1.. XXX document all delegations to __special__ methods
2.. _built-in-funcs:
3
4Built-in Functions
5==================
6
7The Python interpreter has a number of functions and types built into it that
8are always available.  They are listed here in alphabetical order.
9
10===================  =================  ==================  ==================  ====================
11..                   ..                 Built-in Functions  ..                  ..
12===================  =================  ==================  ==================  ====================
13:func:`abs`          :func:`delattr`    :func:`hash`        |func-memoryview|_  |func-set|_
14:func:`all`          |func-dict|_       :func:`help`        :func:`min`         :func:`setattr`
15:func:`any`          :func:`dir`        :func:`hex`         :func:`next`        :func:`slice`
16:func:`ascii`        :func:`divmod`     :func:`id`          :func:`object`      :func:`sorted`
17:func:`bin`          :func:`enumerate`  :func:`input`       :func:`oct`         :func:`staticmethod`
18:func:`bool`         :func:`eval`       :func:`int`         :func:`open`        |func-str|_
19:func:`breakpoint`   :func:`exec`       :func:`isinstance`  :func:`ord`         :func:`sum`
20|func-bytearray|_    :func:`filter`     :func:`issubclass`  :func:`pow`         :func:`super`
21|func-bytes|_        :func:`float`      :func:`iter`        :func:`print`       |func-tuple|_
22:func:`callable`     :func:`format`     :func:`len`         :func:`property`    :func:`type`
23:func:`chr`          |func-frozenset|_  |func-list|_        |func-range|_       :func:`vars`
24:func:`classmethod`  :func:`getattr`    :func:`locals`      :func:`repr`        :func:`zip`
25:func:`compile`      :func:`globals`    :func:`map`         :func:`reversed`    :func:`__import__`
26:func:`complex`      :func:`hasattr`    :func:`max`         :func:`round`
27===================  =================  ==================  ==================  ====================
28
29.. using :func:`dict` would create a link to another page, so local targets are
30   used, with replacement texts to make the output in the table consistent
31
32.. |func-dict| replace:: ``dict()``
33.. |func-frozenset| replace:: ``frozenset()``
34.. |func-memoryview| replace:: ``memoryview()``
35.. |func-set| replace:: ``set()``
36.. |func-list| replace:: ``list()``
37.. |func-str| replace:: ``str()``
38.. |func-tuple| replace:: ``tuple()``
39.. |func-range| replace:: ``range()``
40.. |func-bytearray| replace:: ``bytearray()``
41.. |func-bytes| replace:: ``bytes()``
42
43.. function:: abs(x)
44
45   Return the absolute value of a number.  The argument may be an
46   integer or a floating point number.  If the argument is a complex number, its
47   magnitude is returned.
48
49
50.. function:: all(iterable)
51
52   Return ``True`` if all elements of the *iterable* are true (or if the iterable
53   is empty).  Equivalent to::
54
55      def all(iterable):
56          for element in iterable:
57              if not element:
58                  return False
59          return True
60
61
62.. function:: any(iterable)
63
64   Return ``True`` if any element of the *iterable* is true.  If the iterable
65   is empty, return ``False``.  Equivalent to::
66
67      def any(iterable):
68          for element in iterable:
69              if element:
70                  return True
71          return False
72
73
74.. function:: ascii(object)
75
76   As :func:`repr`, return a string containing a printable representation of an
77   object, but escape the non-ASCII characters in the string returned by
78   :func:`repr` using ``\x``, ``\u`` or ``\U`` escapes.  This generates a string
79   similar to that returned by :func:`repr` in Python 2.
80
81
82.. function:: bin(x)
83
84   Convert an integer number to a binary string prefixed with "0b". The result
85   is a valid Python expression. If *x* is not a Python :class:`int` object, it
86   has to define an :meth:`__index__` method that returns an integer. Some
87   examples:
88
89      >>> bin(3)
90      '0b11'
91      >>> bin(-10)
92      '-0b1010'
93
94   If prefix "0b" is desired or not, you can use either of the following ways.
95
96      >>> format(14, '#b'), format(14, 'b')
97      ('0b1110', '1110')
98      >>> f'{14:#b}', f'{14:b}'
99      ('0b1110', '1110')
100
101   See also :func:`format` for more information.
102
103
104.. class:: bool([x])
105
106   Return a Boolean value, i.e. one of ``True`` or ``False``.  *x* is converted
107   using the standard :ref:`truth testing procedure <truth>`.  If *x* is false
108   or omitted, this returns ``False``; otherwise it returns ``True``.  The
109   :class:`bool` class is a subclass of :class:`int` (see :ref:`typesnumeric`).
110   It cannot be subclassed further.  Its only instances are ``False`` and
111   ``True`` (see :ref:`bltin-boolean-values`).
112
113   .. index:: pair: Boolean; type
114
115   .. versionchanged:: 3.7
116      *x* is now a positional-only parameter.
117
118.. function:: breakpoint(*args, **kws)
119
120   This function drops you into the debugger at the call site.  Specifically,
121   it calls :func:`sys.breakpointhook`, passing ``args`` and ``kws`` straight
122   through.  By default, ``sys.breakpointhook()`` calls
123   :func:`pdb.set_trace()` expecting no arguments.  In this case, it is
124   purely a convenience function so you don't have to explicitly import
125   :mod:`pdb` or type as much code to enter the debugger.  However,
126   :func:`sys.breakpointhook` can be set to some other function and
127   :func:`breakpoint` will automatically call that, allowing you to drop into
128   the debugger of choice.
129
130   .. versionadded:: 3.7
131
132.. _func-bytearray:
133.. class:: bytearray([source[, encoding[, errors]]])
134   :noindex:
135
136   Return a new array of bytes.  The :class:`bytearray` class is a mutable
137   sequence of integers in the range 0 <= x < 256.  It has most of the usual
138   methods of mutable sequences, described in :ref:`typesseq-mutable`, as well
139   as most methods that the :class:`bytes` type has, see :ref:`bytes-methods`.
140
141   The optional *source* parameter can be used to initialize the array in a few
142   different ways:
143
144   * If it is a *string*, you must also give the *encoding* (and optionally,
145     *errors*) parameters; :func:`bytearray` then converts the string to
146     bytes using :meth:`str.encode`.
147
148   * If it is an *integer*, the array will have that size and will be
149     initialized with null bytes.
150
151   * If it is an object conforming to the *buffer* interface, a read-only buffer
152     of the object will be used to initialize the bytes array.
153
154   * If it is an *iterable*, it must be an iterable of integers in the range
155     ``0 <= x < 256``, which are used as the initial contents of the array.
156
157   Without an argument, an array of size 0 is created.
158
159   See also :ref:`binaryseq` and :ref:`typebytearray`.
160
161
162.. _func-bytes:
163.. class:: bytes([source[, encoding[, errors]]])
164   :noindex:
165
166   Return a new "bytes" object, which is an immutable sequence of integers in
167   the range ``0 <= x < 256``.  :class:`bytes` is an immutable version of
168   :class:`bytearray` -- it has the same non-mutating methods and the same
169   indexing and slicing behavior.
170
171   Accordingly, constructor arguments are interpreted as for :func:`bytearray`.
172
173   Bytes objects can also be created with literals, see :ref:`strings`.
174
175   See also :ref:`binaryseq`, :ref:`typebytes`, and :ref:`bytes-methods`.
176
177
178.. function:: callable(object)
179
180   Return :const:`True` if the *object* argument appears callable,
181   :const:`False` if not.  If this returns true, it is still possible that a
182   call fails, but if it is false, calling *object* will never succeed.
183   Note that classes are callable (calling a class returns a new instance);
184   instances are callable if their class has a :meth:`__call__` method.
