:mod:`io` --- Core tools for working with streams ================================================= .. module:: io :synopsis: Core tools for working with streams. .. moduleauthor:: Guido van Rossum .. moduleauthor:: Mike Verdone .. moduleauthor:: Mark Russell .. moduleauthor:: Antoine Pitrou .. moduleauthor:: Amaury Forgeot d'Arc .. moduleauthor:: Benjamin Peterson .. sectionauthor:: Benjamin Peterson The :mod:`io` module provides the Python interfaces to stream handling. The built-in :func:`open` function is defined in this module. At the top of the I/O hierarchy is the abstract base class :class:`IOBase`. It defines the basic interface to a stream. Note, however, that there is no separation between reading and writing to streams; implementations are allowed to throw an :exc:`IOError` if they do not support a given operation. Extending :class:`IOBase` is :class:`RawIOBase` which deals simply with the reading and writing of raw bytes to a stream. :class:`FileIO` subclasses :class:`RawIOBase` to provide an interface to files in the machine's file system. :class:`BufferedIOBase` deals with buffering on a raw byte stream (:class:`RawIOBase`). Its subclasses, :class:`BufferedWriter`, :class:`BufferedReader`, and :class:`BufferedRWPair` buffer streams that are readable, writable, and both readable and writable. :class:`BufferedRandom` provides a buffered interface to random access streams. :class:`BytesIO` is a simple stream of in-memory bytes. Another :class:`IOBase` subclass, :class:`TextIOBase`, deals with streams whose bytes represent text, and handles encoding and decoding from and to strings. :class:`TextIOWrapper`, which extends it, is a buffered text interface to a buffered raw stream (:class:`BufferedIOBase`). Finally, :class:`StringIO` is an in-memory stream for text. Argument names are not part of the specification, and only the arguments of :func:`.open` are intended to be used as keyword arguments. Module Interface ---------------- .. data:: DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE An int containing the default buffer size used by the module's buffered I/O classes. :func:`.open` uses the file's blksize (as obtained by :func:`os.stat`) if possible. .. function:: open(file, mode='r', buffering=None, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, closefd=True) Open *file* and return a corresponding stream. If the file cannot be opened, an :exc:`IOError` is raised. *file* is either a string or bytes object giving the name (and the path if the file isn't in the current working directory) of the file to be opened or an integer file descriptor of the file to be wrapped. (If a file descriptor is given, it is closed when the returned I/O object is closed, unless *closefd* is set to ``False``.) *mode* is an optional string that specifies the mode in which the file is opened. It defaults to ``'r'`` which means open for reading in text mode. Other common values are ``'w'`` for writing (truncating the file if it already exists), and ``'a'`` for appending (which on *some* Unix systems, means that *all* writes append to the end of the file regardless of the current seek position). In text mode, if *encoding* is not specified the encoding used is platform dependent. (For reading and writing raw bytes use binary mode and leave *encoding* unspecified.) The available modes are: ========= =============================================================== Character Meaning --------- --------------------------------------------------------------- ``'r'`` open for reading (default) ``'w'`` open for writing, truncating the file first ``'a'`` open for writing, appending to the end of the file if it exists ``'b'`` binary mode ``'t'`` text mode (default) ``'+'`` open a disk file for updating (reading and writing) ``'U'`` universal newline mode (for backwards compatibility; should not be used in new code) ========= =============================================================== The default mode is ``'rt'`` (open for reading text). For binary random access, the mode ``'w+b'`` opens and truncates the file to 0 bytes, while ``'r+b'`` opens the file without truncation. Python distinguishes between files opened in binary and text modes, even when the underlying operating system doesn't. Files opened in binary mode (including ``'b'`` in the *mode* argument) return contents as ``bytes`` objects without any decoding. In text mode (the default, or when ``'t'`` is included in the *mode* argument), the contents of the file are returned as strings, the bytes having been first decoded using a platform-dependent encoding or using the specified *encoding* if given. *buffering* is an optional integer used to set the buffering policy. By default full buffering is on. Pass 0 to switch buffering off (only allowed in binary mode), 1 to set line buffering, and an integer > 1 to indicate the size of