Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | \section{Built-in Functions} |
| 2 | |
| 3 | The Python interpreter has a number of functions built into it that |
| 4 | are always available. They are listed here in alphabetical order. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | \renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(built-in function)} |
| 8 | \begin{funcdesc}{abs}{x} |
| 9 | Return the absolute value of a number. The argument may be a plain |
| 10 | or long integer or a floating point number. |
| 11 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 12 | |
| 13 | \begin{funcdesc}{apply}{function\, args} |
| 14 | The \var{function} argument must be a callable object (a user-defined or |
| 15 | built-in function or method, or a class object) and the \var{args} |
| 16 | argument must be a tuple. The \var{function} is called with |
| 17 | \var{args} as argument list; the number of arguments is the the length |
| 18 | of the tuple. (This is different from just calling |
| 19 | \code{\var{func}(\var{args})}, since in that case there is always |
| 20 | exactly one argument.) |
| 21 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 22 | |
| 23 | \begin{funcdesc}{chr}{i} |
| 24 | Return a string of one character whose \ASCII{} code is the integer |
| 25 | \var{i}, e.g., \code{chr(97)} returns the string \code{'a'}. This is the |
| 26 | inverse of \code{ord()}. The argument must be in the range [0..255], |
| 27 | inclusive. |
| 28 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 29 | |
| 30 | \begin{funcdesc}{cmp}{x\, y} |
| 31 | Compare the two objects \var{x} and \var{y} and return an integer |
| 32 | according to the outcome. The return value is negative if \code{\var{x} |
| 33 | < \var{y}}, zero if \code{\var{x} == \var{y}} and strictly positive if |
| 34 | \code{\var{x} > \var{y}}. |
| 35 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 36 | |
| 37 | \begin{funcdesc}{coerce}{x\, y} |
| 38 | Return a tuple consisting of the two numeric arguments converted to |
| 39 | a common type, using the same rules as used by arithmetic |
| 40 | operations. |
| 41 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 42 | |
| 43 | \begin{funcdesc}{compile}{string\, filename\, kind} |
| 44 | Compile the \var{string} into a code object. Code objects can be |
| 45 | executed by a \code{exec()} statement or evaluated by a call to |
| 46 | \code{eval()}. The \var{filename} argument should |
| 47 | give the file from which the code was read; pass e.g. \code{'<string>'} |
| 48 | if it wasn't read from a file. The \var{kind} argument specifies |
| 49 | what kind of code must be compiled; it can be \code{'exec'} if |
| 50 | \var{string} consists of a sequence of statements, or \code{'eval'} |
| 51 | if it consists of a single expression. |
| 52 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 53 | |
Guido van Rossum | 1efbb0f | 1994-08-16 22:15:11 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 54 | \begin{funcdesc}{delattr}{object\, name} |
| 55 | This is a relative of \code{setattr}. The arguments are an |
| 56 | object and a string. The string must be the name |
| 57 | of one of the object's attributes. The function deletes |
| 58 | the named attribute, provided the object allows it. For example, |
| 59 | \code{setattr(\var{x}, '\var{foobar}')} is equivalent to |
| 60 | \code{del \var{x}.\var{foobar}}. |
| 61 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 62 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | \begin{funcdesc}{dir}{} |
| 64 | Without arguments, return the list of names in the current local |
| 65 | symbol table. With a module, class or class instance object as |
| 66 | argument (or anything else that has a \code{__dict__} attribute), |
| 67 | returns the list of names in that object's attribute dictionary. |
| 68 | The resulting list is sorted. For example: |
| 69 | |
| 70 | \bcode\begin{verbatim} |
| 71 | >>> import sys |
| 72 | >>> dir() |
| 73 | ['sys'] |
| 74 | >>> dir(sys) |
| 75 | ['argv', 'exit', 'modules', 'path', 'stderr', 'stdin', 'stdout'] |
| 76 | >>> |
| 77 | \end{verbatim}\ecode |
| 78 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 79 | |
| 80 | \begin{funcdesc}{divmod}{a\, b} |
| 81 | Take two numbers as arguments and return a pair of integers |
