``dev_mode`` attribute for the new :option:`-X` ``dev`` flag
467 and ``utf8_mode`` attribute for the new :option:`-X` ``utf8`` flag.
Victor Stinner5e3806f2017-11-30 11:40:24 +0100468
Christian Heimesd32ed6f2008-01-14 18:49:24 +0000469
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000470.. data:: float_info
471
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +0100472 A :term:`named tuple` holding information about the float type. It
Benjamin Peterson2b8ef2d2011-04-20 18:31:22 -0500473 contains low level information about the precision and internal
474 representation. The values correspond to the various floating-point
475 constants defined in the standard header file :file:`float.h` for the 'C'
476 programming language; see section 5.2.4.2.2 of the 1999 ISO/IEC C standard
477 [C99]_, 'Characteristics of floating types', for details.
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000478
Georg Brandl44ea77b2013-03-28 13:28:44 +0100479 .. tabularcolumns:: |l|l|L|
480
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000481 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
482 | attribute | float.h macro | explanation |
483 +=====================+================+==================================================+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100484 | :const:`epsilon` | DBL_EPSILON | difference between 1.0 and the least value |
485 | | | greater than 1.0 that is representable as a float|
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000486 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
487 | :const:`dig` | DBL_DIG | maximum number of decimal digits that can be |
488 | | | faithfully represented in a float; see below |
489 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
490 | :const:`mant_dig` | DBL_MANT_DIG | float precision: the number of base-``radix`` |
491 | | | digits in the significand of a float |
492 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100493 | :const:`max` | DBL_MAX | maximum representable positive finite float |
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000494 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100495 | :const:`max_exp` | DBL_MAX_EXP | maximum integer *e* such that ``radix**(e-1)`` is|
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000496 | | | a representable finite float |
497 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100498 | :const:`max_10_exp` | DBL_MAX_10_EXP | maximum integer *e* such that ``10**e`` is in the|
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000499 | | | range of representable finite floats |
500 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100501 | :const:`min` | DBL_MIN | minimum representable positive *normalized* float|
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000502 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100503 | :const:`min_exp` | DBL_MIN_EXP | minimum integer *e* such that ``radix**(e-1)`` is|
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000504 | | | a normalized float |
505 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Victor Stinner9362f852020-01-13 20:24:12 +0100506 | :const:`min_10_exp` | DBL_MIN_10_EXP | minimum integer *e* such that ``10**e`` is a |
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000507 | | | normalized float |
508 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
509 | :const:`radix` | FLT_RADIX | radix of exponent representation |
510 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Mark Dickinsonb1e58fe2011-11-19 16:26:45 +0000511 | :const:`rounds` | FLT_ROUNDS | integer constant representing the rounding mode |
512 | | | used for arithmetic operations. This reflects |
513 | | | the value of the system FLT_ROUNDS macro at |
514 | | | interpreter startup time. See section 5.2.4.2.2 |
515 | | | of the C99 standard for an explanation of the |
516 | | | possible values and their meanings. |
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000517 +---------------------+----------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000518
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000519 The attribute :attr:`sys.float_info.dig` needs further explanation. If
520 ``s`` is any string representing a decimal number with at most
521 :attr:`sys.float_info.dig` significant digits, then converting ``s`` to a
522 float and back again will recover a string representing the same decimal
523 value::
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000524
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000525 >>> import sys
526 >>> sys.float_info.dig
527 15
528 >>> s = '3.14159265358979' # decimal string with 15 significant digits
529 >>> format(float(s), '.15g') # convert to float and back -> same value
530 '3.14159265358979'
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000531
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +0000532 But for strings with more than :attr:`sys.float_info.dig` significant digits,
533 this isn't always true::
534
535 >>> s = '9876543211234567' # 16 significant digits is too many!
536 >>> format(float(s), '.16g') # conversion changes value
537 '9876543211234568'
Christian Heimes93852662007-12-01 12:22:32 +0000538
Mark Dickinsonb08a53a2009-04-16 19:52:09 +0000539.. data:: float_repr_style
540
541 A string indicating how the :func:`repr` function behaves for
542 floats. If the string has value ``'short'`` then for a finite
543 float ``x``, ``repr(x)`` aims to produce a short string with the
544 property that ``float(repr(x)) == x``. This is the usual behaviour
545 in Python 3.1 and later. Otherwise, ``float_repr_style`` has value
546 ``'legacy'`` and ``repr(x)`` behaves in the same way as it did in
547 versions of Python prior to 3.1.
548
549 .. versionadded:: 3.1
550
551
Antoine Pitrouf9d0b122012-12-09 14:28:26 +0100552.. function:: getallocatedblocks()
553
554 Return the number of memory blocks currently allocated by the interpreter,
Antoine Pitrou92840532012-12-17 23:05:59 +0100555 regardless of their size. This function is mainly useful for tracking
556 and debugging memory leaks. Because of the interpreter's internal
557 caches, the result can vary from call to call; you may have to call
558 :func:`_clear_type_cache()` and :func:`gc.collect()` to get more
559 predictable results.
560
561 If a Python build or implementation cannot reasonably compute this
562 information, :func:`getallocatedblocks()` is allowed to return 0 instead.
Antoine Pitrouf9d0b122012-12-09 14:28:26 +0100563
564 .. versionadded:: 3.4
565
Antoine Pitrouf9d0b122012-12-09 14:28:26 +0100566
Victor Stinnerd6958ac2016-12-02 01:13:46 +0100567.. function:: getandroidapilevel()
568
569 Return the build time API version of Android as an integer.
570
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -0400571 .. availability:: Android.
Victor Stinnerd6958ac2016-12-02 01:13:46 +0100572
573 .. versionadded:: 3.7
574
575
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000576.. function:: getcheckinterval()
577
578 Return the interpreter's "check interval"; see :func:`setcheckinterval`.
579
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +0000580 .. deprecated:: 3.2
581 Use :func:`getswitchinterval` instead.
582
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000583
584.. function:: getdefaultencoding()
585
586 Return the name of the current default string encoding used by the Unicode
587 implementation.
588
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000589
590.. function:: getdlopenflags()
591
Andrew Kuchlingc61b9132013-06-21 10:58:41 -0400592 Return the current value of the flags that are used for
593 :c:func:`dlopen` calls. Symbolic names for the flag values can be
594 found in the :mod:`os` module (``RTLD_xxx`` constants, e.g.
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -0400595 :data:`os.RTLD_LAZY`).
596
597 .. availability:: Unix.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000598
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000599
600.. function:: getfilesystemencoding()
601
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -0700602 Return the name of the encoding used to convert between Unicode
603 filenames and bytes filenames. For best compatibility, str should be
604 used for filenames in all cases, although representing filenames as bytes
605 is also supported. Functions accepting or returning filenames should support
606 either str or bytes and internally convert to the system's preferred
607 representation.
608
609 This encoding is always ASCII-compatible.
610
611 :func:`os.fsencode` and :func:`os.fsdecode` should be used to ensure that
612 the correct encoding and errors mode are used.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000613
Victor Stinner91106cd2017-12-13 12:29:09 +0100614 * In the UTF-8 mode, the encoding is ``utf-8`` on any platform.
615
pxinwrf4b0a1c2019-03-04 17:02:06 +0800616 * On macOS, the encoding is ``'utf-8'``.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000617
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -0700618 * On Unix, the encoding is the locale encoding.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000619
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -0700620 * On Windows, the encoding may be ``'utf-8'`` or ``'mbcs'``, depending
621 on user configuration.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000622
pxinwrf4b0a1c2019-03-04 17:02:06 +0800623 * On Android, the encoding is ``'utf-8'``.
624
625 * On VxWorks, the encoding is ``'utf-8'``.