the buffer. *encoding* is the name of the encoding used to decode or encode the file. This should only be used in text mode. The default encoding is platform dependent (whatever :func:`locale.getpreferredencoding` returns), but any encoding supported by Python can be used. See the :mod:`codecs` module for the list of supported encodings. *errors* is an optional string that specifies how encoding and decoding errors are to be handled--this cannot be used in binary mode. Pass ``'strict'`` to raise a :exc:`ValueError` exception if there is an encoding error (the default of ``None`` has the same effect), or pass ``'ignore'`` to ignore errors. (Note that ignoring encoding errors can lead to data loss.) ``'replace'`` causes a replacement marker (such as ``'?'``) to be inserted where there is malformed data. When writing, ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` (replace with the appropriate XML character reference) or ``'backslashreplace'`` (replace with backslashed escape sequences) can be used. Any other error handling name that has been registered with :func:`codecs.register_error` is also valid. *newline* controls how universal newlines works (it only applies to text mode). It can be ``None``, ``''``, ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, and ``'\r\n'``. It works as follows: * On input, if *newline* is ``None``, universal newlines mode is enabled. Lines in the input can end in ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, or ``'\r\n'``, and these are translated into ``'\n'`` before being returned to the caller. If it is ``''``, universal newline mode is enabled, but line endings are returned to the caller untranslated. If it has any of the other legal values, input lines are only terminated by the given string, and the line ending is returned to the caller untranslated. * On output, if *newline* is ``None``, any ``'\n'`` characters written are translated to the system default line separator, :data:`os.linesep`. If *newline* is ``''``, no translation takes place. If *newline* is any of the other legal values, any ``'\n'`` characters written are translated to the given string. If *closefd* is ``False`` and a file descriptor rather than a filename was given, the underlying file descriptor will be kept open when the file is closed. If a filename is given *closefd* has no effect and must be ``True`` (the default). The type of file object returned by the :func:`.open` function depends on the mode. When :func:`.open` is used to open a file in a text mode (``'w'``, ``'r'``, ``'wt'``, ``'rt'``, etc.), it returns a subclass of :class:`TextIOBase` (specifically :class:`TextIOWrapper`). When used to open a file in a binary mode with buffering, the returned class is a subclass of :class:`BufferedIOBase`. The exact class varies: in read binary mode, it returns a :class:`BufferedReader`; in write binary and append binary modes, it returns a :class:`BufferedWriter`, and in read/write mode, it returns a :class:`BufferedRandom`. When buffering is disabled, the raw stream, a subclass of :class:`RawIOBase`, :class:`FileIO`, is returned. It is also possible to use a string or bytearray as a file for both reading and writing. For strings :class:`StringIO` can be used like a file opened in a text mode, and for bytearrays a :class:`BytesIO` can be used like a file opened in a binary mode. .. exception:: BlockingIOError Error raised when blocking would occur on a non-blocking stream. It inherits :exc:`IOError`. In addition to those of :exc:`IOError`, :exc:`BlockingIOError` has one attribute: .. attribute:: characters_written An integer containing the number of characters written to the stream before it blocked. .. exception:: UnsupportedOperation An exception inheriting :exc:`IOError` and :exc:`ValueError` that is raised when an unsupported operation is called on a stream. I/O Base Classes ---------------- .. class:: IOBase The abstract base class for all I/O classes, acting on streams of bytes. There is no public constructor. This class provides empty abstract implementations for many methods that derived classes can override selectively; the default implementations represent a file that cannot be read, written or seeked. Even though :class:`IOBase` does not declare :meth:`read`, :meth:`readinto`, or :meth:`write` because their signatures will vary, implementations and clients should consider those methods part of the interface. Also, implementations may raise a :exc:`IOError` when operations they do not support are called. The basic type used for binary data read from or written to a file is :class:`bytes`. :class:`bytearray`\s are accepted too, and in some cases (such as :class:`readinto`) required. Text I/O classes work with :class:`str` data. Note that calling any method (even inquiries) on a closed stream is undefined. Implementations may raise :exc:`IOError` in