185
186   .. versionadded:: 3.2
187      This function was first removed in Python 3.0 and then brought back
188      in Python 3.2.
189
190
191.. function:: chr(i)
192
193   Return the string representing a character whose Unicode code point is the
194   integer *i*.  For example, ``chr(97)`` returns the string ``'a'``, while
195   ``chr(8364)`` returns the string ``'€'``. This is the inverse of :func:`ord`.
196
197   The valid range for the argument is from 0 through 1,114,111 (0x10FFFF in
198   base 16).  :exc:`ValueError` will be raised if *i* is outside that range.
199
200
201.. decorator:: classmethod
202
203   Transform a method into a class method.
204
205   A class method receives the class as implicit first argument, just like an
206   instance method receives the instance. To declare a class method, use this
207   idiom::
208
209      class C:
210          @classmethod
211          def f(cls, arg1, arg2, ...): ...
212
213   The ``@classmethod`` form is a function :term:`decorator` -- see the description
214   of function definitions in :ref:`function` for details.
215
216   It can be called either on the class (such as ``C.f()``) or on an instance (such
217   as ``C().f()``).  The instance is ignored except for its class. If a class
218   method is called for a derived class, the derived class object is passed as the
219   implied first argument.
220
221   Class methods are different than C++ or Java static methods. If you want those,
222   see :func:`staticmethod` in this section.
223
224   For more information on class methods, consult the documentation on the standard
225   type hierarchy in :ref:`types`.
226
227
228.. function:: compile(source, filename, mode, flags=0, dont_inherit=False, optimize=-1)
229
230   Compile the *source* into a code or AST object.  Code objects can be executed
231   by :func:`exec` or :func:`eval`.  *source* can either be a normal string, a
232   byte string, or an AST object.  Refer to the :mod:`ast` module documentation
233   for information on how to work with AST objects.
234
235   The *filename* argument should give the file from which the code was read;
236   pass some recognizable value if it wasn't read from a file (``'<string>'`` is
237   commonly used).
238
239   The *mode* argument specifies what kind of code must be compiled; it can be
240   ``'exec'`` if *source* consists of a sequence of statements, ``'eval'`` if it
241   consists of a single expression, or ``'single'`` if it consists of a single
242   interactive statement (in the latter case, expression statements that
243   evaluate to something other than ``None`` will be printed).
244
245   The optional arguments *flags* and *dont_inherit* control which :ref:`future
246   statements <future>` affect the compilation of *source*.  If neither
247   is present (or both are zero) the code is compiled with those future
248   statements that are in effect in the code that is calling :func:`compile`.  If the
249   *flags* argument is given and *dont_inherit* is not (or is zero) then the
250   future statements specified by the *flags* argument are used in addition to
251   those that would be used anyway. If *dont_inherit* is a non-zero integer then
252   the *flags* argument is it -- the future statements in effect around the call
253   to compile are ignored.
254
255   Future statements are specified by bits which can be bitwise ORed together to
256   specify multiple statements.  The bitfield required to specify a given feature
257   can be found as the :attr:`~__future__._Feature.compiler_flag` attribute on
258   the :class:`~__future__._Feature` instance in the :mod:`__future__` module.
259
260   The argument *optimize* specifies the optimization level of the compiler; the
261   default value of ``-1`` selects the optimization level of the interpreter as
262   given by :option:`-O` options.  Explicit levels are ``0`` (no optimization;
263   ``__debug__`` is true), ``1`` (asserts are removed, ``__debug__`` is false)
264   or ``2`` (docstrings are removed too).
265
266   This function raises :exc:`SyntaxError` if the compiled source is invalid,
267   and :exc:`ValueError` if the source contains null bytes.
268
269   If you want to parse Python code into its AST representation, see
270   :func:`ast.parse`.
271
272   .. note::
273
274      When compiling a string with multi-line code in ``'single'`` or
275      ``'eval'`` mode, input must be terminated by at least one newline
276      character.  This is to facilitate detection of incomplete and complete
277      statements in the :mod:`code` module.
278
279   .. warning::
280
281      It is possible to crash the Python interpreter with a
282      sufficiently large/complex string when compiling to an AST
283      object due to stack depth limitations in Python's AST compiler.
284
285   .. versionchanged:: 3.2
286      Allowed use of Windows and Mac newlines.  Also input in ``'exec'`` mode
287      does not have to end in a newline anymore.  Added the *optimize* parameter.
288
289   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
290      Previously, :exc:`TypeError` was raised when null bytes were encountered
291      in *source*.
292
293
294.. class:: complex([real[, imag]])
295
296   Return a complex number with the value *real* + *imag*\*1j or convert a string
297   or number to a complex number.  If the first parameter is a string, it will
298   be interpreted as a complex number and the function must be called without a
299   second parameter.  The second parameter can never be a string. Each argument
300   may be any numeric type (including complex).  If *imag* is omitted, it
301   defaults to zero and the constructor serves as a numeric conversion like
302   :class:`int` and :class:`float`.  If both arguments are omitted, returns
303   ``0j``.
304
305   .. note::
306
307      When converting from a string, the string must not contain whitespace
308      around the central ``+`` or ``-`` operator.  For example,
309      ``complex('1+2j')`` is fine, but ``complex('1 + 2j')`` raises
310      :exc:`ValueError`.
311
312   The complex type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
313
314   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
315      Grouping digits with underscores as in code literals is allowed.
316
317
318.. function:: delattr(object, name)
319
320   This is a relative of :func:`setattr`.  The arguments are an object and a
321   string.  The string must be the name of one of the object's attributes.  The
322   function deletes the named attribute, provided the object allows it.  For
323   example, ``delattr(x, 'foobar')`` is equivalent to ``del x.foobar``.
324
325
326.. _func-dict:
327.. class:: dict(**kwarg)
328           dict(mapping, **kwarg)
329           dict(iterable, **kwarg)
330   :noindex:
331
332   Create a new dictionary.  The :class:`dict` object is the dictionary class.
333   See :class:`dict` and :ref:`typesmapping` for documentation about this class.
334
335   For other containers see the built-in :class:`list`, :class:`set`, and
336   :class:`tuple` classes, as well as the :mod:`collections` module.
337
338
339.. function:: dir([object])
340
341   Without arguments, return the list of names in the current local scope.  With an
342   argument, attempt to return a list of valid attributes for that object.
343
344   If the object has a method named :meth:`__dir__`, this method will be called and
345   must return the list of attributes. This allows objects that implement a custom
346   :func:`__getattr__` or :func:`__getattribute__` function to customize the way
347   :func:`dir` reports their attributes.
348
349   If the object does not provide :meth:`__dir__`, the function tries its best to
350   gather information from the object's :attr:`~object.__dict__` attribute, if defined, and
351   from its type object.  The resulting list is not necessarily complete, and may
352   be inaccurate when the object has a custom :func:`__getattr__`.
353
354   The default :func:`dir` mechanism behaves differently with different types of
355   objects, as it attempts to produce the most relevant, rather than complete,
356   information:
357
358   * If the object is a module object, the list contains the names of the module's
359     attributes.
360
361   * If the object is a type or class object, the list contains the names of its
362     attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its bases.
363
364   * Otherwise, the list contains the object's attributes' names, the names of its
365     class's attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its class's base
366     classes.