626
Victor Stinnerb744ba12010-05-15 12:27:16 +0000627 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
Victor Stinner22d04182013-12-02 12:16:46 +0100628 :func:`getfilesystemencoding` result cannot be ``None`` anymore.
Victor Stinnerb744ba12010-05-15 12:27:16 +0000629
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -0700630 .. versionchanged:: 3.6
631 Windows is no longer guaranteed to return ``'mbcs'``. See :pep:`529`
632 and :func:`_enablelegacywindowsfsencoding` for more information.
633
Victor Stinner91106cd2017-12-13 12:29:09 +0100634 .. versionchanged:: 3.7
635 Return 'utf-8' in the UTF-8 mode.
636
637
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -0700638.. function:: getfilesystemencodeerrors()
639
640 Return the name of the error mode used to convert between Unicode filenames
641 and bytes filenames. The encoding name is returned from
642 :func:`getfilesystemencoding`.
643
644 :func:`os.fsencode` and :func:`os.fsdecode` should be used to ensure that
645 the correct encoding and errors mode are used.
646
647 .. versionadded:: 3.6
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000648
649.. function:: getrefcount(object)
650
651 Return the reference count of the *object*. The count returned is generally one
652 higher than you might expect, because it includes the (temporary) reference as
653 an argument to :func:`getrefcount`.
654
655
656.. function:: getrecursionlimit()
657
658 Return the current value of the recursion limit, the maximum depth of the Python
659 interpreter stack. This limit prevents infinite recursion from causing an
660 overflow of the C stack and crashing Python. It can be set by
661 :func:`setrecursionlimit`.
662
663
Robert Schuppeniesfbe94c52008-07-14 10:13:31 +0000664.. function:: getsizeof(object[, default])
Martin v. Löwis00709aa2008-06-04 14:18:43 +0000665
666 Return the size of an object in bytes. The object can be any type of
667 object. All built-in objects will return correct results, but this
Robert Schuppeniesfbe94c52008-07-14 10:13:31 +0000668 does not have to hold true for third-party extensions as it is implementation
Martin v. Löwis00709aa2008-06-04 14:18:43 +0000669 specific.
670
Martin v. Löwis1e5d0ff2012-06-17 10:40:16 +0200671 Only the memory consumption directly attributed to the object is
672 accounted for, not the memory consumption of objects it refers to.
673
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +0000674 If given, *default* will be returned if the object does not provide means to
Georg Brandlef871f62010-03-12 10:06:40 +0000675 retrieve the size. Otherwise a :exc:`TypeError` will be raised.
Robert Schuppeniesfbe94c52008-07-14 10:13:31 +0000676
Benjamin Peterson4ac9ce42009-10-04 14:49:41 +0000677 :func:`getsizeof` calls the object's ``__sizeof__`` method and adds an
678 additional garbage collector overhead if the object is managed by the garbage
679 collector.
Robert Schuppeniesfbe94c52008-07-14 10:13:31 +0000680
Serhiy Storchaka6dff0202016-05-07 10:49:07 +0300681 See `recursive sizeof recipe <https://code.activestate.com/recipes/577504>`_
Raymond Hettingerc539a2a2010-12-17 23:31:30 +0000682 for an example of using :func:`getsizeof` recursively to find the size of
683 containers and all their contents.
Martin v. Löwis00709aa2008-06-04 14:18:43 +0000684
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +0000685.. function:: getswitchinterval()
686
687 Return the interpreter's "thread switch interval"; see
688 :func:`setswitchinterval`.
689
Antoine Pitrou79707ca2009-11-11 22:03:32 +0000690 .. versionadded:: 3.2
691
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +0000692
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000693.. function:: _getframe([depth])
694
695 Return a frame object from the call stack. If optional integer *depth* is
696 given, return the frame object that many calls below the top of the stack. If
697 that is deeper than the call stack, :exc:`ValueError` is raised. The default
698 for *depth* is zero, returning the frame at the top of the call stack.
699
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -0700700 .. audit-event:: sys._getframe "" sys._getframe
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -0700701
Georg Brandl495f7b52009-10-27 15:28:25 +0000702 .. impl-detail::
703
704 This function should be used for internal and specialized purposes only.
705 It is not guaranteed to exist in all implementations of Python.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000706
707
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +0000708.. function:: getprofile()
709
710 .. index::
711 single: profile function
712 single: profiler
713
714 Get the profiler function as set by :func:`setprofile`.
715
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +0000716
717.. function:: gettrace()
718
719 .. index::
720 single: trace function
721 single: debugger
722
723 Get the trace function as set by :func:`settrace`.
724
Georg Brandl495f7b52009-10-27 15:28:25 +0000725 .. impl-detail::
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +0000726
727 The :func:`gettrace` function is intended only for implementing debuggers,
Georg Brandl495f7b52009-10-27 15:28:25 +0000728 profilers, coverage tools and the like. Its behavior is part of the
729 implementation platform, rather than part of the language definition, and
730 thus may not be available in all Python implementations.
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +0000731
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +0000732
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000733.. function:: getwindowsversion()
734
Eric Smith7338a392010-01-27 00:56:30 +0000735 Return a named tuple describing the Windows version
Eric Smithf7bb5782010-01-27 00:44:57 +0000736 currently running. The named elements are *major*, *minor*,
737 *build*, *platform*, *service_pack*, *service_pack_minor*,
Steve Dower74f4af72016-09-17 17:27:48 -0700738 *service_pack_major*, *suite_mask*, *product_type* and
739 *platform_version*. *service_pack* contains a string,
740 *platform_version* a 3-tuple and all other values are
Eric Smithf7bb5782010-01-27 00:44:57 +0000741 integers. The components can also be accessed by name, so
742 ``sys.getwindowsversion()[0]`` is equivalent to
743 ``sys.getwindowsversion().major``. For compatibility with prior
744 versions, only the first 5 elements are retrievable by indexing.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000745
Steve Dower74f4af72016-09-17 17:27:48 -0700746 *platform* will be :const:`2 (VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT)`.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000747
Eric Smithf7bb5782010-01-27 00:44:57 +0000748 *product_type* may be one of the following values:
749
750 +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------+
751 | Constant | Meaning |
752 +=======================================+=================================+
753 | :const:`1 (VER_NT_WORKSTATION)` | The system is a workstation. |
754 +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------+
755 | :const:`2 (VER_NT_DOMAIN_CONTROLLER)` | The system is a domain |
756 | | controller. |
757 +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------+
758 | :const:`3 (VER_NT_SERVER)` | The system is a server, but not |
759 | | a domain controller. |
760 +---------------------------------------+---------------------------------+
761
Georg Brandl60203b42010-10-06 10:11:56 +0000762 This function wraps the Win32 :c:func:`GetVersionEx` function; see the
763 Microsoft documentation on :c:func:`OSVERSIONINFOEX` for more information
Eric Smithf7bb5782010-01-27 00:44:57 +0000764 about these fields.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000765
Steve Dower74f4af72016-09-17 17:27:48 -0700766 *platform_version* returns the accurate major version, minor version and
767 build number of the current operating system, rather than the version that
768 is being emulated for the process. It is intended for use in logging rather
769 than for feature detection.