this case. IOBase (and its subclasses) support the iterator protocol, meaning that an :class:`IOBase` object can be iterated over yielding the lines in a stream. Lines are defined slightly differently depending on whether the stream is a binary stream (yielding bytes), or a text stream (yielding character strings). See :meth:`readline` below. IOBase is also a context manager and therefore supports the :keyword:`with` statement. In this example, *file* is closed after the :keyword:`with` statement's suite is finished---even if an exception occurs:: with open('spam.txt', 'w') as file: file.write('Spam and eggs!') :class:`IOBase` provides these data attributes and methods: .. method:: close() Flush and close this stream. This method has no effect if the file is already closed. Once the file is closed, any operation on the file (e.g. reading or writing) will raise an :exc:`IOError`. The internal file descriptor isn't closed if *closefd* was False. .. attribute:: closed True if the stream is closed. .. method:: fileno() Return the underlying file descriptor (an integer) of the stream if it exists. An :exc:`IOError` is raised if the IO object does not use a file descriptor. .. method:: flush() Flush the write buffers of the stream if applicable. This does nothing for read-only and non-blocking streams. .. method:: isatty() Return ``True`` if the stream is interactive (i.e., connected to a terminal/tty device). .. method:: readable() Return ``True`` if the stream can be read from. If False, :meth:`read` will raise :exc:`IOError`. .. method:: readline(limit=-1) Read and return one line from the stream. If *limit* is specified, at most *limit* bytes will be read. The line terminator is always ``b'\n'`` for binary files; for text files, the *newlines* argument to :func:`.open` can be used to select the line terminator(s) recognized. .. method:: readlines(hint=-1) Read and return a list of lines from the stream. *hint* can be specified to control the number of lines read: no more lines will be read if the total size (in bytes/characters) of all lines so far exceeds *hint*. .. method:: seek(offset, whence=SEEK_SET) Change the stream position to the given byte *offset*. *offset* is interpreted relative to the position indicated by *whence*. Values for *whence* are: * :data:`SEEK_SET` or ``0`` -- start of the stream (the default); *offset* should be zero or positive * :data:`SEEK_CUR` or ``1`` -- current stream position; *offset* may be negative * :data:`SEEK_END` or ``2`` -- end of the stream; *offset* is usually negative Return the new absolute position. .. versionadded:: 3.1 The ``SEEK_*`` constants .. method:: seekable() Return ``True`` if the stream supports random access. If ``False``, :meth:`seek`, :meth:`tell` and :meth:`truncate` will raise :exc:`IOError`. .. method:: tell() Return the current stream position. .. method:: truncate(size=None) Truncate the file to at most *size* bytes. *size* defaults to the current file position, as returned by :meth:`tell`. .. method:: writable() Return ``True`` if the stream supports writing. If ``False``, :meth:`write` and :meth:`truncate` will raise :exc:`IOError`. .. method:: writelines(lines) Write a list of lines to the stream. Line separators are not added, so it is usual for each of the lines provided to have a line separator at the end. .. class:: RawIOBase Base class for raw binary I/O. It inherits :class:`IOBase`. There is no public constructor. Raw binary I/O typically provides low-level access to an underlying OS device or API, and does not try to encapsulate it in high-level primitives (this is left to Buffered I/O and Text I/O, described later in this page). In addition to the attributes and methods from :class:`IOBase`, RawIOBase provides the following methods: .. method:: read(n=-1) Read up to *n* bytes from the object and return them. As a convenience, if *n* is unspecified or -1, :meth:`readall` is called. Otherwise, only one system call is ever made. Fewer than *n* bytes may be returned if the operating system call returns fewer than *n* bytes. If 0 bytes are returned, and *n* was not 0, this indicates end of file. If the object is in non-blocking mode and no bytes are available, ``None`` is returned. .. method:: readall() Read and return all the bytes from the stream until EOF, using multiple calls to the stream if necessary. .. method:: readinto(b) Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray *b* and return the number of bytes read. .. method:: write(b) Write the given bytes or bytearray object, *b*, to the underlying raw stream and return the number of bytes written. This can be less than ``len(b)``, depending on specifics of the underlying raw stream, and especially if it is in non-blocking mode. ``None`` is returned if the raw stream is set not to block and no single byte could be readily written to