cpython/Doc/lib/libarray.tex

\section{\module{array} ---
         Efficient arrays of numeric values}

\declaremodule{builtin}{array}
\modulesynopsis{Efficient arrays of uniformly typed numeric values.}


This module defines a new object type which can efficiently represent
an array of basic values: characters, integers, floating point
numbers.  Arrays\index{arrays} are sequence types and behave very much
like lists, except that the type of objects stored in them is
constrained.  The type is specified at object creation time by using a
\dfn{type code}, which is a single character.  The following type
codes are defined:

\begin{tableiii}{c|l|c}{code}{Type code}{C Type}{Minimum size in bytes}
\lineiii{'c'}{character}{1}
\lineiii{'b'}{signed int}{1}
\lineiii{'B'}{unsigned int}{1}
\lineiii{'h'}{signed int}{2}
\lineiii{'H'}{unsigned int}{2}
\lineiii{'i'}{signed int}{2}
\lineiii{'I'}{unsigned int}{2}
\lineiii{'l'}{signed int}{4}
\lineiii{'L'}{unsigned int}{4}
\lineiii{'f'}{float}{4}
\lineiii{'d'}{double}{8}
\end{tableiii}

The actual representation of values is determined by the machine
architecture (strictly speaking, by the C implementation).  The actual
size can be accessed through the \member{itemsize} attribute.  The values
stored  for \code{'L'} and \code{'I'} items will be represented as
Python long integers when retrieved, because Python's plain integer
type cannot represent the full range of C's unsigned (long) integers.


The module defines the following function and type object:

\begin{funcdesc}{array}{typecode\optional{, initializer}}
Return a new array whose items are restricted by \var{typecode}, and
initialized from the optional \var{initializer} value, which must be a
list or a string.  The list or string is passed to the new array's
\method{fromlist()} or \method{fromstring()} method (see below) to add
initial items to the array.
\end{funcdesc}

\begin{datadesc}{ArrayType}
Type object corresponding to the objects returned by
\function{array()}.
\end{datadesc}


Array objects support the following data items and methods:

\begin{memberdesc}[array]{typecode}
The typecode character used to create the array.
\end{memberdesc}

\begin{memberdesc}[array]{itemsize}
The length in bytes of one array item in the internal representation.
\end{memberdesc}


\begin{methoddesc}[array]{append}{x}
Append a new item with value \var{x} to the end of the array.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{buffer_info}{}
Return a tuple \code{(\var{address}, \var{length})} giving the current
memory address and the length in bytes of the buffer used to hold
array's contents.  This is occasionally useful when working with
low-level (and inherently unsafe) I/O interfaces that require memory
addresses, such as certain \cfunction{ioctl()} operations.  The returned
numbers are valid as long as the array exists and no length-changing
operations are applied to it.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{byteswap}{}
``Byteswap'' all items of the array.  This is only supported for
values which are 1, 2, 4, or 8 bytes in size; for other types of
values, \exception{RuntimeError} is raised.  It is useful when reading
data from a file written on a machine with a different byte order.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{fromfile}{f, n}
Read \var{n} items (as machine values) from the file object \var{f}
and append them to the end of the array.  If less than \var{n} items
are available, \exception{EOFError} is raised, but the items that were
available are still inserted into the array.  \var{f} must be a real
built-in file object; something else with a \method{read()} method won't
do.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{fromlist}{list}
Append items from the list.  This is equivalent to
\samp{for x in \var{list}:\ a.append(x)}
except that if there is a type error, the array is unchanged.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{fromstring}{s}
Appends items from the string, interpreting the string as an
array of machine values (i.e. as if it had been read from a
file using the \method{fromfile()} method).
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{insert}{i, x}
Insert a new item with value \var{x} in the array before position
\var{i}.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{read}{f, n}
\deprecated {1.5.1}
  {Use the \method{fromfile()} method.}
Read \var{n} items (as machine values) from the file object \var{f}
and append them to the end of the array.  If less than \var{n} items
are available, \exception{EOFError} is raised, but the items that were
available are still inserted into the array.  \var{f} must be a real
built-in file object; something else with a \method{read()} method won't
do.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{reverse}{}
Reverse the order of the items in the array.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{tofile}{f}
Write all items (as machine values) to the file object \var{f}.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{tolist}{}
Convert the array to an ordinary list with the same items.
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{tostring}{}
Convert the array to an array of machine values and return the
string representation (the same sequence of bytes that would
be written to a file by the \method{tofile()} method.)
\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}[array]{write}{f}
\deprecated {1.5.1}
  {Use the \method{tofile()} method.}
Write all items (as machine values) to the file object \var{f}.
\end{methoddesc}

When an array object is printed or converted to a string, it is
represented as \code{array(\var{typecode}, \var{initializer})}.  The
\var{initializer} is omitted if the array is empty, otherwise it is a
string if the \var{typecode} is \code{'c'}, otherwise it is a list of
numbers.  The string is guaranteed to be able to be converted back to
an array with the same type and value using reverse quotes
(\code{``}), so long as the \function{array()} function has been
imported using \samp{from array import array}.  Examples:

\begin{verbatim}
array('l')
array('c', 'hello world')
array('l', [1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
array('d', [1.0, 2.0, 3.14])
\end{verbatim}


\begin{seealso}
  \seemodule{struct}{packing and unpacking of heterogeneous binary data}
  \seemodule{xdrlib}{packing and unpacking of XDR data}
  \seetext{The Numeric Python extension (NumPy) defines another array
           type; see \emph{The Numerical Python Manual} for additional 
           information (available online at
           \url{ftp://ftp-icf.llnl.gov/pub/python/numericalpython.pdf}). 
           Further information about NumPy is available at
           \url{http://www.python.org/topics/scicomp/numpy.html}.}
\end{seealso}