770
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -0400771 .. availability:: Windows.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000772
Ezio Melotti83fc6dd2010-01-27 22:44:03 +0000773 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
Eric Smithf7bb5782010-01-27 00:44:57 +0000774 Changed to a named tuple and added *service_pack_minor*,
775 *service_pack_major*, *suite_mask*, and *product_type*.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000776
Steve Dower74f4af72016-09-17 17:27:48 -0700777 .. versionchanged:: 3.6
778 Added *platform_version*
Mark Dickinsondc787d22010-05-23 13:33:13 +0000779
Yury Selivanov03660042016-12-15 17:36:05 -0500780
781.. function:: get_asyncgen_hooks()
782
783 Returns an *asyncgen_hooks* object, which is similar to a
784 :class:`~collections.namedtuple` of the form `(firstiter, finalizer)`,
785 where *firstiter* and *finalizer* are expected to be either ``None`` or
786 functions which take an :term:`asynchronous generator iterator` as an
Ville Skyttä49b27342017-08-03 09:00:59 +0300787 argument, and are used to schedule finalization of an asynchronous
Yury Selivanov03660042016-12-15 17:36:05 -0500788 generator by an event loop.
789
790 .. versionadded:: 3.6
791 See :pep:`525` for more details.
792
793 .. note::
794 This function has been added on a provisional basis (see :pep:`411`
795 for details.)
796
797
Nathaniel J. Smithfc2f4072018-01-21 06:44:07 -0800798.. function:: get_coroutine_origin_tracking_depth()
799
800 Get the current coroutine origin tracking depth, as set by
Jules Lasne (jlasne)cb0f5e22018-12-14 12:28:44 +0100801 :func:`set_coroutine_origin_tracking_depth`.
Nathaniel J. Smithfc2f4072018-01-21 06:44:07 -0800802
803 .. versionadded:: 3.7
804
805 .. note::
806 This function has been added on a provisional basis (see :pep:`411`
807 for details.) Use it only for debugging purposes.
808
809
Mark Dickinsondc787d22010-05-23 13:33:13 +0000810.. data:: hash_info
811
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +0100812 A :term:`named tuple` giving parameters of the numeric hash
Benjamin Peterson2b8ef2d2011-04-20 18:31:22 -0500813 implementation. For more details about hashing of numeric types, see
814 :ref:`numeric-hash`.
Mark Dickinsondc787d22010-05-23 13:33:13 +0000815
816 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
817 | attribute | explanation |
818 +=====================+==================================================+
819 | :const:`width` | width in bits used for hash values |
820 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
821 | :const:`modulus` | prime modulus P used for numeric hash scheme |
822 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
823 | :const:`inf` | hash value returned for a positive infinity |
824 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
825 | :const:`nan` | hash value returned for a nan |
826 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
827 | :const:`imag` | multiplier used for the imaginary part of a |
828 | | complex number |
829 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
Christian Heimes985ecdc2013-11-20 11:46:18 +0100830 | :const:`algorithm` | name of the algorithm for hashing of str, bytes, |
831 | | and memoryview |
832 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
833 | :const:`hash_bits` | internal output size of the hash algorithm |
834 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
835 | :const:`seed_bits` | size of the seed key of the hash algorithm |
836 +---------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
837
Mark Dickinsondc787d22010-05-23 13:33:13 +0000838
839 .. versionadded:: 3.2
840
R David Murrayf93d3df2014-03-17 11:20:29 -0400841 .. versionchanged:: 3.4
Christian Heimes985ecdc2013-11-20 11:46:18 +0100842 Added *algorithm*, *hash_bits* and *seed_bits*
843
Mark Dickinsondc787d22010-05-23 13:33:13 +0000844
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000845.. data:: hexversion
846
847 The version number encoded as a single integer. This is guaranteed to increase
848 with each version, including proper support for non-production releases. For
849 example, to test that the Python interpreter is at least version 1.5.2, use::
850
851 if sys.hexversion >= 0x010502F0:
852 # use some advanced feature
853 ...
854 else:
855 # use an alternative implementation or warn the user
856 ...
857
858 This is called ``hexversion`` since it only really looks meaningful when viewed
859 as the result of passing it to the built-in :func:`hex` function. The
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +0100860 :term:`named tuple` :data:`sys.version_info` may be used for a more
Éric Araujo0abb8b72011-04-27 16:32:36 +0200861 human-friendly encoding of the same information.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000862
Martin Panterd21e0b52015-10-10 10:36:22 +0000863 More details of ``hexversion`` can be found at :ref:`apiabiversion`.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000864
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400865
866.. data:: implementation
867
Barry Warsaw9b10e1f2012-06-04 11:06:45 -0400868 An object containing information about the implementation of the
869 currently running Python interpreter. The following attributes are
870 required to exist in all Python implementations.
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400871
Barry Warsaw9b10e1f2012-06-04 11:06:45 -0400872 *name* is the implementation's identifier, e.g. ``'cpython'``. The actual
873 string is defined by the Python implementation, but it is guaranteed to be
874 lower case.
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400875
876 *version* is a named tuple, in the same format as
877 :data:`sys.version_info`. It represents the version of the Python
878 *implementation*. This has a distinct meaning from the specific
879 version of the Python *language* to which the currently running
880 interpreter conforms, which ``sys.version_info`` represents. For
881 example, for PyPy 1.8 ``sys.implementation.version`` might be
882 ``sys.version_info(1, 8, 0, 'final', 0)``, whereas ``sys.version_info``
Barry Warsaw9b10e1f2012-06-04 11:06:45 -0400883 would be ``sys.version_info(2, 7, 2, 'final', 0)``. For CPython they
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400884 are the same value, since it is the reference implementation.
885
886 *hexversion* is the implementation version in hexadecimal format, like
887 :data:`sys.hexversion`.
888
889 *cache_tag* is the tag used by the import machinery in the filenames of
890 cached modules. By convention, it would be a composite of the
891 implementation's name and version, like ``'cpython-33'``. However, a
892 Python implementation may use some other value if appropriate. If
893 ``cache_tag`` is set to ``None``, it indicates that module caching should
894 be disabled.
895
Barry Warsaw9b10e1f2012-06-04 11:06:45 -0400896 :data:`sys.implementation` may contain additional attributes specific to
897 the Python implementation. These non-standard attributes must start with
898 an underscore, and are not described here. Regardless of its contents,
899 :data:`sys.implementation` will not change during a run of the interpreter,
900 nor between implementation versions. (It may change between Python
Georg Brandl93a56cd2014-10-30 22:25:41 +0100901 language versions, however.) See :pep:`421` for more information.
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400902
903 .. versionadded:: 3.3
904
Miss Islington (bot)1ff4c422019-07-15 07:45:12 -0700905 .. note::
906
907 The addition of new required attributes must go through the normal PEP
908 process. See :pep:`421` for more information.
Barry Warsaw409da152012-06-03 16:18:47 -0400909
Mark Dickinsonbd792642009-03-18 20:06:12 +0000910.. data:: int_info
911
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +0100912 A :term:`named tuple` that holds information about Python's internal
Benjamin Peterson2b8ef2d2011-04-20 18:31:22 -0500913 representation of integers. The attributes are read only.
Mark Dickinsonbd792642009-03-18 20:06:12 +0000914
Georg Brandl44ea77b2013-03-28 13:28:44 +0100915 .. tabularcolumns:: |l|L|
916
Mark Dickinsonbd792642009-03-18 20:06:12 +0000917 +-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
R David Murray9beb34e2011-04-30 16:35:29 -0400918 | Attribute | Explanation |
Mark Dickinsonbd792642009-03-18 20:06:12 +0000919 +=========================+==============================================+
920 | :const:`bits_per_digit` | number of bits held in each digit. Python |
921 | | integers are stored internally in base |
922 | | ``2**int_info.bits_per_digit`` |
923 +-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
924 | :const:`sizeof_digit` | size in bytes of the C type used to |
925 | | represent a digit |
926 +-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
927
Mark Dickinsond72c7b62009-03-20 16:00:49 +0000928 .. versionadded:: 3.1
929
Mark Dickinsonbd792642009-03-18 20:06:12 +0000930
Antoine Pitrou1a6cb302013-05-04 20:08:35 +0200931.. data:: __interactivehook__
932
Larry Hastings3732ed22014-03-15 21:13:56 -0700933 When this attribute exists, its value is automatically called (with no
934 arguments) when the interpreter is launched in :ref:`interactive mode
935 <tut-interactive>`. This is done after the :envvar:`PYTHONSTARTUP` file is
936 read, so that you can set this hook there. The :mod:`site` module
937 :ref:`sets this <rlcompleter-config>`.