it. .. class:: BufferedIOBase Base class for binary streams that support some kind of buffering. It inherits :class:`IOBase`. There is no public constructor. The main difference with :class:`RawIOBase` is that methods :meth:`read`, :meth:`readinto` and :meth:`write` will try (respectively) to read as much input as requested or to consume all given output, at the expense of making perhaps more than one system call. In addition, those methods can raise :exc:`BlockingIOError` if the underlying raw stream is in non-blocking mode and cannot take or give enough data; unlike their :class:`RawIOBase` counterparts, they will never return ``None``. Besides, the :meth:`read` method does not have a default implementation that defers to :meth:`readinto`. A typical :class:`BufferedIOBase` implementation should not inherit from a :class:`RawIOBase` implementation, but wrap one, like :class:`BufferedWriter` and :class:`BufferedReader` do. :class:`BufferedIOBase` provides or overrides these members in addition to those from :class:`IOBase`: .. attribute:: raw The underlying raw stream (a :class:`RawIOBase` instance) that :class:`BufferedIOBase` deals with. This is not part of the :class:`BufferedIOBase` API and may not exist on some implementations. .. method:: detach() Separate the underlying raw stream from the buffer and return it. After the raw stream has been detached, the buffer is in an unusable state. Some buffers, like :class:`BytesIO`, do not have the concept of a single raw stream to return from this method. They raise :exc:`UnsupportedOperation`. .. versionadded:: 3.1 .. method:: read(n=-1) Read and return up to *n* bytes. If the argument is omitted, ``None``, or negative, data is read and returned until EOF is reached. An empty bytes object is returned if the stream is already at EOF. If the argument is positive, and the underlying raw stream is not interactive, multiple raw reads may be issued to satisfy the byte count (unless EOF is reached first). But for interactive raw streams, at most one raw read will be issued, and a short result does not imply that EOF is imminent. A :exc:`BlockingIOError` is raised if the underlying raw stream is in non blocking-mode, and has no data available at the moment. .. method:: read1(n=-1) Read and return up to *n* bytes, with at most one call to the underlying raw stream's :meth:`~RawIOBase.read` method. This can be useful if you are implementing your own buffering on top of a :class:`BufferedIOBase` object. .. method:: readinto(b) Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray *b* and return the number of bytes read. Like :meth:`read`, multiple reads may be issued to the underlying raw stream, unless the latter is 'interactive'. A :exc:`BlockingIOError` is raised if the underlying raw stream is in non blocking-mode, and has no data available at the moment. .. method:: write(b) Write the given bytes or bytearray object, *b* and return the number of bytes written (never less than ``len(b)``, since if the write fails an :exc:`IOError` will be raised). Depending on the actual implementation, these bytes may be readily written to the underlying stream, or held in a buffer for performance and latency reasons. When in non-blocking mode, a :exc:`BlockingIOError` is raised if the data needed to be written to the raw stream but it couldn't accept all the data without blocking. Raw File I/O ------------ .. class:: FileIO(name, mode='r', closefd=True) :class:`FileIO` represents an OS-level file containing bytes data. It implements the :class:`RawIOBase` interface (and therefore the :class:`IOBase` interface, too). The *name* can be one of two things: * a character string or bytes object representing the path to the file which will be opened; * an integer representing the number of an existing OS-level file descriptor to which the resulting :class:`FileIO` object will give access. The *mode* can be ``'r'``, ``'w'`` or ``'a'`` for reading (default), writing, or appending. The file will be created if it doesn't exist when opened for writing or appending; it will be truncated when opened for writing. Add a ``'+'`` to the mode to allow simultaneous reading and writing. The :meth:`read` (when called with a positive argument), :meth:`readinto` and :meth:`write` methods on this class will only make one system call. In addition to the attributes and methods from :class:`IOBase` and :class:`RawIOBase`, :class:`FileIO` provides the following data attributes and methods: .. attribute:: mode The mode as given in the constructor. .. attribute:: name The file name. This is the file descriptor of the file when no name is given in the constructor. Buffered Streams ---------------- In many situations, buffered I/O streams will provide higher performance (bandwidth and latency) than raw I/O streams. Their API is also more usable. .. class:: BytesIO([initial_bytes]) A stream