| 82 | consisting of their integer quotient and remainder. With mixed |
| 83 | operand types, the rules for binary arithmetic operators apply. For |
| 84 | plain and long integers, the result is the same as |
| 85 | \code{(\var{a} / \var{b}, \var{a} \%{} \var{b})}. |
| 86 | For floating point numbers the result is the same as |
| 87 | \code{(math.floor(\var{a} / \var{b}), \var{a} \%{} \var{b})}. |
| 88 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 89 | |
Guido van Rossum | f860162 | 1995-01-10 10:50:24 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 90 | \begin{funcdesc}{eval}{expression\optional{\, globals\optional{\, locals}}} |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 91 | The arguments are a string and two optional dictionaries. The |
Guido van Rossum | f860162 | 1995-01-10 10:50:24 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 92 | \var{expression} argument is parsed and evaluated as a Python |
| 93 | expression (technically speaking, a condition list) using the |
| 94 | \var{globals} and \var{locals} dictionaries as global and local name |
| 95 | space. If the \var{globals} dictionary is omitted it defaults to |
| 96 | the \var{locals} dictionary. If both dictionaries are omitted, the |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 97 | expression is executed in the environment where \code{eval} is |
Guido van Rossum | f860162 | 1995-01-10 10:50:24 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 98 | called. The return value is the result of the evaluated expression. |
| 99 | Syntax errors are reported as exceptions. Example: |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 100 | |
| 101 | \bcode\begin{verbatim} |
| 102 | >>> x = 1 |
| 103 | >>> print eval('x+1') |
| 104 | 2 |
| 105 | >>> |
| 106 | \end{verbatim}\ecode |
| 107 | |
| 108 | This function can also be used to execute arbitrary code objects |
| 109 | (e.g. created by \code{compile()}). In this case pass a code |
| 110 | object instead of a string. The code object must have been compiled |
| 111 | passing \code{'eval'} to the \var{kind} argument. |
| 112 | |
| 113 | Note: dynamic execution of statements is supported by the |
Guido van Rossum | f860162 | 1995-01-10 10:50:24 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 114 | \code{exec} statement. Execution of statements from a file is |
| 115 | supported by the \code{execfile()} function. |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 116 | |
| 117 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 118 | |
Guido van Rossum | f860162 | 1995-01-10 10:50:24 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 119 | \begin{funcdesc}{execfile}{file\optional{\, globals\optional{\, locals}}} |
| 120 | This function is similar to the \code{eval()} function or the |
| 121 | \code{exec} statement, but parses a file instead of a string. It is |
| 122 | different from the \code{import} statement in that it does not use |
| 123 | the module administration -- it reads the file unconditionally and |
| 124 | does not create a new module. |
| 125 | |
| 126 | The arguments are a file name and two optional dictionaries. The |
| 127 | file is parsed and evaluated as a sequence of Python statements |
| 128 | (similarly to a module) using the \var{globals} and \var{locals} |
| 129 | dictionaries as global and local name space. If the \var{globals} |
| 130 | dictionary is omitted it defaults to the \var{locals} dictionary. |
| 131 | If both dictionaries are omitted, the expression is executed in the |
| 132 | environment where \code{execfile} is called. The return value is |
| 133 | None. |
| 134 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 135 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 136 | \begin{funcdesc}{filter}{function\, list} |
| 137 | Construct a list from those elements of \var{list} for which |
| 138 | \var{function} returns true. If \var{list} is a string or a tuple, |
| 139 | the result also has that type; otherwise it is always a list. If |
| 140 | \var{function} is \code{None}, the identity function is assumed, |
| 141 | i.e. all elements of \var{list} that are false (zero or empty) are |
| 142 | removed. |
| 143 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 144 | |
| 145 | \begin{funcdesc}{float}{x} |
| 146 | Convert a number to floating point. The argument may be a plain or |