Antoine Pitrou1a6cb302013-05-04 20:08:35 +0200938
Miss Islington (bot)746992c2019-07-01 16:22:29 -0700939 .. audit-event:: cpython.run_interactivehook hook sys.__interactivehook__
940
941 Raises an :ref:`auditing event <auditing>`
942 ``cpython.run_interactivehook`` with the hook object as the argument when
943 the hook is called on startup.
944
Antoine Pitrou1a6cb302013-05-04 20:08:35 +0200945 .. versionadded:: 3.4
946
947
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000948.. function:: intern(string)
949
950 Enter *string* in the table of "interned" strings and return the interned string
951 -- which is *string* itself or a copy. Interning strings is useful to gain a
952 little performance on dictionary lookup -- if the keys in a dictionary are
953 interned, and the lookup key is interned, the key comparisons (after hashing)
954 can be done by a pointer compare instead of a string compare. Normally, the
955 names used in Python programs are automatically interned, and the dictionaries
956 used to hold module, class or instance attributes have interned keys.
957
Georg Brandl55ac8f02007-09-01 13:51:09 +0000958 Interned strings are not immortal; you must keep a reference to the return
959 value of :func:`intern` around to benefit from it.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000960
961
Antoine Pitrou5db1bb82014-12-07 01:28:27 +0100962.. function:: is_finalizing()
963
964 Return :const:`True` if the Python interpreter is
965 :term:`shutting down <interpreter shutdown>`, :const:`False` otherwise.
966
967 .. versionadded:: 3.5
968
969
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000970.. data:: last_type
971 last_value
972 last_traceback
973
974 These three variables are not always defined; they are set when an exception is
975 not handled and the interpreter prints an error message and a stack traceback.
976 Their intended use is to allow an interactive user to import a debugger module
977 and engage in post-mortem debugging without having to re-execute the command
978 that caused the error. (Typical use is ``import pdb; pdb.pm()`` to enter the
Alexander Belopolskyf0a0d142010-10-27 03:06:43 +0000979 post-mortem debugger; see :mod:`pdb` module for
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000980 more information.)
981
982 The meaning of the variables is the same as that of the return values from
Georg Brandl482b1512010-03-21 09:02:59 +0000983 :func:`exc_info` above.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000984
985
Christian Heimesa37d4c62007-12-04 23:02:19 +0000986.. data:: maxsize
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000987
Georg Brandl60203b42010-10-06 10:11:56 +0000988 An integer giving the maximum value a variable of type :c:type:`Py_ssize_t` can
Georg Brandl33770552007-12-15 09:55:35 +0000989 take. It's usually ``2**31 - 1`` on a 32-bit platform and ``2**63 - 1`` on a
990 64-bit platform.
Christian Heimesa37d4c62007-12-04 23:02:19 +0000991
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000992
993.. data:: maxunicode
994
Ezio Melotti48a2f8f2011-09-29 00:18:19 +0300995 An integer giving the value of the largest Unicode code point,
996 i.e. ``1114111`` (``0x10FFFF`` in hexadecimal).
997
998 .. versionchanged:: 3.3
Éric Araujo525b1e92011-10-05 01:06:31 +0200999 Before :pep:`393`, ``sys.maxunicode`` used to be either ``0xFFFF``
Ezio Melotti48a2f8f2011-09-29 00:18:19 +03001000 or ``0x10FFFF``, depending on the configuration option that specified
1001 whether Unicode characters were stored as UCS-2 or UCS-4.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001002
1003
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001004.. data:: meta_path
1005
Brett Cannonccddbb12015-12-04 15:46:21 -08001006 A list of :term:`meta path finder` objects that have their
1007 :meth:`~importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder.find_spec` methods called to see if one
1008 of the objects can find the module to be imported. The
1009 :meth:`~importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder.find_spec` method is called with at
1010 least the absolute name of the module being imported. If the module to be
1011 imported is contained in a package, then the parent package's :attr:`__path__`
1012 attribute is passed in as a second argument. The method returns a
1013 :term:`module spec`, or ``None`` if the module cannot be found.
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001014
Brett Cannonccddbb12015-12-04 15:46:21 -08001015 .. seealso::
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001016
Brett Cannonccddbb12015-12-04 15:46:21 -08001017 :class:`importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder`
1018 The abstract base class defining the interface of finder objects on
1019 :data:`meta_path`.
1020 :class:`importlib.machinery.ModuleSpec`
1021 The concrete class which
1022 :meth:`~importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder.find_spec` should return
1023 instances of.
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001024
Brett Cannonccddbb12015-12-04 15:46:21 -08001025 .. versionchanged:: 3.4
1026
1027 :term:`Module specs <module spec>` were introduced in Python 3.4, by
1028 :pep:`451`. Earlier versions of Python looked for a method called
1029 :meth:`~importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder.find_module`.
1030 This is still called as a fallback if a :data:`meta_path` entry doesn't
1031 have a :meth:`~importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder.find_spec` method.
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001032
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001033.. data:: modules
1034
1035 This is a dictionary that maps module names to modules which have already been
1036 loaded. This can be manipulated to force reloading of modules and other tricks.
Brett Cannonc3511c12013-05-24 08:05:07 -04001037 However, replacing the dictionary will not necessarily work as expected and
1038 deleting essential items from the dictionary may cause Python to fail.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001039
1040
1041.. data:: path
1042
1043 .. index:: triple: module; search; path
1044
1045 A list of strings that specifies the search path for modules. Initialized from
1046 the environment variable :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, plus an installation-dependent
1047 default.
1048
1049 As initialized upon program startup, the first item of this list, ``path[0]``,
1050 is the directory containing the script that was used to invoke the Python
1051 interpreter. If the script directory is not available (e.g. if the interpreter
1052 is invoked interactively or if the script is read from standard input),
1053 ``path[0]`` is the empty string, which directs Python to search modules in the
1054 current directory first. Notice that the script directory is inserted *before*
1055 the entries inserted as a result of :envvar:`PYTHONPATH`.
1056
Barry Warsaw82c1c782012-11-20 15:22:51 -05001057 A program is free to modify this list for its own purposes. Only strings
1058 and bytes should be added to :data:`sys.path`; all other data types are
1059 ignored during import.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001060
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001061
Benjamin Peterson058e31e2009-01-16 03:54:08 +00001062 .. seealso::
1063 Module :mod:`site` This describes how to use .pth files to extend
1064 :data:`sys.path`.
1065
1066
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001067.. data:: path_hooks
1068
1069 A list of callables that take a path argument to try to create a
1070 :term:`finder` for the path. If a finder can be created, it is to be
1071 returned by the callable, else raise :exc:`ImportError`.
1072
1073 Originally specified in :pep:`302`.
1074
1075
1076.. data:: path_importer_cache
1077
1078 A dictionary acting as a cache for :term:`finder` objects. The keys are
1079 paths that have been passed to :data:`sys.path_hooks` and the values are
1080 the finders that are found. If a path is a valid file system path but no
Brett Cannon2514b482013-03-13 10:46:22 -07001081 finder is found on :data:`sys.path_hooks` then ``None`` is
1082 stored.
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001083
1084 Originally specified in :pep:`302`.
1085
Brett Cannon2514b482013-03-13 10:46:22 -07001086 .. versionchanged:: 3.3
1087 ``None`` is stored instead of :class:`imp.NullImporter` when no finder
1088 is found.