implementation using an in-memory bytes buffer. It inherits :class:`BufferedIOBase`. The argument *initial_bytes* is an optional initial bytearray. :class:`BytesIO` provides or overrides these methods in addition to those from :class:`BufferedIOBase` and :class:`IOBase`: .. method:: getvalue() Return ``bytes`` containing the entire contents of the buffer. .. method:: read1() In :class:`BytesIO`, this is the same as :meth:`read`. .. method:: truncate([size]) Truncate the buffer to at most *size* bytes. *size* defaults to the current stream position, as returned by :meth:`tell`. .. class:: BufferedReader(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE) A buffer providing higher-level access to a readable, sequential :class:`RawIOBase` object. It inherits :class:`BufferedIOBase`. When reading data from this object, a larger amount of data may be requested from the underlying raw stream, and kept in an internal buffer. The buffered data can then be returned directly on subsequent reads. The constructor creates a :class:`BufferedReader` for the given readable *raw* stream and *buffer_size*. If *buffer_size* is omitted, :data:`DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE` is used. :class:`BufferedReader` provides or overrides these methods in addition to those from :class:`BufferedIOBase` and :class:`IOBase`: .. method:: peek([n]) Return bytes from the stream without advancing the position. At most one single read on the raw stream is done to satisfy the call. The number of bytes returned may be less or more than requested. .. method:: read([n]) Read and return *n* bytes, or if *n* is not given or negative, until EOF or if the read call would block in non-blocking mode. .. method:: read1(n) Read and return up to *n* bytes with only one call on the raw stream. If at least one byte is buffered, only buffered bytes are returned. Otherwise, one raw stream read call is made. .. class:: BufferedWriter(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE) A buffer providing higher-level access to a writeable, sequential :class:`RawIOBase` object. It inherits :class:`BufferedIOBase`. When writing to this object, data is normally held into an internal buffer. The buffer will be written out to the underlying :class:`RawIOBase` object under various conditions, including: * when the buffer gets too small for all pending data; * when :meth:`flush()` is called; * when a :meth:`seek()` is requested (for :class:`BufferedRandom` objects); * when the :class:`BufferedWriter` object is closed or destroyed. The constructor creates a :class:`BufferedWriter` for the given writeable *raw* stream. If the *buffer_size* is not given, it defaults to :data:`DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE`. A third argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and deprecated. :class:`BufferedWriter` provides or overrides these methods in addition to those from :class:`BufferedIOBase` and :class:`IOBase`: .. method:: flush() Force bytes held in the buffer into the raw stream. A :exc:`BlockingIOError` should be raised if the raw stream blocks. .. method:: write(b) Write the bytes or bytearray object, *b* and return the number of bytes written. When in non-blocking mode, a :exc:`BlockingIOError` is raised if the buffer needs to be written out but the raw stream blocks. .. class:: BufferedRWPair(reader, writer, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE) A buffered I/O object giving a combined, higher-level access to two sequential :class:`RawIOBase` objects: one readable, the other writeable. It is useful for pairs of unidirectional communication channels (pipes, for instance). It inherits :class:`BufferedIOBase`. *reader* and *writer* are :class:`RawIOBase` objects that are readable and writeable respectively. If the *buffer_size* is omitted it defaults to :data:`DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE`. A fourth argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and deprecated. :class:`BufferedRWPair` implements all of :class:`BufferedIOBase`\'s methods except for :meth:`~BufferedIOBase.detach`, which raises :exc:`UnsupportedOperation`. .. class:: BufferedRandom(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE) A buffered interface to random access streams. It inherits :class:`BufferedReader` and :class:`BufferedWriter`, and further supports :meth:`seek` and :meth:`tell` functionality. The constructor creates a reader and writer for a seekable raw stream, given in the first argument. If the *buffer_size* is omitted it defaults to :data:`DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE`. A third argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and deprecated. :class:`BufferedRandom` is capable of anything :class:`BufferedReader` or :class:`BufferedWriter` can do. Text I/O -------- .. class:: TextIOBase Base class for text streams. This