| 147 | long integer or a floating point number. |
| 148 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 149 | |
| 150 | \begin{funcdesc}{getattr}{object\, name} |
| 151 | The arguments are an object and a string. The string must be the |
| 152 | name |
| 153 | of one of the object's attributes. The result is the value of that |
| 154 | attribute. For example, \code{getattr(\var{x}, '\var{foobar}')} is equivalent to |
| 155 | \code{\var{x}.\var{foobar}}. |
| 156 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 157 | |
| 158 | \begin{funcdesc}{hasattr}{object\, name} |
| 159 | The arguments are an object and a string. The result is 1 if the |
| 160 | string is the name of one of the object's attributes, 0 if not. |
| 161 | (This is implemented by calling \code{getattr(object, name)} and |
| 162 | seeing whether it raises an exception or not.) |
| 163 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 164 | |
| 165 | \begin{funcdesc}{hash}{object} |
| 166 | Return the hash value of the object (if it has one). Hash values |
| 167 | are 32-bit integers. They are used to quickly compare dictionary |
| 168 | keys during a dictionary lookup. Numeric values that compare equal |
| 169 | have the same hash value (even if they are of different types, e.g. |
| 170 | 1 and 1.0). |
| 171 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 172 | |
| 173 | \begin{funcdesc}{hex}{x} |
| 174 | Convert a number to a hexadecimal string. The result is a valid |
| 175 | Python expression. |
| 176 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 177 | |
| 178 | \begin{funcdesc}{id}{object} |
| 179 | Return the `identity' of an object. This is an integer which is |
| 180 | guaranteed to be unique and constant for this object during its |
| 181 | lifetime. (Two objects whose lifetimes are disjunct may have the |
| 182 | same id() value.) (Implementation note: this is the address of the |
| 183 | object.) |
| 184 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 185 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 186 | \begin{funcdesc}{input}{\optional{prompt}} |
| 187 | Almost equivalent to \code{eval(raw_input(\var{prompt}))}. Like |
| 188 | \code{raw_input()}, the \var{prompt} argument is optional. The difference |
| 189 | is that a long input expression may be broken over multiple lines using |
| 190 | the backslash convention. |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 191 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 192 | |
| 193 | \begin{funcdesc}{int}{x} |
| 194 | Convert a number to a plain integer. The argument may be a plain or |
| 195 | long integer or a floating point number. |
| 196 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 197 | |
| 198 | \begin{funcdesc}{len}{s} |
| 199 | Return the length (the number of items) of an object. The argument |
| 200 | may be a sequence (string, tuple or list) or a mapping (dictionary). |
| 201 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 202 | |
| 203 | \begin{funcdesc}{long}{x} |
| 204 | Convert a number to a long integer. The argument may be a plain or |
| 205 | long integer or a floating point number. |
| 206 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 207 | |
| 208 | \begin{funcdesc}{map}{function\, list\, ...} |
| 209 | Apply \var{function} to every item of \var{list} and return a list |
| 210 | of the results. If additional \var{list} arguments are passed, |
| 211 | \var{function} must take that many arguments and is applied to |
| 212 | the items of all lists in parallel; if a list is shorter than another |
| 213 | it is assumed to be extended with \code{None} items. If |
| 214 | \var{function} is \code{None}, the identity function is assumed; if |
| 215 | there are multiple list arguments, \code{map} returns a list |
| 216 | consisting of tuples containing the corresponding items from all lists |
| 217 | (i.e. a kind of transpose operation). The \var{list} arguments may be |
| 218 | any kind of sequence; the result is always a list. |
| 219 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 220 | |
| 221 | \begin{funcdesc}{max}{s} |
| 222 | Return the largest item of a non-empty sequence (string, tuple or |
| 223 | list). |
| 224 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 225 | |
| 226 | \begin{funcdesc}{min}{s} |
| 227 | Return the smallest item of a non-empty sequence (string, tuple or |