1089
Brett Cannone43b0602009-03-21 03:11:16 +00001090
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001091.. data:: platform
1092
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +00001093 This string contains a platform identifier that can be used to append
1094 platform-specific components to :data:`sys.path`, for instance.
1095
Michael Felt9d949f72019-04-12 16:15:32 +02001096 For Unix systems, except on Linux and AIX, this is the lowercased OS name as
Victor Stinner795eaeb2011-08-21 12:08:11 +02001097 returned by ``uname -s`` with the first part of the version as returned by
1098 ``uname -r`` appended, e.g. ``'sunos5'`` or ``'freebsd8'``, *at the time
1099 when Python was built*. Unless you want to test for a specific system
1100 version, it is therefore recommended to use the following idiom::
Antoine Pitroua83cdaa2011-07-09 15:54:23 +02001101
Victor Stinner795eaeb2011-08-21 12:08:11 +02001102 if sys.platform.startswith('freebsd'):
1103 # FreeBSD-specific code here...
Georg Brandla47e53e2011-09-03 09:26:09 +02001104 elif sys.platform.startswith('linux'):
Antoine Pitroua83cdaa2011-07-09 15:54:23 +02001105 # Linux-specific code here...
Michael Felt9d949f72019-04-12 16:15:32 +02001106 elif sys.platform.startswith('aix'):
1107 # AIX-specific code here...
Antoine Pitroua83cdaa2011-07-09 15:54:23 +02001108
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +00001109 For other systems, the values are:
1110
1111 ================ ===========================
Éric Araujo3f7c0e42012-12-08 22:53:43 -05001112 System ``platform`` value
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +00001113 ================ ===========================
Michael Felt9d949f72019-04-12 16:15:32 +02001114 AIX ``'aix'``
Victor Stinner795eaeb2011-08-21 12:08:11 +02001115 Linux ``'linux'``
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +00001116 Windows ``'win32'``
1117 Windows/Cygwin ``'cygwin'``
pxinwrf4b0a1c2019-03-04 17:02:06 +08001118 macOS ``'darwin'``
Christian Heimes9bd667a2008-01-20 15:14:11 +00001119 ================ ===========================
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001120
Victor Stinner795eaeb2011-08-21 12:08:11 +02001121 .. versionchanged:: 3.3
1122 On Linux, :attr:`sys.platform` doesn't contain the major version anymore.
Georg Brandlfbd1e042011-09-04 08:42:26 +02001123 It is always ``'linux'``, instead of ``'linux2'`` or ``'linux3'``. Since
1124 older Python versions include the version number, it is recommended to
1125 always use the ``startswith`` idiom presented above.
Victor Stinner795eaeb2011-08-21 12:08:11 +02001126
Michael Felt9d949f72019-04-12 16:15:32 +02001127 .. versionchanged:: 3.8
1128 On AIX, :attr:`sys.platform` doesn't contain the major version anymore.
1129 It is always ``'aix'``, instead of ``'aix5'`` or ``'aix7'``. Since
1130 older Python versions include the version number, it is recommended to
1131 always use the ``startswith`` idiom presented above.
1132
Antoine Pitroua83cdaa2011-07-09 15:54:23 +02001133 .. seealso::
Georg Brandleb25fb72012-02-23 21:12:39 +01001134
Antoine Pitroua83cdaa2011-07-09 15:54:23 +02001135 :attr:`os.name` has a coarser granularity. :func:`os.uname` gives
1136 system-dependent version information.
1137
1138 The :mod:`platform` module provides detailed checks for the
1139 system's identity.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001140
Georg Brandlfbd1e042011-09-04 08:42:26 +02001141
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001142.. data:: prefix
1143
1144 A string giving the site-specific directory prefix where the platform
1145 independent Python files are installed; by default, this is the string
Éric Araujo713d3032010-11-18 16:38:46 +00001146 ``'/usr/local'``. This can be set at build time with the ``--prefix``
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001147 argument to the :program:`configure` script. The main collection of Python
Georg Brandla673eb82012-03-04 16:17:05 +01001148 library modules is installed in the directory :file:`{prefix}/lib/python{X.Y}`
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001149 while the platform independent header files (all except :file:`pyconfig.h`) are
Georg Brandleb25fb72012-02-23 21:12:39 +01001150 stored in :file:`{prefix}/include/python{X.Y}`, where *X.Y* is the version
Éric Araujo58a91532011-10-05 01:28:24 +02001151 number of Python, for example ``3.2``.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001152
Vinay Sajipcd9b7462012-07-09 10:37:01 +01001153 .. note:: If a :ref:`virtual environment <venv-def>` is in effect, this
1154 value will be changed in ``site.py`` to point to the virtual
1155 environment. The value for the Python installation will still be
1156 available, via :data:`base_prefix`.
Vinay Sajip7ded1f02012-05-26 03:45:29 +01001157
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001158
1159.. data:: ps1
1160 ps2
1161
1162 .. index::
1163 single: interpreter prompts
1164 single: prompts, interpreter
Serhiy Storchakaddb961d2018-10-26 09:00:49 +03001165 single: >>>; interpreter prompt
1166 single: ...; interpreter prompt
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001167
1168 Strings specifying the primary and secondary prompt of the interpreter. These
1169 are only defined if the interpreter is in interactive mode. Their initial
1170 values in this case are ``'>>> '`` and ``'... '``. If a non-string object is
1171 assigned to either variable, its :func:`str` is re-evaluated each time the
1172 interpreter prepares to read a new interactive command; this can be used to
1173 implement a dynamic prompt.
1174
1175
1176.. function:: setcheckinterval(interval)
1177
1178 Set the interpreter's "check interval". This integer value determines how often
1179 the interpreter checks for periodic things such as thread switches and signal
1180 handlers. The default is ``100``, meaning the check is performed every 100
1181 Python virtual instructions. Setting it to a larger value may increase
1182 performance for programs using threads. Setting it to a value ``<=`` 0 checks
1183 every virtual instruction, maximizing responsiveness as well as overhead.
1184
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +00001185 .. deprecated:: 3.2
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +00001186 This function doesn't have an effect anymore, as the internal logic for
1187 thread switching and asynchronous tasks has been rewritten. Use
1188 :func:`setswitchinterval` instead.
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +00001189
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001190
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001191.. function:: setdlopenflags(n)
1192
Georg Brandl60203b42010-10-06 10:11:56 +00001193 Set the flags used by the interpreter for :c:func:`dlopen` calls, such as when
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001194 the interpreter loads extension modules. Among other things, this will enable a
1195 lazy resolving of symbols when importing a module, if called as
1196 ``sys.setdlopenflags(0)``. To share symbols across extension modules, call as
Andrew Kuchlingc61b9132013-06-21 10:58:41 -04001197 ``sys.setdlopenflags(os.RTLD_GLOBAL)``. Symbolic names for the flag values
Victor Stinner8b905bd2011-10-25 13:34:04 +02001198 can be found in the :mod:`os` module (``RTLD_xxx`` constants, e.g.
1199 :data:`os.RTLD_LAZY`).
1200
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -04001201 .. availability:: Unix.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001202
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001203.. function:: setprofile(profilefunc)
1204
1205 .. index::
1206 single: profile function
1207 single: profiler
1208
1209 Set the system's profile function, which allows you to implement a Python source
1210 code profiler in Python. See chapter :ref:`profile` for more information on the
1211 Python profiler. The system's profile function is called similarly to the
Pablo Galindo131fd7f2018-01-24 12:57:49 +00001212 system's trace function (see :func:`settrace`), but it is called with different events,
1213 for example it isn't called for each executed line of code (only on call and return,
1214 but the return event is reported even when an exception has been set). The function is
1215 thread-specific, but there is no way for the profiler to know about context switches between
1216 threads, so it does not make sense to use this in the presence of multiple threads. Also,
Xiang Zhang60da99b2018-01-27 23:04:47 +08001217 its return value is not used, so it can simply return ``None``. Error in the profile
1218 function will cause itself unset.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001219
Pablo Galindo131fd7f2018-01-24 12:57:49 +00001220 Profile functions should have three arguments: *frame*, *event*, and
1221 *arg*. *frame* is the current stack frame. *event* is a string: ``'call'``,
1222 ``'return'``, ``'c_call'``, ``'c_return'``, or ``'c_exception'``. *arg* depends
1223 on the event type.