class provides a character and line based interface to stream I/O. There is no :meth:`readinto` method because Python's character strings are immutable. It inherits :class:`IOBase`. There is no public constructor. :class:`TextIOBase` provides or overrides these data attributes and methods in addition to those from :class:`IOBase`: .. attribute:: encoding The name of the encoding used to decode the stream's bytes into strings, and to encode strings into bytes. .. attribute:: errors The error setting of the decoder or encoder. .. attribute:: newlines A string, a tuple of strings, or ``None``, indicating the newlines translated so far. Depending on the implementation and the initial constructor flags, this may not be available. .. attribute:: buffer The underlying binary buffer (a :class:`BufferedIOBase` instance) that :class:`TextIOBase` deals with. This is not part of the :class:`TextIOBase` API and may not exist on some implementations. .. method:: detach() Separate the underlying binary buffer from the :class:`TextIOBase` and return it. After the underlying buffer has been detached, the :class:`TextIOBase` is in an unusable state. Some :class:`TextIOBase` implementations, like :class:`StringIO`, may not have the concept of an underlying buffer and calling this method will raise :exc:`UnsupportedOperation`. .. versionadded:: 3.1 .. method:: read(n) Read and return at most *n* characters from the stream as a single :class:`str`. If *n* is negative or ``None``, reads until EOF. .. method:: readline() Read until newline or EOF and return a single ``str``. If the stream is already at EOF, an empty string is returned. .. method:: write(s) Write the string *s* to the stream and return the number of characters written. .. class:: TextIOWrapper(buffer, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, line_buffering=False) A buffered text stream over a :class:`BufferedIOBase` binary stream. It inherits :class:`TextIOBase`. *encoding* gives the name of the encoding that the stream will be decoded or encoded with. It defaults to :func:`locale.getpreferredencoding`. *errors* is an optional string that specifies how encoding and decoding errors are to be handled. Pass ``'strict'`` to raise a :exc:`ValueError` exception if there is an encoding error (the default of ``None`` has the same effect), or pass ``'ignore'`` to ignore errors. (Note that ignoring encoding errors can lead to data loss.) ``'replace'`` causes a replacement marker (such as ``'?'``) to be inserted where there is malformed data. When writing, ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` (replace with the appropriate XML character reference) or ``'backslashreplace'`` (replace with backslashed escape sequences) can be used. Any other error handling name that has been registered with :func:`codecs.register_error` is also valid. *newline* can be ``None``, ``''``, ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, or ``'\r\n'``. It controls the handling of line endings. If it is ``None``, universal newlines is enabled. With this enabled, on input, the lines endings ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, or ``'\r\n'`` are translated to ``'\n'`` before being returned to the caller. Conversely, on output, ``'\n'`` is translated to the system default line separator, :data:`os.linesep`. If *newline* is any other of its legal values, that newline becomes the newline when the file is read and it is returned untranslated. On output, ``'\n'`` is converted to the *newline*. If *line_buffering* is ``True``, :meth:`flush` is implied when a call to write contains a newline character. :class:`TextIOWrapper` provides one attribute in addition to those of :class:`TextIOBase` and its parents: .. attribute:: line_buffering Whether line buffering is enabled. .. class:: StringIO(initial_value='', newline=None) An in-memory stream for text. It inherits :class:`TextIOWrapper`. The initial value of the buffer (an empty string by default) can be set by providing *initial_value*. The *newline* argument works like that of :class:`TextIOWrapper`. The default is to do no newline translation. :class:`StringIO` provides this method in addition to those from :class:`TextIOWrapper` and its parents: .. method:: getvalue() Return a ``str`` containing the entire contents of the buffer at any time before the :class:`StringIO` object's :meth:`close` method is called. Example usage:: import io output = io.StringIO() output.write('First line.\n') print('Second line.', file=output) # Retrieve file contents -- this will be # 'First line.\nSecond line.\n' contents = output.getvalue() # Close object and discard memory buffer -- # .getvalue() will now raise an exception. output.close() .. class:: IncrementalNewlineDecoder A helper codec that decodes newlines for universal newlines mode. It inherits :class:`codecs.IncrementalDecoder`.