367
368   The resulting list is sorted alphabetically.  For example:
369
370      >>> import struct
371      >>> dir()   # show the names in the module namespace  # doctest: +SKIP
372      ['__builtins__', '__name__', 'struct']
373      >>> dir(struct)   # show the names in the struct module # doctest: +SKIP
374      ['Struct', '__all__', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__',
375       '__initializing__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__',
376       '_clearcache', 'calcsize', 'error', 'pack', 'pack_into',
377       'unpack', 'unpack_from']
378      >>> class Shape:
379      ...     def __dir__(self):
380      ...         return ['area', 'perimeter', 'location']
381      >>> s = Shape()
382      >>> dir(s)
383      ['area', 'location', 'perimeter']
384
385   .. note::
386
387      Because :func:`dir` is supplied primarily as a convenience for use at an
388      interactive prompt, it tries to supply an interesting set of names more
389      than it tries to supply a rigorously or consistently defined set of names,
390      and its detailed behavior may change across releases.  For example,
391      metaclass attributes are not in the result list when the argument is a
392      class.
393
394
395.. function:: divmod(a, b)
396
397   Take two (non complex) numbers as arguments and return a pair of numbers
398   consisting of their quotient and remainder when using integer division.  With
399   mixed operand types, the rules for binary arithmetic operators apply.  For
400   integers, the result is the same as ``(a // b, a % b)``. For floating point
401   numbers the result is ``(q, a % b)``, where *q* is usually ``math.floor(a /
402   b)`` but may be 1 less than that.  In any case ``q * b + a % b`` is very
403   close to *a*, if ``a % b`` is non-zero it has the same sign as *b*, and ``0
404   <= abs(a % b) < abs(b)``.
405
406
407.. function:: enumerate(iterable, start=0)
408
409   Return an enumerate object. *iterable* must be a sequence, an
410   :term:`iterator`, or some other object which supports iteration.
411   The :meth:`~iterator.__next__` method of the iterator returned by
412   :func:`enumerate` returns a tuple containing a count (from *start* which
413   defaults to 0) and the values obtained from iterating over *iterable*.
414
415      >>> seasons = ['Spring', 'Summer', 'Fall', 'Winter']
416      >>> list(enumerate(seasons))
417      [(0, 'Spring'), (1, 'Summer'), (2, 'Fall'), (3, 'Winter')]
418      >>> list(enumerate(seasons, start=1))
419      [(1, 'Spring'), (2, 'Summer'), (3, 'Fall'), (4, 'Winter')]
420
421   Equivalent to::
422
423      def enumerate(sequence, start=0):
424          n = start
425          for elem in sequence:
426              yield n, elem
427              n += 1
428
429
430.. function:: eval(expression, globals=None, locals=None)
431
432   The arguments are a string and optional globals and locals.  If provided,
433   *globals* must be a dictionary.  If provided, *locals* can be any mapping
434   object.
435
436   The *expression* argument is parsed and evaluated as a Python expression
437   (technically speaking, a condition list) using the *globals* and *locals*
438   dictionaries as global and local namespace.  If the *globals* dictionary is
439   present and does not contain a value for the key ``__builtins__``, a
440   reference to the dictionary of the built-in module :mod:`builtins` is
441   inserted under that key before *expression* is parsed.
442   This means that *expression* normally has full
443   access to the standard :mod:`builtins` module and restricted environments are
444   propagated.  If the *locals* dictionary is omitted it defaults to the *globals*
445   dictionary.  If both dictionaries are omitted, the expression is executed in the
446   environment where :func:`eval` is called.  The return value is the result of
447   the evaluated expression. Syntax errors are reported as exceptions.  Example:
448
449      >>> x = 1
450      >>> eval('x+1')
451      2
452
453   This function can also be used to execute arbitrary code objects (such as
454   those created by :func:`compile`).  In this case pass a code object instead
455   of a string.  If the code object has been compiled with ``'exec'`` as the
456   *mode* argument, :func:`eval`\'s return value will be ``None``.
457
458   Hints: dynamic execution of statements is supported by the :func:`exec`
459   function.  The :func:`globals` and :func:`locals` functions
460   returns the current global and local dictionary, respectively, which may be
461   useful to pass around for use by :func:`eval` or :func:`exec`.
462
463   See :func:`ast.literal_eval` for a function that can safely evaluate strings
464   with expressions containing only literals.
465
466.. index:: builtin: exec
467
468.. function:: exec(object[, globals[, locals]])
469
470   This function supports dynamic execution of Python code. *object* must be
471   either a string or a code object.  If it is a string, the string is parsed as
472   a suite of Python statements which is then executed (unless a syntax error
473   occurs). [#]_ If it is a code object, it is simply executed.  In all cases,
474   the code that's executed is expected to be valid as file input (see the
475   section "File input" in the Reference Manual). Be aware that the
476   :keyword:`return` and :keyword:`yield` statements may not be used outside of
477   function definitions even within the context of code passed to the
478   :func:`exec` function. The return value is ``None``.
479
480   In all cases, if the optional parts are omitted, the code is executed in the
481   current scope.  If only *globals* is provided, it must be a dictionary, which
482   will be used for both the global and the local variables.  If *globals* and
483   *locals* are given, they are used for the global and local variables,
484   respectively.  If provided, *locals* can be any mapping object.  Remember
485   that at module level, globals and locals are the same dictionary. If exec
486   gets two separate objects as *globals* and *locals*, the code will be
487   executed as if it were embedded in a class definition.
488
489   If the *globals* dictionary does not contain a value for the key
490   ``__builtins__``, a reference to the dictionary of the built-in module
491   :mod:`builtins` is inserted under that key.  That way you can control what
492   builtins are available to the executed code by inserting your own
493   ``__builtins__`` dictionary into *globals* before passing it to :func:`exec`.
494
495   .. note::
496
497      The built-in functions :func:`globals` and :func:`locals` return the current
498      global and local dictionary, respectively, which may be useful to pass around
499      for use as the second and third argument to :func:`exec`.
500
501   .. note::
502
503      The default *locals* act as described for function :func:`locals` below:
504      modifications to the default *locals* dictionary should not be attempted.
505      Pass an explicit *locals* dictionary if you need to see effects of the
506      code on *locals* after function :func:`exec` returns.
507
508
509.. function:: filter(function, iterable)
510
511   Construct an iterator from those elements of *iterable* for which *function*
512   returns true.  *iterable* may be either a sequence, a container which
513   supports iteration, or an iterator.  If *function* is ``None``, the identity
514   function is assumed, that is, all elements of *iterable* that are false are
515   removed.
516
517   Note that ``filter(function, iterable)`` is equivalent to the generator
518   expression ``(item for item in iterable if function(item))`` if function is
519   not ``None`` and ``(item for item in iterable if item)`` if function is
520   ``None``.
521
522   See :func:`itertools.filterfalse` for the complementary function that returns
523   elements of *iterable* for which *function* returns false.
524
525
526.. class:: float([x])
527
528   .. index::
529      single: NaN
530      single: Infinity
531
532   Return a floating point number constructed from a number or string *x*.
533
534   If the argument is a string, it should contain a decimal number, optionally
535   preceded by a sign, and optionally embedded in whitespace.  The optional
536   sign may be ``'+'`` or ``'-'``; a ``'+'`` sign has no effect on the value
537   produced.  The argument may also be a string representing a NaN
538   (not-a-number), or a positive or negative infinity.  More precisely, the
539   input must conform to the following grammar after leading and trailing
540   whitespace characters are removed:
541
542   .. productionlist::
543      sign: "+" | "-"
544      infinity: "Infinity" | "inf"
545      nan: "nan"
546      numeric_value: `floatnumber` | `infinity` | `nan`
547      numeric_string: [`sign`] `numeric_value`
548
549   Here ``floatnumber`` is the form of a Python floating-point literal,
550   described in :ref:`floating`.  Case is not significant, so, for example,
551   "inf", "Inf", "INFINITY" and "iNfINity" are all acceptable spellings for
552   positive infinity.