1224
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -07001225 .. audit-event:: sys.setprofile "" sys.setprofile
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -07001226
Pablo Galindo131fd7f2018-01-24 12:57:49 +00001227 The events have the following meaning:
1228
1229 ``'call'``
1230 A function is called (or some other code block entered). The
1231 profile function is called; *arg* is ``None``.
1232
1233 ``'return'``
1234 A function (or other code block) is about to return. The profile
1235 function is called; *arg* is the value that will be returned, or ``None``
1236 if the event is caused by an exception being raised.
1237
1238 ``'c_call'``
1239 A C function is about to be called. This may be an extension function or
1240 a built-in. *arg* is the C function object.
1241
1242 ``'c_return'``
1243 A C function has returned. *arg* is the C function object.
1244
1245 ``'c_exception'``
1246 A C function has raised an exception. *arg* is the C function object.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001247
1248.. function:: setrecursionlimit(limit)
1249
1250 Set the maximum depth of the Python interpreter stack to *limit*. This limit
1251 prevents infinite recursion from causing an overflow of the C stack and crashing
1252 Python.
1253
1254 The highest possible limit is platform-dependent. A user may need to set the
Georg Brandl51663752011-05-13 06:55:28 +02001255 limit higher when they have a program that requires deep recursion and a platform
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001256 that supports a higher limit. This should be done with care, because a too-high
1257 limit can lead to a crash.
1258
Victor Stinner50856d52015-10-13 00:11:21 +02001259 If the new limit is too low at the current recursion depth, a
1260 :exc:`RecursionError` exception is raised.
1261
1262 .. versionchanged:: 3.5.1
1263 A :exc:`RecursionError` exception is now raised if the new limit is too
1264 low at the current recursion depth.
1265
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001266
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +00001267.. function:: setswitchinterval(interval)
1268
1269 Set the interpreter's thread switch interval (in seconds). This floating-point
1270 value determines the ideal duration of the "timeslices" allocated to
1271 concurrently running Python threads. Please note that the actual value
1272 can be higher, especially if long-running internal functions or methods
1273 are used. Also, which thread becomes scheduled at the end of the interval
1274 is the operating system's decision. The interpreter doesn't have its
1275 own scheduler.
1276
Antoine Pitrou79707ca2009-11-11 22:03:32 +00001277 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1278
Antoine Pitroud42bc512009-11-10 23:18:31 +00001279
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001280.. function:: settrace(tracefunc)
1281
1282 .. index::
1283 single: trace function
1284 single: debugger
1285
1286 Set the system's trace function, which allows you to implement a Python
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001287 source code debugger in Python. The function is thread-specific; for a
Stefan Hoelzl245f5282019-05-17 10:50:03 +02001288 debugger to support multiple threads, it must register a trace function using
1289 :func:`settrace` for each thread being debugged or use :func:`threading.settrace`.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001290
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001291 Trace functions should have three arguments: *frame*, *event*, and
1292 *arg*. *frame* is the current stack frame. *event* is a string: ``'call'``,
Pablo Galindo131fd7f2018-01-24 12:57:49 +00001293 ``'line'``, ``'return'``, ``'exception'`` or ``'opcode'``. *arg* depends on
1294 the event type.
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001295
1296 The trace function is invoked (with *event* set to ``'call'``) whenever a new
1297 local scope is entered; it should return a reference to a local trace
Miss Islington (bot)7eaedda2019-09-05 04:17:41 -07001298 function to be used for the new scope, or ``None`` if the scope shouldn't be
1299 traced.
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001300
1301 The local trace function should return a reference to itself (or to another
1302 function for further tracing in that scope), or ``None`` to turn off tracing
1303 in that scope.
1304
Xiang Zhang60da99b2018-01-27 23:04:47 +08001305 If there is any error occurred in the trace function, it will be unset, just
1306 like ``settrace(None)`` is called.
1307
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001308 The events have the following meaning:
1309
Georg Brandl48310cd2009-01-03 21:18:54 +00001310 ``'call'``
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001311 A function is called (or some other code block entered). The
1312 global trace function is called; *arg* is ``None``; the return value
1313 specifies the local trace function.
1314
1315 ``'line'``
Alexandre Vassalotti7b82b402009-07-21 04:30:03 +00001316 The interpreter is about to execute a new line of code or re-execute the
1317 condition of a loop. The local trace function is called; *arg* is
1318 ``None``; the return value specifies the new local trace function. See
1319 :file:`Objects/lnotab_notes.txt` for a detailed explanation of how this
1320 works.
Nick Coghlan5a851672017-09-08 10:14:16 +10001321 Per-line events may be disabled for a frame by setting
1322 :attr:`f_trace_lines` to :const:`False` on that frame.
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001323
1324 ``'return'``
1325 A function (or other code block) is about to return. The local trace
Georg Brandld0b0e1d2010-10-15 16:42:37 +00001326 function is called; *arg* is the value that will be returned, or ``None``
1327 if the event is caused by an exception being raised. The trace function's
1328 return value is ignored.
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001329
1330 ``'exception'``
1331 An exception has occurred. The local trace function is called; *arg* is a
1332 tuple ``(exception, value, traceback)``; the return value specifies the
1333 new local trace function.
1334
Nick Coghlan5a851672017-09-08 10:14:16 +10001335 ``'opcode'``
1336 The interpreter is about to execute a new opcode (see :mod:`dis` for
1337 opcode details). The local trace function is called; *arg* is
1338 ``None``; the return value specifies the new local trace function.
1339 Per-opcode events are not emitted by default: they must be explicitly
1340 requested by setting :attr:`f_trace_opcodes` to :const:`True` on the
1341 frame.
1342
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001343 Note that as an exception is propagated down the chain of callers, an
1344 ``'exception'`` event is generated at each level.
1345
Miss Islington (bot)c4103902019-09-20 08:26:27 -07001346 For more fine-grained usage, it's possible to set a trace function by
1347 assigning ``frame.f_trace = tracefunc`` explicitly, rather than relying on
1348 it being set indirectly via the return value from an already installed
1349 trace function. This is also required for activating the trace function on
1350 the current frame, which :func:`settrace` doesn't do. Note that in order
1351 for this to work, a global tracing function must have been installed
1352 with :func:`settrace` in order to enable the runtime tracing machinery,
1353 but it doesn't need to be the same tracing function (e.g. it could be a
1354 low overhead tracing function that simply returns ``None`` to disable
1355 itself immediately on each frame).
1356
Amaury Forgeot d'Arcb0c29162008-11-22 22:18:04 +00001357 For more information on code and frame objects, refer to :ref:`types`.
