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Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +00001.. _library-index:
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3###############################
4 The Python Standard Library
5###############################
6
7:Release: |version|
8:Date: |today|
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Benjamin Petersond7b03282008-09-13 15:58:53 +000010While :ref:`reference-index` describes the exact syntax and
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000011semantics of the Python language, this library reference manual
12describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also
13describes some of the optional components that are commonly included
14in Python distributions.
15
16Python's standard library is very extensive, offering a wide range of
17facilities as indicated by the long table of contents listed below. The
18library contains built-in modules (written in C) that provide access to
19system functionality such as file I/O that would otherwise be
20inaccessible to Python programmers, as well as modules written in Python
21that provide standardized solutions for many problems that occur in
22everyday programming. Some of these modules are explicitly designed to
23encourage and enhance the portability of Python programs by abstracting
24away platform-specifics into platform-neutral APIs.
25
Georg Brandlc575c902008-09-13 17:46:05 +000026The Python installers for the Windows platform usually includes
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000027the entire standard library and often also include many additional
28components. For Unix-like operating systems Python is normally provided
29as a collection of packages, so it may be necessary to use the packaging
30tools provided with the operating system to obtain some or all of the
31optional components.
32
33In addition to the standard library, there is a growing collection of
Christian Heimes5e696852008-04-09 08:37:03 +000034several thousand components (from individual programs and modules to
35packages and entire application development frameworks), available from
36the `Python Package Index <http://pypi.python.org/pypi>`_.
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000037
38
39.. toctree::
40 :maxdepth: 2
Benjamin Peterson5879d412009-03-30 14:51:56 +000041 :numbered:
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000042
43 intro.rst
44 functions.rst
45 constants.rst
46 objects.rst
47 stdtypes.rst
48 exceptions.rst
49
50 strings.rst
51 datatypes.rst
52 numeric.rst
53 filesys.rst
54 persistence.rst
55 archiving.rst
56 fileformats.rst
57 crypto.rst
58 allos.rst
59 someos.rst
60 ipc.rst
61 netdata.rst
62 markup.rst
63 internet.rst
64 mm.rst
65 i18n.rst
66 frameworks.rst
67 tk.rst
68 development.rst
Georg Brandl546e2d62007-09-12 18:04:37 +000069 debug.rst
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000070 python.rst
71 custominterp.rst
72 modules.rst
73 language.rst
74 misc.rst
75 windows.rst
76 unix.rst
Georg Brandl116aa622007-08-15 14:28:22 +000077 undoc.rst