172 lines
7.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
172 lines
7.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
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:mod:`mmap` --- Memory-mapped file support
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==========================================
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.. module:: mmap
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:synopsis: Interface to memory-mapped files for Unix and Windows.
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Memory-mapped file objects behave like both strings and like file objects.
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Unlike normal string objects, however, these are mutable. You can use mmap
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objects in most places where strings are expected; for example, you can use the
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:mod:`re` module to search through a memory-mapped file. Since they're mutable,
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you can change a single character by doing ``obj[index] = 'a'``, or change a
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substring by assigning to a slice: ``obj[i1:i2] = '...'``. You can also read
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and write data starting at the current file position, and :meth:`seek` through
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the file to different positions.
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A memory-mapped file is created by the :func:`mmap` function, which is different
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on Unix and on Windows. In either case you must provide a file descriptor for a
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file opened for update. If you wish to map an existing Python file object, use
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its :meth:`fileno` method to obtain the correct value for the *fileno*
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parameter. Otherwise, you can open the file using the :func:`os.open` function,
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which returns a file descriptor directly (the file still needs to be closed when
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done).
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For both the Unix and Windows versions of the function, *access* may be
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specified as an optional keyword parameter. *access* accepts one of three
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values: :const:`ACCESS_READ`, :const:`ACCESS_WRITE`, or :const:`ACCESS_COPY` to
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specify readonly, write-through or copy-on-write memory respectively. *access*
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can be used on both Unix and Windows. If *access* is not specified, Windows
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mmap returns a write-through mapping. The initial memory values for all three
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access types are taken from the specified file. Assignment to an
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:const:`ACCESS_READ` memory map raises a :exc:`TypeError` exception. Assignment
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to an :const:`ACCESS_WRITE` memory map affects both memory and the underlying
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file. Assignment to an :const:`ACCESS_COPY` memory map affects memory but does
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not update the underlying file.
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To map anonymous memory, -1 should be passed as the fileno along with the length.
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.. function:: mmap(fileno, length[, tagname[, access]])
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**(Windows version)** Maps *length* bytes from the file specified by the file
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handle *fileno*, and returns a mmap object. If *length* is larger than the
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current size of the file, the file is extended to contain *length* bytes. If
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*length* is ``0``, the maximum length of the map is the current size of the
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file, except that if the file is empty Windows raises an exception (you cannot
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create an empty mapping on Windows).
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*tagname*, if specified and not ``None``, is a string giving a tag name for the
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mapping. Windows allows you to have many different mappings against the same
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file. If you specify the name of an existing tag, that tag is opened, otherwise
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a new tag of this name is created. If this parameter is omitted or ``None``,
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the mapping is created without a name. Avoiding the use of the tag parameter
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will assist in keeping your code portable between Unix and Windows.
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.. function:: mmap(fileno, length[, flags[, prot[, access]]])
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:noindex:
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**(Unix version)** Maps *length* bytes from the file specified by the file
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descriptor *fileno*, and returns a mmap object. If *length* is ``0``, the
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maximum length of the map will be the current size of the file when :func:`mmap`
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is called.
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*flags* specifies the nature of the mapping. :const:`MAP_PRIVATE` creates a
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private copy-on-write mapping, so changes to the contents of the mmap object
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will be private to this process, and :const:`MAP_SHARED` creates a mapping
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that's shared with all other processes mapping the same areas of the file. The
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default value is :const:`MAP_SHARED`.
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*prot*, if specified, gives the desired memory protection; the two most useful
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values are :const:`PROT_READ` and :const:`PROT_WRITE`, to specify that the pages
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may be read or written. *prot* defaults to :const:`PROT_READ \| PROT_WRITE`.
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*access* may be specified in lieu of *flags* and *prot* as an optional keyword
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parameter. It is an error to specify both *flags*, *prot* and *access*. See
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the description of *access* above for information on how to use this parameter.
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Memory-mapped file objects support the following methods:
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.. method:: mmap.close()
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Close the file. Subsequent calls to other methods of the object will result in
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an exception being raised.
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.. method:: mmap.find(string[, start])
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Returns the lowest index in the object where the substring *string* is found.
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Returns ``-1`` on failure. *start* is the index at which the search begins, and
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defaults to zero.
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.. method:: mmap.flush([offset, size])
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Flushes changes made to the in-memory copy of a file back to disk. Without use
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of this call there is no guarantee that changes are written back before the
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object is destroyed. If *offset* and *size* are specified, only changes to the
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given range of bytes will be flushed to disk; otherwise, the whole extent of the
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mapping is flushed.
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.. method:: mmap.move(dest, src, count)
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Copy the *count* bytes starting at offset *src* to the destination index *dest*.
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If the mmap was created with :const:`ACCESS_READ`, then calls to move will throw
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a :exc:`TypeError` exception.
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.. method:: mmap.read(num)
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Return a string containing up to *num* bytes starting from the current file
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position; the file position is updated to point after the bytes that were
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returned.
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.. method:: mmap.read_byte()
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Returns a string of length 1 containing the character at the current file
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position, and advances the file position by 1.
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.. method:: mmap.readline()
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Returns a single line, starting at the current file position and up to the next
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newline.
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.. method:: mmap.resize(newsize)
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Resizes the map and the underlying file, if any. If the mmap was created with
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:const:`ACCESS_READ` or :const:`ACCESS_COPY`, resizing the map will throw a
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:exc:`TypeError` exception.
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.. method:: mmap.seek(pos[, whence])
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Set the file's current position. *whence* argument is optional and defaults to
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``os.SEEK_SET`` or ``0`` (absolute file positioning); other values are
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``os.SEEK_CUR`` or ``1`` (seek relative to the current position) and
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``os.SEEK_END`` or ``2`` (seek relative to the file's end).
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.. method:: mmap.size()
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Return the length of the file, which can be larger than the size of the
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memory-mapped area.
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.. method:: mmap.tell()
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Returns the current position of the file pointer.
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.. method:: mmap.write(string)
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Write the bytes in *string* into memory at the current position of the file
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pointer; the file position is updated to point after the bytes that were
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written. If the mmap was created with :const:`ACCESS_READ`, then writing to it
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will throw a :exc:`TypeError` exception.
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.. method:: mmap.write_byte(byte)
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Write the single-character string *byte* into memory at the current position of
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the file pointer; the file position is advanced by ``1``. If the mmap was
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created with :const:`ACCESS_READ`, then writing to it will throw a
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:exc:`TypeError` exception.
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