1358
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -07001359 .. audit-event:: sys.settrace "" sys.settrace
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -07001360
Georg Brandl495f7b52009-10-27 15:28:25 +00001361 .. impl-detail::
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001362
1363 The :func:`settrace` function is intended only for implementing debuggers,
Georg Brandl495f7b52009-10-27 15:28:25 +00001364 profilers, coverage tools and the like. Its behavior is part of the
1365 implementation platform, rather than part of the language definition, and
1366 thus may not be available in all Python implementations.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001367
Nick Coghlan5a851672017-09-08 10:14:16 +10001368 .. versionchanged:: 3.7
1369
1370 ``'opcode'`` event type added; :attr:`f_trace_lines` and
1371 :attr:`f_trace_opcodes` attributes added to frames
1372
Yury Selivanov03660042016-12-15 17:36:05 -05001373.. function:: set_asyncgen_hooks(firstiter, finalizer)
1374
1375 Accepts two optional keyword arguments which are callables that accept an
1376 :term:`asynchronous generator iterator` as an argument. The *firstiter*
1377 callable will be called when an asynchronous generator is iterated for the
1378 first time. The *finalizer* will be called when an asynchronous generator
1379 is about to be garbage collected.
1380
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -07001381 .. audit-event:: sys.set_asyncgen_hooks_firstiter "" sys.set_asyncgen_hooks
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -07001382
Miss Islington (bot)4fee28a2019-06-27 11:07:16 -07001383 .. audit-event:: sys.set_asyncgen_hooks_finalizer "" sys.set_asyncgen_hooks
Steve Dowerb82e17e2019-05-23 08:45:22 -07001384
1385 Two auditing events are raised because the underlying API consists of two
1386 calls, each of which must raise its own event.
1387
Yury Selivanov03660042016-12-15 17:36:05 -05001388 .. versionadded:: 3.6
1389 See :pep:`525` for more details, and for a reference example of a
1390 *finalizer* method see the implementation of
1391 ``asyncio.Loop.shutdown_asyncgens`` in
1392 :source:`Lib/asyncio/base_events.py`
1393
1394 .. note::
1395 This function has been added on a provisional basis (see :pep:`411`
1396 for details.)
1397
Nathaniel J. Smithfc2f4072018-01-21 06:44:07 -08001398.. function:: set_coroutine_origin_tracking_depth(depth)
1399
1400 Allows enabling or disabling coroutine origin tracking. When
1401 enabled, the ``cr_origin`` attribute on coroutine objects will
1402 contain a tuple of (filename, line number, function name) tuples
1403 describing the traceback where the coroutine object was created,
1404 with the most recent call first. When disabled, ``cr_origin`` will
1405 be None.
1406
1407 To enable, pass a *depth* value greater than zero; this sets the
1408 number of frames whose information will be captured. To disable,
1409 pass set *depth* to zero.
1410
1411 This setting is thread-specific.
1412
1413 .. versionadded:: 3.7
1414
1415 .. note::
1416 This function has been added on a provisional basis (see :pep:`411`
1417 for details.) Use it only for debugging purposes.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001418
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -07001419.. function:: _enablelegacywindowsfsencoding()
1420
1421 Changes the default filesystem encoding and errors mode to 'mbcs' and
1422 'replace' respectively, for consistency with versions of Python prior to 3.6.
1423
1424 This is equivalent to defining the :envvar:`PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING`
1425 environment variable before launching Python.
1426
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -04001427 .. availability:: Windows.
Steve Dowercc16be82016-09-08 10:35:16 -07001428
1429 .. versionadded:: 3.6
1430 See :pep:`529` for more details.
Yury Selivanovd4cbbeb2015-05-31 17:13:08 -04001431
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001432.. data:: stdin
1433 stdout
1434 stderr
1435
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001436 :term:`File objects <file object>` used by the interpreter for standard
1437 input, output and errors:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001438
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001439 * ``stdin`` is used for all interactive input (including calls to
1440 :func:`input`);
1441 * ``stdout`` is used for the output of :func:`print` and :term:`expression`
1442 statements and for the prompts of :func:`input`;
1443 * The interpreter's own prompts and its error messages go to ``stderr``.
1444
Antoine Pitrou2d1ec062014-05-15 22:38:56 +02001445 These streams are regular :term:`text files <text file>` like those
1446 returned by the :func:`open` function. Their parameters are chosen as
1447 follows:
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001448
Lysandros Nikolaou57232632019-02-15 00:35:25 +01001449 * The character encoding is platform-dependent. Non-Windows
1450 platforms use the locale encoding (see
1451 :meth:`locale.getpreferredencoding()`).
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001452
Lysandros Nikolaou57232632019-02-15 00:35:25 +01001453 On Windows, UTF-8 is used for the console device. Non-character
1454 devices such as disk files and pipes use the system locale
1455 encoding (i.e. the ANSI codepage). Non-console character
Serhiy Storchakad3603462019-11-12 18:54:10 +02001456 devices such as NUL (i.e. where ``isatty()`` returns ``True``) use the
Lysandros Nikolaou57232632019-02-15 00:35:25 +01001457 value of the console input and output codepages at startup,
1458 respectively for stdin and stdout/stderr. This defaults to the
1459 system locale encoding if the process is not initially attached
1460 to a console.
1461
1462 The special behaviour of the console can be overridden
1463 by setting the environment variable PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO
1464 before starting Python. In that case, the console codepages are
1465 used as for any other character device.
1466
1467 Under all platforms, you can override the character encoding by
1468 setting the :envvar:`PYTHONIOENCODING` environment variable before
1469 starting Python or by using the new :option:`-X` ``utf8`` command
1470 line option and :envvar:`PYTHONUTF8` environment variable. However,
1471 for the Windows console, this only applies when
1472 :envvar:`PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO` is also set.
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001473
Berker Peksag7f580972017-10-13 15:16:31 +03001474 * When interactive, ``stdout`` and ``stderr`` streams are line-buffered.
1475 Otherwise, they are block-buffered like regular text files. You can
1476 override this value with the :option:`-u` command-line option.
Antoine Pitrou7158e062011-12-15 16:25:34 +01001477
Antoine Pitrou2d1ec062014-05-15 22:38:56 +02001478 .. note::
Benjamin Peterson4199d602009-05-12 20:47:57 +00001479
Antoine Pitrou2d1ec062014-05-15 22:38:56 +02001480 To write or read binary data from/to the standard streams, use the
1481 underlying binary :data:`~io.TextIOBase.buffer` object. For example, to
1482 write bytes to :data:`stdout`, use ``sys.stdout.buffer.write(b'abc')``.
Benjamin Peterson995bb472009-06-14 18:41:18 +00001483
Antoine Pitrou2d1ec062014-05-15 22:38:56 +02001484 However, if you are writing a library (and do not control in which
1485 context its code will be executed), be aware that the standard streams
1486 may be replaced with file-like objects like :class:`io.StringIO` which
1487 do not support the :attr:`~io.BufferedIOBase.buffer` attribute.
Benjamin Petersoneb9fc522008-12-07 14:58:03 +00001488
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001489
1490.. data:: __stdin__
1491 __stdout__
1492 __stderr__
1493
1494 These objects contain the original values of ``stdin``, ``stderr`` and
Benjamin Petersond23f8222009-04-05 19:13:16 +00001495 ``stdout`` at the start of the program. They are used during finalization,
1496 and could be useful to print to the actual standard stream no matter if the
1497 ``sys.std*`` object has been redirected.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001498
Benjamin Petersond23f8222009-04-05 19:13:16 +00001499 It can also be used to restore the actual files to known working file objects
1500 in case they have been overwritten with a broken object. However, the
1501 preferred way to do this is to explicitly save the previous stream before
1502 replacing it, and restore the saved object.
Christian Heimes58cb1b82007-11-13 02:19:40 +00001503
Benjamin Petersond23f8222009-04-05 19:13:16 +00001504 .. note::
1505 Under some conditions ``stdin``, ``stdout`` and ``stderr`` as well as the
1506 original values ``__stdin__``, ``__stdout__`` and ``__stderr__`` can be
Serhiy Storchakaecf41da2016-10-19 16:29:26 +03001507 ``None``. It is usually the case for Windows GUI apps that aren't connected
Benjamin Petersond23f8222009-04-05 19:13:16 +00001508 to a console and Python apps started with :program:`pythonw`.