| 228 | list). |
| 229 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 230 | |
| 231 | \begin{funcdesc}{oct}{x} |
| 232 | Convert a number to an octal string. The result is a valid Python |
| 233 | expression. |
| 234 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 235 | |
Guido van Rossum | 7f49b7a | 1995-01-12 12:38:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 236 | \begin{funcdesc}{open}{filename\optional{\, mode\optional{\, bufsize}}} |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 237 | Return a new file object (described earlier under Built-in Types). |
Guido van Rossum | 041be05 | 1994-05-03 14:46:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 238 | The first two arguments are the same as for \code{stdio}'s |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 239 | \code{fopen()}: \var{filename} is the file name to be opened, |
| 240 | \var{mode} indicates how the file is to be opened: \code{'r'} for |
| 241 | reading, \code{'w'} for writing (truncating an existing file), and |
| 242 | \code{'a'} opens it for appending. Modes \code{'r+'}, \code{'w+'} and |
| 243 | \code{'a+'} open the file for updating, provided the underlying |
| 244 | \code{stdio} library understands this. On systems that differentiate |
| 245 | between binary and text files, \code{'b'} appended to the mode opens |
| 246 | the file in binary mode. If the file cannot be opened, \code{IOError} |
| 247 | is raised. |
Guido van Rossum | 041be05 | 1994-05-03 14:46:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 248 | If \var{mode} is omitted, it defaults to \code{'r'}. |
| 249 | The optional \var{bufsize} argument specifies the file's desired |
| 250 | buffer size: 0 means unbuffered, 1 means line buffered, any other |
| 251 | positive value means use a buffer of (approximately) that size. A |
| 252 | negative \var{bufsize} means to use the system default, which is |
| 253 | usually line buffered for for tty devices and fully buffered for other |
| 254 | files.% |
| 255 | \footnote{Specifying a buffer size currently has no effect on systems |
| 256 | that don't have \code{setvbuf()}. The interface to specify the buffer |
| 257 | size is not done using a method that calls \code{setvbuf()}, because |
| 258 | that may dump core when called after any I/O has been performed, and |
| 259 | there's no reliable way to determine whether this is the case.} |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 260 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 261 | |
| 262 | \begin{funcdesc}{ord}{c} |
| 263 | Return the \ASCII{} value of a string of one character. E.g., |
| 264 | \code{ord('a')} returns the integer \code{97}. This is the inverse of |
| 265 | \code{chr()}. |
| 266 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 267 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 268 | \begin{funcdesc}{pow}{x\, y\optional{\, z}} |
Guido van Rossum | b8b264b | 1994-08-12 13:13:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 269 | Return \var{x} to the power \var{y}; if \var{z} is present, return |
| 270 | \var{x} to the power \var{y}, modulo \var{z} (computed more |
| 271 | efficiently that \code{pow(\var{x}, \var{y}) \% \var{z}}). |
| 272 | The arguments must have |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 273 | numeric types. With mixed operand types, the rules for binary |
| 274 | arithmetic operators apply. The effective operand type is also the |
| 275 | type of the result; if the result is not expressible in this type, the |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 276 | function raises an exception; e.g., \code{pow(2, -1)} or \code{pow(2, |
| 277 | 35000)} is not allowed. |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 278 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 279 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 280 | \begin{funcdesc}{range}{\optional{start\,} end\optional{\, step}} |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 281 | This is a versatile function to create lists containing arithmetic |
| 282 | progressions. It is most often used in \code{for} loops. The |
| 283 | arguments must be plain integers. If the \var{step} argument is |
| 284 | omitted, it defaults to \code{1}. If the \var{start} argument is |