553
554   Otherwise, if the argument is an integer or a floating point number, a
555   floating point number with the same value (within Python's floating point
556   precision) is returned.  If the argument is outside the range of a Python
557   float, an :exc:`OverflowError` will be raised.
558
559   For a general Python object ``x``, ``float(x)`` delegates to
560   ``x.__float__()``.
561
562   If no argument is given, ``0.0`` is returned.
563
564   Examples::
565
566      >>> float('+1.23')
567      1.23
568      >>> float('   -12345\n')
569      -12345.0
570      >>> float('1e-003')
571      0.001
572      >>> float('+1E6')
573      1000000.0
574      >>> float('-Infinity')
575      -inf
576
577   The float type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
578
579   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
580      Grouping digits with underscores as in code literals is allowed.
581
582   .. versionchanged:: 3.7
583      *x* is now a positional-only parameter.
584
585
586.. index::
587   single: __format__
588   single: string; format() (built-in function)
589
590.. function:: format(value[, format_spec])
591
592   Convert a *value* to a "formatted" representation, as controlled by
593   *format_spec*.  The interpretation of *format_spec* will depend on the type
594   of the *value* argument, however there is a standard formatting syntax that
595   is used by most built-in types: :ref:`formatspec`.
596
597   The default *format_spec* is an empty string which usually gives the same
598   effect as calling :func:`str(value) <str>`.
599
600   A call to ``format(value, format_spec)`` is translated to
601   ``type(value).__format__(value, format_spec)`` which bypasses the instance
602   dictionary when searching for the value's :meth:`__format__` method.  A
603   :exc:`TypeError` exception is raised if the method search reaches
604   :mod:`object` and the *format_spec* is non-empty, or if either the
605   *format_spec* or the return value are not strings.
606
607   .. versionchanged:: 3.4
608      ``object().__format__(format_spec)`` raises :exc:`TypeError`
609      if *format_spec* is not an empty string.
610
611
612.. _func-frozenset:
613.. class:: frozenset([iterable])
614   :noindex:
615
616   Return a new :class:`frozenset` object, optionally with elements taken from
617   *iterable*.  ``frozenset`` is a built-in class.  See :class:`frozenset` and
618   :ref:`types-set` for documentation about this class.
619
620   For other containers see the built-in :class:`set`, :class:`list`,
621   :class:`tuple`, and :class:`dict` classes, as well as the :mod:`collections`
622   module.
623
624
625.. function:: getattr(object, name[, default])
626
627   Return the value of the named attribute of *object*.  *name* must be a string.
628   If the string is the name of one of the object's attributes, the result is the
629   value of that attribute.  For example, ``getattr(x, 'foobar')`` is equivalent to
630   ``x.foobar``.  If the named attribute does not exist, *default* is returned if
631   provided, otherwise :exc:`AttributeError` is raised.
632
633
634.. function:: globals()
635
636   Return a dictionary representing the current global symbol table. This is always
637   the dictionary of the current module (inside a function or method, this is the
638   module where it is defined, not the module from which it is called).
639
640
641.. function:: hasattr(object, name)
642
643   The arguments are an object and a string.  The result is ``True`` if the
644   string is the name of one of the object's attributes, ``False`` if not. (This
645   is implemented by calling ``getattr(object, name)`` and seeing whether it
646   raises an :exc:`AttributeError` or not.)
647
648
649.. function:: hash(object)
650
651   Return the hash value of the object (if it has one).  Hash values are
652   integers.  They are used to quickly compare dictionary keys during a
653   dictionary lookup.  Numeric values that compare equal have the same hash
654   value (even if they are of different types, as is the case for 1 and 1.0).
655
656   .. note::
657
658      For objects with custom :meth:`__hash__` methods, note that :func:`hash`
659      truncates the return value based on the bit width of the host machine.
660      See :meth:`__hash__` for details.
661
662.. function:: help([object])
663
664   Invoke the built-in help system.  (This function is intended for interactive
665   use.)  If no argument is given, the interactive help system starts on the
666   interpreter console.  If the argument is a string, then the string is looked up
667   as the name of a module, function, class, method, keyword, or documentation
668   topic, and a help page is printed on the console.  If the argument is any other
669   kind of object, a help page on the object is generated.
670
671   Note that if a slash(/) appears in the parameter list of a function, when
672   invoking :func:`help`, it means that the parameters prior to the slash are
673   positional-only. For more info, see
674   :ref:`the FAQ entry on positional-only parameters <faq-positional-only-arguments>`.
675
676   This function is added to the built-in namespace by the :mod:`site` module.
677
678   .. versionchanged:: 3.4
679      Changes to :mod:`pydoc` and :mod:`inspect` mean that the reported
680      signatures for callables are now more comprehensive and consistent.
681
682
683.. function:: hex(x)
684
685   Convert an integer number to a lowercase hexadecimal string prefixed with
686   "0x". If *x* is not a Python :class:`int` object, it has to define an
687   :meth:`__index__` method that returns an integer. Some examples:
688
689      >>> hex(255)
690      '0xff'
691      >>> hex(-42)
692      '-0x2a'
693
694   If you want to convert an integer number to an uppercase or lower hexadecimal
695   string with prefix or not, you can use either of the following ways:
696
697     >>> '%#x' % 255, '%x' % 255, '%X' % 255
698     ('0xff', 'ff', 'FF')
699     >>> format(255, '#x'), format(255, 'x'), format(255, 'X')
700     ('0xff', 'ff', 'FF')
701     >>> f'{255:#x}', f'{255:x}', f'{255:X}'
702     ('0xff', 'ff', 'FF')
703
704   See also :func:`format` for more information.
705
706   See also :func:`int` for converting a hexadecimal string to an
707   integer using a base of 16.
708
709   .. note::
710
711      To obtain a hexadecimal string representation for a float, use the
712      :meth:`float.hex` method.
713
714
715.. function:: id(object)
716
717   Return the "identity" of an object.  This is an integer which
718   is guaranteed to be unique and constant for this object during its lifetime.
719   Two objects with non-overlapping lifetimes may have the same :func:`id`
720   value.
721
722   .. impl-detail:: This is the address of the object in memory.
723
724
725.. function:: input([prompt])
726
727   If the *prompt* argument is present, it is written to standard output without
728   a trailing newline.  The function then reads a line from input, converts it
729   to a string (stripping a trailing newline), and returns that.  When EOF is
730   read, :exc:`EOFError` is raised.  Example::
731
732      >>> s = input('--> ')  # doctest: +SKIP
733      --> Monty Python's Flying Circus
734      >>> s  # doctest: +SKIP
735      "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
736
737   If the :mod:`readline` module was loaded, then :func:`input` will use it
738   to provide elaborate line editing and history features.
739
740
741.. class:: int([x])
742           int(x, base=10)
743
744   Return an integer object constructed from a number or string *x*, or return
745   ``0`` if no arguments are given.  If *x* defines :meth:`__int__`,
746   ``int(x)`` returns ``x.__int__()``.  If *x* defines :meth:`__trunc__`,
747   it returns ``x.__trunc__()``.
748   For floating point numbers, this truncates towards zero.
749
750   If *x* is not a number or if *base* is given, then *x* must be a string,
751   :class:`bytes`, or :class:`bytearray` instance representing an :ref:`integer
752   literal <integers>` in radix *base*.  Optionally, the literal can be
753   preceded by ``+`` or ``-`` (with no space in between) and surrounded by
754   whitespace.  A base-n literal consists of the digits 0 to n-1, with ``a``
755   to ``z`` (or ``A`` to ``Z``) having
756   values 10 to 35.  The default *base* is 10. The allowed values are 0 and 2--36.