Christian Heimes58cb1b82007-11-13 02:19:40 +00001509
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001510
Victor Stinnerd5c355c2011-04-30 14:53:09 +02001511.. data:: thread_info
1512
Paul Ganssle2bb6bf02019-09-12 03:50:29 +01001513 A :term:`named tuple` holding information about the thread
Victor Stinnerd5c355c2011-04-30 14:53:09 +02001514 implementation.
1515
Georg Brandl44ea77b2013-03-28 13:28:44 +01001516 .. tabularcolumns:: |l|p{0.7\linewidth}|
1517
Victor Stinnerd5c355c2011-04-30 14:53:09 +02001518 +------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
1519 | Attribute | Explanation |
1520 +==================+=========================================================+
1521 | :const:`name` | Name of the thread implementation: |
1522 | | |
1523 | | * ``'nt'``: Windows threads |
Victor Stinnerd5c355c2011-04-30 14:53:09 +02001524 | | * ``'pthread'``: POSIX threads |
1525 | | * ``'solaris'``: Solaris threads |
1526 +------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
1527 | :const:`lock` | Name of the lock implementation: |
1528 | | |
1529 | | * ``'semaphore'``: a lock uses a semaphore |
1530 | | * ``'mutex+cond'``: a lock uses a mutex |
1531 | | and a condition variable |
1532 | | * ``None`` if this information is unknown |
1533 +------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
1534 | :const:`version` | Name and version of the thread library. It is a string, |
luzpaza5293b42017-11-05 07:37:50 -06001535 | | or ``None`` if this information is unknown. |
Victor Stinnerd5c355c2011-04-30 14:53:09 +02001536 +------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
1537
1538 .. versionadded:: 3.3
1539
1540
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001541.. data:: tracebacklimit
1542
1543 When this variable is set to an integer value, it determines the maximum number
1544 of levels of traceback information printed when an unhandled exception occurs.
1545 The default is ``1000``. When set to ``0`` or less, all traceback information
1546 is suppressed and only the exception type and value are printed.
1547
1548
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +02001549.. function:: unraisablehook(unraisable, /)
1550
1551 Handle an unraisable exception.
1552
1553 Called when an exception has occurred but there is no way for Python to
1554 handle it. For example, when a destructor raises an exception or during
1555 garbage collection (:func:`gc.collect`).
1556
1557 The *unraisable* argument has the following attributes:
1558
1559 * *exc_type*: Exception type.
1560 * *exc_value*: Exception value, can be ``None``.
1561 * *exc_traceback*: Exception traceback, can be ``None``.
Victor Stinner71c52e32019-05-27 08:57:14 +02001562 * *err_msg*: Error message, can be ``None``.
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +02001563 * *object*: Object causing the exception, can be ``None``.
1564
Victor Stinner71c52e32019-05-27 08:57:14 +02001565 The default hook formats *err_msg* and *object* as:
1566 ``f'{err_msg}: {object!r}'``; use "Exception ignored in" error message
1567 if *err_msg* is ``None``.
1568
Miss Islington (bot)3b976d12019-06-14 09:59:54 -07001569 :func:`sys.unraisablehook` can be overridden to control how unraisable
1570 exceptions are handled.
1571
1572 Storing *exc_value* using a custom hook can create a reference cycle. It
1573 should be cleared explicitly to break the reference cycle when the
1574 exception is no longer needed.
1575
1576 Storing *object* using a custom hook can resurrect it if it is set to an
1577 object which is being finalized. Avoid storing *object* after the custom
1578 hook completes to avoid resurrecting objects.
1579
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +02001580 See also :func:`excepthook` which handles uncaught exceptions.
1581
Steve Dowerb74a6f12019-11-28 08:46:23 -08001582 .. audit-event:: sys.unraisablehook hook,unraisable sys.unraisablehook
1583
1584 Raise an auditing event ``sys.unraisablehook`` with arguments
1585 ``hook``, ``unraisable`` when an exception that cannot be handled occurs.
1586 The ``unraisable`` object is the same as what will be passed to the hook.
1587 If no hook has been set, ``hook`` may be ``None``.
1588
Victor Stinneref9d9b62019-05-22 11:28:22 +02001589 .. versionadded:: 3.8
1590
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001591.. data:: version
1592
1593 A string containing the version number of the Python interpreter plus additional
Georg Brandle42a59d2010-07-31 20:05:31 +00001594 information on the build number and compiler used. This string is displayed
1595 when the interactive interpreter is started. Do not extract version information
1596 out of it, rather, use :data:`version_info` and the functions provided by the
1597 :mod:`platform` module.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001598
1599
1600.. data:: api_version
1601
1602 The C API version for this interpreter. Programmers may find this useful when
1603 debugging version conflicts between Python and extension modules.
1604
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001605
1606.. data:: version_info
1607
1608 A tuple containing the five components of the version number: *major*, *minor*,
1609 *micro*, *releaselevel*, and *serial*. All values except *releaselevel* are
1610 integers; the release level is ``'alpha'``, ``'beta'``, ``'candidate'``, or
1611 ``'final'``. The ``version_info`` value corresponding to the Python version 2.0
Eric Smith0e5b5622009-02-06 01:32:42 +00001612 is ``(2, 0, 0, 'final', 0)``. The components can also be accessed by name,
1613 so ``sys.version_info[0]`` is equivalent to ``sys.version_info.major``
1614 and so on.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001615
Raymond Hettinger35a88362009-04-09 00:08:24 +00001616 .. versionchanged:: 3.1
Georg Brandl67b21b72010-08-17 15:07:14 +00001617 Added named component attributes.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001618
1619.. data:: warnoptions
1620
1621 This is an implementation detail of the warnings framework; do not modify this
1622 value. Refer to the :mod:`warnings` module for more information on the warnings
1623 framework.
1624
1625
1626.. data:: winver
1627
1628 The version number used to form registry keys on Windows platforms. This is
1629 stored as string resource 1000 in the Python DLL. The value is normally the
1630 first three characters of :const:`version`. It is provided in the :mod:`sys`
1631 module for informational purposes; modifying this value has no effect on the
Cheryl Sabella2d6097d2018-10-12 10:55:20 -04001632 registry keys used by Python.
1633
1634 .. availability:: Windows.
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +00001635
Antoine Pitrou9583cac2010-10-21 13:42:28 +00001636
1637.. data:: _xoptions
1638
1639 A dictionary of the various implementation-specific flags passed through
1640 the :option:`-X` command-line option. Option names are either mapped to
Martin Panter1050d2d2016-07-26 11:18:21 +02001641 their values, if given explicitly, or to :const:`True`. Example:
1642
1643 .. code-block:: shell-session
Antoine Pitrou9583cac2010-10-21 13:42:28 +00001644
1645 $ ./python -Xa=b -Xc
1646 Python 3.2a3+ (py3k, Oct 16 2010, 20:14:50)
1647 [GCC 4.4.3] on linux2
1648 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
1649 >>> import sys
1650 >>> sys._xoptions
1651 {'a': 'b', 'c': True}
1652
1653 .. impl-detail::
1654
1655 This is a CPython-specific way of accessing options passed through
1656 :option:`-X`. Other implementations may export them through other
1657 means, or not at all.
1658
1659 .. versionadded:: 3.2
1660
1661
Mark Dickinsonbe5846b2010-07-02 20:26:07 +00001662.. rubric:: Citations
1663
Serhiy Storchakaa4d170d2013-12-23 18:20:51 +02001664.. [C99] ISO/IEC 9899:1999. "Programming languages -- C." A public draft of this standard is available at http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1256.pdf\ .