| 285 | omitted, it defaults to \code{0}. The full form returns a list of |
| 286 | plain integers \code{[\var{start}, \var{start} + \var{step}, |
| 287 | \var{start} + 2 * \var{step}, \ldots]}. If \var{step} is positive, |
| 288 | the last element is the largest \code{\var{start} + \var{i} * |
| 289 | \var{step}} less than \var{end}; if \var{step} is negative, the last |
| 290 | element is the largest \code{\var{start} + \var{i} * \var{step}} |
| 291 | greater than \var{end}. \var{step} must not be zero. Example: |
| 292 | |
| 293 | \bcode\begin{verbatim} |
| 294 | >>> range(10) |
| 295 | [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] |
| 296 | >>> range(1, 11) |
| 297 | [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] |
| 298 | >>> range(0, 30, 5) |
| 299 | [0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25] |
| 300 | >>> range(0, 10, 3) |
| 301 | [0, 3, 6, 9] |
| 302 | >>> range(0, -10, -1) |
| 303 | [0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9] |
| 304 | >>> range(0) |
| 305 | [] |
| 306 | >>> range(1, 0) |
| 307 | [] |
| 308 | >>> |
| 309 | \end{verbatim}\ecode |
| 310 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 311 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 312 | \begin{funcdesc}{raw_input}{\optional{prompt}} |
| 313 | If the \var{prompt} argument is present, it is written to standard output |
| 314 | without a trailing newline. The function then reads a line from input, |
| 315 | converts it to a string (stripping a trailing newline), and returns that. |
| 316 | When \EOF{} is read, \code{EOFError} is raised. Example: |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 317 | |
| 318 | \bcode\begin{verbatim} |
| 319 | >>> s = raw_input('--> ') |
| 320 | --> Monty Python's Flying Circus |
| 321 | >>> s |
| 322 | 'Monty Python\'s Flying Circus' |
| 323 | >>> |
| 324 | \end{verbatim}\ecode |
| 325 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 326 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 327 | \begin{funcdesc}{reduce}{function\, list\optional{\, initializer}} |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 328 | Apply the binary \var{function} to the items of \var{list} so as to |
| 329 | reduce the list to a single value. E.g., |
| 330 | \code{reduce(lambda x, y: x*y, \var{list}, 1)} returns the product of |
| 331 | the elements of \var{list}. The optional \var{initializer} can be |
| 332 | thought of as being prepended to \var{list} so as to allow reduction |
| 333 | of an empty \var{list}. The \var{list} arguments may be any kind of |
| 334 | sequence. |
| 335 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 336 | |
| 337 | \begin{funcdesc}{reload}{module} |
| 338 | Re-parse and re-initialize an already imported \var{module}. The |
| 339 | argument must be a module object, so it must have been successfully |
| 340 | imported before. This is useful if you have edited the module source |
| 341 | file using an external editor and want to try out the new version |
| 342 | without leaving the Python interpreter. Note that if a module is |
| 343 | syntactically correct but its initialization fails, the first |
| 344 | \code{import} statement for it does not import the name, but does |
| 345 | create a (partially initialized) module object; to reload the module |
| 346 | you must first \code{import} it again (this will just make the |
| 347 | partially initialized module object available) before you can |
| 348 | \code{reload()} it. |
| 349 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 350 | |
| 351 | \begin{funcdesc}{repr}{object} |
| 352 | Return a string containing a printable representation of an object. |
| 353 | This is the same value yielded by conversions (reverse quotes). |
| 354 | It is sometimes useful to be able to access this operation as an |
| 355 | ordinary function. For many types, this function makes an attempt |
| 356 | to return a string that would yield an object with the same value |
| 357 | when passed to \code{eval()}. |
| 358 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 359 | |
| 360 | \begin{funcdesc}{round}{x\, n} |
| 361 | Return the floating point value \var{x} rounded to \var{n} digits |
| 362 | after the decimal point. If \var{n} is omitted, it defaults to zero. |
| 363 | The result is a floating point number. Values are rounded to the |