757   Base-2, -8, and -16 literals can be optionally prefixed with ``0b``/``0B``,
758   ``0o``/``0O``, or ``0x``/``0X``, as with integer literals in code.  Base 0
759   means to interpret exactly as a code literal, so that the actual base is 2,
760   8, 10, or 16, and so that ``int('010', 0)`` is not legal, while
761   ``int('010')`` is, as well as ``int('010', 8)``.
762
763   The integer type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
764
765   .. versionchanged:: 3.4
766      If *base* is not an instance of :class:`int` and the *base* object has a
767      :meth:`base.__index__ <object.__index__>` method, that method is called
768      to obtain an integer for the base.  Previous versions used
769      :meth:`base.__int__ <object.__int__>` instead of :meth:`base.__index__
770      <object.__index__>`.
771
772   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
773      Grouping digits with underscores as in code literals is allowed.
774
775   .. versionchanged:: 3.7
776      *x* is now a positional-only parameter.
777
778
779.. function:: isinstance(object, classinfo)
780
781   Return true if the *object* argument is an instance of the *classinfo*
782   argument, or of a (direct, indirect or :term:`virtual <abstract base
783   class>`) subclass thereof.  If *object* is not
784   an object of the given type, the function always returns false.
785   If *classinfo* is a tuple of type objects (or recursively, other such
786   tuples), return true if *object* is an instance of any of the types.
787   If *classinfo* is not a type or tuple of types and such tuples,
788   a :exc:`TypeError` exception is raised.
789
790
791.. function:: issubclass(class, classinfo)
792
793   Return true if *class* is a subclass (direct, indirect or :term:`virtual
794   <abstract base class>`) of *classinfo*.  A
795   class is considered a subclass of itself. *classinfo* may be a tuple of class
796   objects, in which case every entry in *classinfo* will be checked. In any other
797   case, a :exc:`TypeError` exception is raised.
798
799
800.. function:: iter(object[, sentinel])
801
802   Return an :term:`iterator` object.  The first argument is interpreted very
803   differently depending on the presence of the second argument. Without a
804   second argument, *object* must be a collection object which supports the
805   iteration protocol (the :meth:`__iter__` method), or it must support the
806   sequence protocol (the :meth:`__getitem__` method with integer arguments
807   starting at ``0``).  If it does not support either of those protocols,
808   :exc:`TypeError` is raised. If the second argument, *sentinel*, is given,
809   then *object* must be a callable object.  The iterator created in this case
810   will call *object* with no arguments for each call to its
811   :meth:`~iterator.__next__` method; if the value returned is equal to
812   *sentinel*, :exc:`StopIteration` will be raised, otherwise the value will
813   be returned.
814
815   See also :ref:`typeiter`.
816
817   One useful application of the second form of :func:`iter` is to build a
818   block-reader. For example, reading fixed-width blocks from a binary
819   database file until the end of file is reached::
820
821      from functools import partial
822      with open('mydata.db', 'rb') as f:
823          for block in iter(partial(f.read, 64), b''):
824              process_block(block)
825
826
827.. function:: len(s)
828
829   Return the length (the number of items) of an object.  The argument may be a
830   sequence (such as a string, bytes, tuple, list, or range) or a collection
831   (such as a dictionary, set, or frozen set).
832
833
834.. _func-list:
835.. class:: list([iterable])
836   :noindex:
837
838   Rather than being a function, :class:`list` is actually a mutable
839   sequence type, as documented in :ref:`typesseq-list` and :ref:`typesseq`.
840
841
842.. function:: locals()
843
844   Update and return a dictionary representing the current local symbol table.
845   Free variables are returned by :func:`locals` when it is called in function
846   blocks, but not in class blocks.
847
848   .. note::
849      The contents of this dictionary should not be modified; changes may not
850      affect the values of local and free variables used by the interpreter.
851
852.. function:: map(function, iterable, ...)
853
854   Return an iterator that applies *function* to every item of *iterable*,
855   yielding the results.  If additional *iterable* arguments are passed,
856   *function* must take that many arguments and is applied to the items from all
857   iterables in parallel.  With multiple iterables, the iterator stops when the
858   shortest iterable is exhausted.  For cases where the function inputs are
859   already arranged into argument tuples, see :func:`itertools.starmap`\.
860
861
862.. function:: max(iterable, *[, key, default])
863              max(arg1, arg2, *args[, key])
864
865   Return the largest item in an iterable or the largest of two or more
866   arguments.
867
868   If one positional argument is provided, it should be an :term:`iterable`.
869   The largest item in the iterable is returned.  If two or more positional
870   arguments are provided, the largest of the positional arguments is
871   returned.
872
873   There are two optional keyword-only arguments. The *key* argument specifies
874   a one-argument ordering function like that used for :meth:`list.sort`. The
875   *default* argument specifies an object to return if the provided iterable is
876   empty. If the iterable is empty and *default* is not provided, a
877   :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
878
879   If multiple items are maximal, the function returns the first one
880   encountered.  This is consistent with other sort-stability preserving tools
881   such as ``sorted(iterable, key=keyfunc, reverse=True)[0]`` and
882   ``heapq.nlargest(1, iterable, key=keyfunc)``.
883
884   .. versionadded:: 3.4
885      The *default* keyword-only argument.
886
887
888.. _func-memoryview:
889.. function:: memoryview(obj)
890   :noindex:
891
892   Return a "memory view" object created from the given argument.  See
893   :ref:`typememoryview` for more information.
894
895
896.. function:: min(iterable, *[, key, default])
897              min(arg1, arg2, *args[, key])
898
899   Return the smallest item in an iterable or the smallest of two or more
900   arguments.
901
902   If one positional argument is provided, it should be an :term:`iterable`.
903   The smallest item in the iterable is returned.  If two or more positional
904   arguments are provided, the smallest of the positional arguments is
905   returned.
906
907   There are two optional keyword-only arguments. The *key* argument specifies
908   a one-argument ordering function like that used for :meth:`list.sort`. The
909   *default* argument specifies an object to return if the provided iterable is
910   empty. If the iterable is empty and *default* is not provided, a
911   :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
912
913   If multiple items are minimal, the function returns the first one
914   encountered.  This is consistent with other sort-stability preserving tools
915   such as ``sorted(iterable, key=keyfunc)[0]`` and ``heapq.nsmallest(1,
916   iterable, key=keyfunc)``.
917
918   .. versionadded:: 3.4
919      The *default* keyword-only argument.
920
921
922.. function:: next(iterator[, default])
923
924   Retrieve the next item from the *iterator* by calling its
925   :meth:`~iterator.__next__` method.  If *default* is given, it is returned
926   if the iterator is exhausted, otherwise :exc:`StopIteration` is raised.
927
928
929.. class:: object()
930
931   Return a new featureless object.  :class:`object` is a base for all classes.
932   It has the methods that are common to all instances of Python classes.  This
933   function does not accept any arguments.
934
935   .. note::
936
937      :class:`object` does *not* have a :attr:`~object.__dict__`, so you can't
938      assign arbitrary attributes to an instance of the :class:`object` class.
939
940
941.. function:: oct(x)
942
943  Convert an integer number to an octal string prefixed with "0o".  The result
944  is a valid Python expression. If *x* is not a Python :class:`int` object, it
945  has to define an :meth:`__index__` method that returns an integer. For
946  example:
947
948      >>> oct(8)
949      '0o10'
950      >>> oct(-56)
951      '-0o70'
952
953  If you want to convert an integer number to octal string either with prefix
954  "0o" or not, you can use either of the following ways.
955
956      >>> '%#o' % 10, '%o' % 10
957      ('0o12', '12')
958      >>> format(10, '#o'), format(10, 'o')
959      ('0o12', '12')
960      >>> f'{10:#o}', f'{10:o}'
961      ('0o12', '12')
962
963  See also :func:`format` for more information.
964
965   .. index::
966      single: file object; open() built-in function
967
968.. function:: open(file, mode='r', buffering=-1, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, closefd=True, opener=None)
969
970   Open *file* and return a corresponding :term:`file object`.  If the file
971   cannot be opened, an :exc:`OSError` is raised.