| 364 | closest multiple of 10 to the power minus \var{n}; if two multiples |
| 365 | are equally close, rounding is done away from 0 (so e.g. |
| 366 | \code{round(0.5)} is \code{1.0} and \code{round(-0.5)} is \code{-1.0}). |
| 367 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 368 | |
| 369 | \begin{funcdesc}{setattr}{object\, name\, value} |
| 370 | This is the counterpart of \code{getattr}. The arguments are an |
| 371 | object, a string and an arbitrary value. The string must be the name |
| 372 | of one of the object's attributes. The function assigns the value to |
| 373 | the attribute, provided the object allows it. For example, |
| 374 | \code{setattr(\var{x}, '\var{foobar}', 123)} is equivalent to |
| 375 | \code{\var{x}.\var{foobar} = 123}. |
| 376 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 377 | |
| 378 | \begin{funcdesc}{str}{object} |
| 379 | Return a string containing a nicely printable representation of an |
| 380 | object. For strings, this returns the string itself. The difference |
| 381 | with \code{repr(\var{object}} is that \code{str(\var{object}} does not |
| 382 | always attempt to return a string that is acceptable to \code{eval()}; |
| 383 | its goal is to return a printable string. |
| 384 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 385 | |
Guido van Rossum | b8b264b | 1994-08-12 13:13:50 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 386 | \begin{funcdesc}{tuple}{object} |
| 387 | Return a tuple whose items are the same and in the same order as |
| 388 | \var{object}'s items. If \var{object} is alread a tuple, it |
| 389 | is returned unchanged. For instance, \code{tuple('abc')} returns |
| 390 | returns \code{('a', 'b', 'c')} and \code{tuple([1, 2, 3])} returns |
| 391 | \code{(1, 2, 3)}. |
| 392 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 393 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5fdeeea | 1994-01-02 01:22:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 394 | \begin{funcdesc}{type}{object} |
| 395 | % XXXJH xref to buil-in objects here? |
| 396 | Return the type of an \var{object}. The return value is a type |
| 397 | object. There is not much you can do with type objects except compare |
| 398 | them to other type objects; e.g., the following checks if a variable |
| 399 | is a string: |
| 400 | |
| 401 | \bcode\begin{verbatim} |
| 402 | >>> if type(x) == type(''): print 'It is a string' |
| 403 | \end{verbatim}\ecode |
| 404 | \end{funcdesc} |
Guido van Rossum | 68cfbe7 | 1994-02-24 11:28:27 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 405 | |
Guido van Rossum | 1738311 | 1994-04-21 10:32:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 406 | \begin{funcdesc}{vars}{} |
| 407 | Without arguments, return a dictionary corresponding to the current |
| 408 | local symbol table. With a module, class or class instance object as |
| 409 | argument (or anything else that has a \code{__dict__} attribute), |
| 410 | returns a dictionary corresponding to the object's symbol table. |
| 411 | The returned dictionary should not be modified: the effects on the |
| 412 | corresponding symbol table are undefined.% |
| 413 | \footnote{In the current implementation, local variable bindings |
| 414 | cannot normally be affected this way, but variables retrieved from |
| 415 | other scopes can be. This may change.} |
| 416 | \end{funcdesc} |
| 417 | |
Guido van Rossum | 16d6e71 | 1994-08-08 12:30:22 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 418 | \begin{funcdesc}{xrange}{\optional{start\,} end\optional{\, step}} |
Guido van Rossum | 68cfbe7 | 1994-02-24 11:28:27 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 419 | This function is very similar to \code{range()}, but returns an |
| 420 | ``xrange object'' instead of a list. This is an opaque sequence type |
| 421 | which yields the same values as the corresponding list, without |
| 422 | actually storing them all simultaneously. The advantage of |
| 423 | \code{xrange()} over \code{range()} is minimal (since \code{xrange()} |
| 424 | still has to create the values when asked for them) except when a very |
| 425 | large range is used on a memory-starved machine (e.g. DOS) or when all |
| 426 | of the range's elements are never used (e.g. when the loop is usually |
| 427 | terminated with \code{break}). |
| 428 | \end{funcdesc} |