972
973   *file* is a :term:`path-like object` giving the pathname (absolute or
974   relative to the current working directory) of the file to be opened or an
975   integer file descriptor of the file to be wrapped.  (If a file descriptor is
976   given, it is closed when the returned I/O object is closed, unless *closefd*
977   is set to ``False``.)
978
979   *mode* is an optional string that specifies the mode in which the file is
980   opened.  It defaults to ``'r'`` which means open for reading in text mode.
981   Other common values are ``'w'`` for writing (truncating the file if it
982   already exists), ``'x'`` for exclusive creation and ``'a'`` for appending
983   (which on *some* Unix systems, means that *all* writes append to the end of
984   the file regardless of the current seek position).  In text mode, if
985   *encoding* is not specified the encoding used is platform dependent:
986   ``locale.getpreferredencoding(False)`` is called to get the current locale
987   encoding. (For reading and writing raw bytes use binary mode and leave
988   *encoding* unspecified.)  The available modes are:
989
990   .. _filemodes:
991
992   .. index::
993      pair: file; modes
994
995   ========= ===============================================================
996   Character Meaning
997   ========= ===============================================================
998   ``'r'``   open for reading (default)
999   ``'w'``   open for writing, truncating the file first
1000   ``'x'``   open for exclusive creation, failing if the file already exists
1001   ``'a'``   open for writing, appending to the end of the file if it exists
1002   ``'b'``   binary mode
1003   ``'t'``   text mode (default)
1004   ``'+'``   open a disk file for updating (reading and writing)
1005   ========= ===============================================================
1006
1007   The default mode is ``'r'`` (open for reading text, synonym of ``'rt'``).
1008   For binary read-write access, the mode ``'w+b'`` opens and truncates the file
1009   to 0 bytes.  ``'r+b'`` opens the file without truncation.
1010
1011   As mentioned in the :ref:`io-overview`, Python distinguishes between binary
1012   and text I/O.  Files opened in binary mode (including ``'b'`` in the *mode*
1013   argument) return contents as :class:`bytes` objects without any decoding.  In
1014   text mode (the default, or when ``'t'`` is included in the *mode* argument),
1015   the contents of the file are returned as :class:`str`, the bytes having been
1016   first decoded using a platform-dependent encoding or using the specified
1017   *encoding* if given.
1018
1019   There is an additional mode character permitted, ``'U'``, which no longer
1020   has any effect, and is considered deprecated. It previously enabled
1021   :term:`universal newlines` in text mode, which became the default behaviour
1022   in Python 3.0. Refer to the documentation of the
1023   :ref:`newline <open-newline-parameter>` parameter for further details.
1024
1025   .. note::
1026
1027      Python doesn't depend on the underlying operating system's notion of text
1028      files; all the processing is done by Python itself, and is therefore
1029      platform-independent.
1030
1031   *buffering* is an optional integer used to set the buffering policy.  Pass 0
1032   to switch buffering off (only allowed in binary mode), 1 to select line
1033   buffering (only usable in text mode), and an integer > 1 to indicate the size
1034   in bytes of a fixed-size chunk buffer.  When no *buffering* argument is
1035   given, the default buffering policy works as follows:
1036
1037   * Binary files are buffered in fixed-size chunks; the size of the buffer is
1038     chosen using a heuristic trying to determine the underlying device's "block
1039     size" and falling back on :attr:`io.DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE`.  On many systems,
1040     the buffer will typically be 4096 or 8192 bytes long.
1041
1042   * "Interactive" text files (files for which :meth:`~io.IOBase.isatty`
1043     returns ``True``) use line buffering.  Other text files use the policy
1044     described above for binary files.
1045
1046   *encoding* is the name of the encoding used to decode or encode the file.
1047   This should only be used in text mode.  The default encoding is platform
1048   dependent (whatever :func:`locale.getpreferredencoding` returns), but any
1049   :term:`text encoding` supported by Python
1050   can be used.  See the :mod:`codecs` module for
1051   the list of supported encodings.
1052
1053   *errors* is an optional string that specifies how encoding and decoding
1054   errors are to be handled—this cannot be used in binary mode.
1055   A variety of standard error handlers are available
1056   (listed under :ref:`error-handlers`), though any
1057   error handling name that has been registered with
1058   :func:`codecs.register_error` is also valid.  The standard names
1059   include:
1060
1061   * ``'strict'`` to raise a :exc:`ValueError` exception if there is
1062     an encoding error.  The default value of ``None`` has the same
1063     effect.
1064
1065   * ``'ignore'`` ignores errors.  Note that ignoring encoding errors
1066     can lead to data loss.
1067
1068   * ``'replace'`` causes a replacement marker (such as ``'?'``) to be inserted
1069     where there is malformed data.
1070
1071   * ``'surrogateescape'`` will represent any incorrect bytes as code
1072     points in the Unicode Private Use Area ranging from U+DC80 to
1073     U+DCFF.  These private code points will then be turned back into
1074     the same bytes when the ``surrogateescape`` error handler is used
1075     when writing data.  This is useful for processing files in an
1076     unknown encoding.
1077
1078   * ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` is only supported when writing to a file.
1079     Characters not supported by the encoding are replaced with the
1080     appropriate XML character reference ``&#nnn;``.
1081
1082   * ``'backslashreplace'`` replaces malformed data by Python's backslashed
1083     escape sequences.
1084
1085   * ``'namereplace'`` (also only supported when writing)
1086     replaces unsupported characters with ``\N{...}`` escape sequences.
1087
1088   .. index::
1089      single: universal newlines; open() built-in function
1090
1091   .. _open-newline-parameter:
1092
1093   *newline* controls how :term:`universal newlines` mode works (it only
1094   applies to text mode).  It can be ``None``, ``''``, ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, and
1095   ``'\r\n'``.  It works as follows:
1096
1097   * When reading input from the stream, if *newline* is ``None``, universal
1098     newlines mode is enabled.  Lines in the input can end in ``'\n'``,
1099     ``'\r'``, or ``'\r\n'``, and these are translated into ``'\n'`` before
1100     being returned to the caller.  If it is ``''``, universal newlines mode is
1101     enabled, but line endings are returned to the caller untranslated.  If it
1102     has any of the other legal values, input lines are only terminated by the
1103     given string, and the line ending is returned to the caller untranslated.
1104
1105   * When writing output to the stream, if *newline* is ``None``, any ``'\n'``
1106     characters written are translated to the system default line separator,
1107     :data:`os.linesep`.  If *newline* is ``''`` or ``'\n'``, no translation
1108     takes place.  If *newline* is any of the other legal values, any ``'\n'``
1109     characters written are translated to the given string.
1110
1111   If *closefd* is ``False`` and a file descriptor rather than a filename was
1112   given, the underlying file descriptor will be kept open when the file is
1113   closed.  If a filename is given *closefd* must be ``True`` (the default)
1114   otherwise an error will be raised.
1115
1116   A custom opener can be used by passing a callable as *opener*. The underlying
1117   file descriptor for the file object is then obtained by calling *opener* with
1118   (*file*, *flags*). *opener* must return an open file descriptor (passing
1119   :mod:`os.open` as *opener* results in functionality similar to passing
1120   ``None``).
1121
1122   The newly created file is :ref:`non-inheritable <fd_inheritance>`.
1123
1124   The following example uses the :ref:`dir_fd <dir_fd>` parameter of the
1125   :func:`os.open` function to open a file relative to a given directory::
1126
1127      >>> import os
1128      >>> dir_fd = os.open('somedir', os.O_RDONLY)
1129      >>> def opener(path, flags):
1130      ...     return os.open(path, flags, dir_fd=dir_fd)
1131      ...
1132      >>> with open('spamspam.txt', 'w', opener=opener) as f:
1133      ...     print('This will be written to somedir/spamspam.txt', file=f)
1134      ...
1135      >>> os.close(dir_fd)  # don't leak a file descriptor
1136
1137   The type of :term:`file object` returned by the :func:`open` function
1138   depends on the mode.  When :func:`open` is used to open a file in a text
1139   mode (``'w'``, ``'r'``, ``'wt'``, ``'rt'``, etc.), it returns a subclass of
1140   :class:`io.TextIOBase` (specifically :class:`io.TextIOWrapper`).  When used
1141   to open a file in a binary mode with buffering, the returned class is a
1142   subclass of :class:`io.BufferedIOBase`.  The exact class varies: in read
1143   binary mode, it returns an :class:`io.BufferedReader`; in write binary and
1144   append binary modes, it returns an :class:`io.BufferedWriter`, and in
1145   read/write mode, it returns an :class:`io.BufferedRandom`.  When buffering is
1146   disabled, the raw stream, a subclass of :class:`io.RawIOBase`,
1147   :class:`io.FileIO`, is returned.
1148
1149   .. index::
1150      single: line-buffered I/O
1151      single: unbuffered I/O
1152      single: buffer size, I/O
1153      single: I/O control; buffering
1154      single: binary mode
1155      single: text mode
1156      module: sys
1157
1158   See also the file handling modules, such as, :mod:`fileinput`, :mod:`io`
1159   (where :func:`open` is declared), :mod:`os`, :mod:`os.path`, :mod:`tempfile`,
1160   and :mod:`shutil`.
1161
1162   .. versionchanged::
1163      3.3
1164
1165         * The *opener* parameter was added.
1166         * The ``'x'`` mode was added.
1167         * :exc:`IOError` used to be raised, it is now an alias of :exc:`OSError`.
1168         * :exc:`FileExistsError` is now raised if the file opened in exclusive
1169           creation mode (``'x'``) already exists.
1170
1171   .. versionchanged::
1172      3.4
1173
1174         * The file is now non-inheritable.
1175
1176   .. deprecated-removed:: 3.4 4.0
1177
1178      The ``'U'`` mode.
1179
1180   .. versionchanged::
1181      3.5
1182
1183         * If the system call is interrupted and the signal handler does not raise an
1184           exception, the function now retries the system call instead of raising an
1185           :exc:`InterruptedError` exception (see :pep:`475` for the rationale).
1186         * The ``'namereplace'`` error handler was added.
1187
1188   .. versionchanged::
1189      3.6
1190
1191         * Support added to accept objects implementing :class:`os.PathLike`.
1192         * On Windows, opening a console buffer may return a subclass of
1193           :class:`io.RawIOBase` other than :class:`io.FileIO`.
1194
1195.. function:: ord(c)
1196
1197   Given a string representing one Unicode character, return an integer
1198   representing the Unicode code point of that character.  For example,
1199   ``ord('a')`` returns the integer ``97`` and ``ord('€')`` (Euro sign)
1200   returns ``8364``.  This is the inverse of :func:`chr`.
1201
1202
1203.. function:: pow(x, y[, z])
1204
1205   Return *x* to the power *y*; if *z* is present, return *x* to the power *y*,
1206   modulo *z* (computed more efficiently than ``pow(x, y) % z``). The two-argument
1207   form ``pow(x, y)`` is equivalent to using the power operator: ``x**y``.
1208
1209   The arguments must have numeric types.  With mixed operand types, the
1210   coercion rules for binary arithmetic operators apply.  For :class:`int`
1211   operands, the result has the same type as the operands (after coercion)
1212   unless the second argument is negative; in that case, all arguments are
1213   converted to float and a float result is delivered.  For example, ``10**2``
1214   returns ``100``, but ``10**-2`` returns ``0.01``.  If the second argument is
1215   negative, the third argument must be omitted.  If *z* is present, *x* and *y*
1216   must be of integer types, and *y* must be non-negative.
1217
1218
1219.. function:: print(*objects, sep=' ', end='\\n', file=sys.stdout, flush=False)
1220
1221   Print *objects* to the text stream *file*, separated by *sep* and followed
1222   by *end*.  *sep*, *end*, *file* and *flush*, if present, must be given as keyword
1223   arguments.
1224
1225   All non-keyword arguments are converted to strings like :func:`str` does and
1226   written to the stream, separated by *sep* and followed by *end*.  Both *sep*
1227   and *end* must be strings; they can also be ``None``, which means to use the
1228   default values.  If no *objects* are given, :func:`print` will just write
1229   *end*.
1230
1231   The *file* argument must be an object with a ``write(string)`` method; if it
1232   is not present or ``None``, :data:`sys.stdout` will be used.  Since printed
1233   arguments are converted to text strings, :func:`print` cannot be used with
1234   binary mode file objects.  For these, use ``file.write(...)`` instead.
1235
1236   Whether output is buffered is usually determined by *file*, but if the
1237   *flush* keyword argument is true, the stream is forcibly flushed.
1238
1239   .. versionchanged:: 3.3
1240      Added the *flush* keyword argument.
1241
1242
1243.. class:: property(fget=None, fset=None, fdel=None, doc=None)
1244
1245   Return a property attribute.
1246
1247   *fget* is a function for getting an attribute value.  *fset* is a function
1248   for setting an attribute value. *fdel* is a function for deleting an attribute
1249   value.  And *doc* creates a docstring for the attribute.
1250
1251   A typical use is to define a managed attribute ``x``::
1252
1253      class C:
1254          def __init__(self):
1255              self._x = None
1256
1257          def getx(self):
1258              return self._x
1259
1260          def setx(self, value):
1261              self._x = value
1262
1263          def delx(self):
1264              del self._x
1265
1266          x = property(getx, setx, delx, "I'm the 'x' property.")
1267
1268   If *c* is an instance of *C*, ``c.x`` will invoke the getter,
1269   ``c.x = value`` will invoke the setter and ``del c.x`` the deleter.
1270
1271   If given, *doc* will be the docstring of the property attribute. Otherwise, the
1272   property will copy *fget*'s docstring (if it exists).  This makes it possible to
1273   create read-only properties easily using :func:`property` as a :term:`decorator`::
1274
1275      class Parrot:
1276          def __init__(self):
1277              self._voltage = 100000
1278
1279          @property
1280          def voltage(self):
1281              """Get the current voltage."""
1282              return self._voltage
1283
1284   The ``@property`` decorator turns the :meth:`voltage` method into a "getter"
1285   for a read-only attribute with the same name, and it sets the docstring for
1286   *voltage* to "Get the current voltage."
1287
1288   A property object has :attr:`~property.getter`, :attr:`~property.setter`,
1289   and :attr:`~property.deleter` methods usable as decorators that create a
1290   copy of the property with the corresponding accessor function set to the
1291   decorated function.  This is best explained with an example::
1292
1293      class C:
1294          def __init__(self):
1295              self._x = None
1296
1297          @property
1298          def x(self):
1299              """I'm the 'x' property."""
1300              return self._x
1301
1302          @x.setter
1303          def x(self, value):
1304              self._x = value
1305
1306          @x.deleter
1307          def x(self):
1308              del self._x
1309
1310   This code is exactly equivalent to the first example.  Be sure to give the
1311   additional functions the same name as the original property (``x`` in this
1312   case.)
1313
1314   The returned property object also has the attributes ``fget``, ``fset``, and
1315   ``fdel`` corresponding to the constructor arguments.
1316
1317   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
1318      The docstrings of property objects are now writeable.
1319
1320
1321.. _func-range:
1322.. function:: range(stop)
1323              range(start, stop[, step])
1324   :noindex:
1325
1326   Rather than being a function, :class:`range` is actually an immutable
1327   sequence type, as documented in :ref:`typesseq-range` and :ref:`typesseq`.
1328
1329
1330.. function:: repr(object)
1331
1332   Return a string containing a printable representation of an object.  For many
1333   types, this function makes an attempt to return a string that would yield an
1334   object with the same value when passed to :func:`eval`, otherwise the
1335   representation is a string enclosed in angle brackets that contains the name
1336   of the type of the object together with additional information often
1337   including the name and address of the object.  A class can control what this
1338   function returns for its instances by defining a :meth:`__repr__` method.
1339
1340
1341.. function:: reversed(seq)
1342
1343   Return a reverse :term:`iterator`.  *seq* must be an object which has
1344   a :meth:`__reversed__` method or supports the sequence protocol (the
1345   :meth:`__len__` method and the :meth:`__getitem__` method with integer
1346   arguments starting at ``0``).
1347
1348
1349.. function:: round(number[, ndigits])
1350
1351   Return *number* rounded to *ndigits* precision after the decimal
1352   point.  If *ndigits* is omitted or is ``None``, it returns the
1353   nearest integer to its input.
1354
1355   For the built-in types supporting :func:`round`, values are rounded to the
1356   closest multiple of 10 to the power minus *ndigits*; if two multiples are
1357   equally close, rounding is done toward the even choice (so, for example,
1358   both ``round(0.5)`` and ``round(-0.5)`` are ``0``, and ``round(1.5)`` is
1359   ``2``).  Any integer value is valid for *ndigits* (positive, zero, or
1360   negative).  The return value is an integer if *ndigits* is omitted or
1361   ``None``.
1362   Otherwise the return value has the same type as *number*.
1363
1364   For a general Python object ``number``, ``round`` delegates to
1365   ``number.__round__``.
1366
1367   .. note::
1368
1369      The behavior of :func:`round` for floats can be surprising: for example,
1370      ``round(2.675, 2)`` gives ``2.67`` instead of the expected ``2.68``.
1371      This is not a bug: it's a result of the fact that most decimal fractions
1372      can't be represented exactly as a float.  See :ref:`tut-fp-issues` for
1373      more information.
1374
1375
1376.. _func-set:
1377.. class:: set([iterable])
1378   :noindex:
1379
1380   Return a new :class:`set` object, optionally with elements taken from
1381   *iterable*.  ``set`` is a built-in class.  See :class:`set` and
1382   :ref:`types-set` for documentation about this class.
1383
1384   For other containers see the built-in :class:`frozenset`, :class:`list`,
1385   :class:`tuple`, and :class:`dict` classes, as well as the :mod:`collections`
1386   module.
1387
1388
1389.. function:: setattr(object, name, value)
1390
1391   This is the counterpart of :func:`getattr`.  The arguments are an object, a
1392   string and an arbitrary value.  The string may name an existing attribute or a
1393   new attribute.  The function assigns the value to the attribute, provided the
1394   object allows it.  For example, ``setattr(x, 'foobar', 123)`` is equivalent to
1395   ``x.foobar = 123``.
1396
1397
1398.. class:: slice(stop)
1399           slice(start, stop[, step])
1400
1401   .. index:: single: Numerical Python
1402
1403   Return a :term:`slice` object representing the set of indices specified by
1404   ``range(start, stop, step)``.  The *start* and *step* arguments default to
1405   ``None``.  Slice objects have read-only data attributes :attr:`~slice.start`,
1406   :attr:`~slice.stop` and :attr:`~slice.step` which merely return the argument
1407   values (or their default).  They have no other explicit functionality;
1408   however they are used by Numerical Python and other third party extensions.
1409   Slice objects are also generated when extended indexing syntax is used.  For
1410   example: ``a[start:stop:step]`` or ``a[start:stop, i]``.  See
1411   :func:`itertools.islice` for an alternate version that returns an iterator.
1412
1413
1414.. function:: sorted(iterable, *, key=None, reverse=False)
1415
1416   Return a new sorted list from the items in *iterable*.
1417
1418   Has two optional arguments which must be specified as keyword arguments.
1419
1420   *key* specifies a function of one argument that is used to extract a comparison
1421   key from each element in *iterable* (for example, ``key=str.lower``).  The
1422   default value is ``None`` (compare the elements directly).
1423
1424   *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the list elements are
1425   sorted as if each comparison were reversed.
1426
1427   Use :func:`functools.cmp_to_key` to convert an old-style *cmp* function to a
1428   *key* function.
1429
1430   The built-in :func:`sorted` function is guaranteed to be stable. A sort is
1431   stable if it guarantees not to change the relative order of elements that
1432   compare equal --- this is helpful for sorting in multiple passes (for
1433   example, sort by department, then by salary grade).
1434
1435   For sorting examples and a brief sorting tutorial, see :ref:`sortinghowto`.
1436
1437.. decorator:: staticmethod
1438
1439   Transform a method into a static method.
1440
1441   A static method does not receive an implicit first argument. To declare a static
1442   method, use this idiom::
1443
1444      class C:
1445          @staticmethod
1446          def f(arg1, arg2, ...): ...
1447
1448   The ``@staticmethod`` form is a function :term:`decorator` -- see the
1449   description of function definitions in :ref:`function` for details.
1450
1451   It can be called either on the class (such as ``C.f()``) or on an instance (such
1452   as ``C().f()``).  The instance is ignored except for its class.
1453
1454   Static methods in Python are similar to those found in Java or C++. Also see
1455   :func:`classmethod` for a variant that is useful for creating alternate class
1456   constructors.
1457
1458   Like all decorators, it is also possible to call ``staticmethod`` as
1459   a regular function and do something with its result.  This is needed
1460   in some cases where you need a reference to a function from a class
1461   body and you want to avoid the automatic transformation to instance
1462   method.  For these cases, use this idiom::
1463
1464      class C:
1465          builtin_open = staticmethod(open)
1466
1467   For more information on static methods, consult the documentation on the
1468   standard type hierarchy in :ref:`types`.
1469
1470
1471.. index::
1472   single: string; str() (built-in function)
1473
1474.. _func-str:
1475.. class:: str(object='')
1476           str(object=b'', encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
1477   :noindex:
1478
1479   Return a :class:`str` version of *object*.  See :func:`str` for details.
1480
1481   ``str`` is the built-in string :term:`class`.  For general information
1482   about strings, see :ref:`textseq`.
1483
1484
1485.. function:: sum(iterable[, start])
1486
1487   Sums *start* and the items of an *iterable* from left to right and returns the
1488   total.  *start* defaults to ``0``. The *iterable*'s items are normally numbers,
1489   and the start value is not allowed to be a string.
1490
1491   For some use cases, there are good alternatives to :func:`sum`.
1492   The preferred, fast way to concatenate a sequence of strings is by calling
1493   ``''.join(sequence)``.  To add floating point values with extended precision,
1494   see :func:`math.fsum`\.  To concatenate a series of iterables, consider using
1495   :func:`itertools.chain`.
1496
1497.. function:: super([type[, object-or-type]])
1498
1499   Return a proxy object that delegates method calls to a parent or sibling
1500   class of *type*.  This is useful for accessing inherited methods that have
1501   been overridden in a class. The search order is same as that used by
1502   :func:`getattr` except that the *type* itself is skipped.
1503
1504   The :attr:`~class.__mro__` attribute of the *type* lists the method
1505   resolution search order used by both :func:`getattr` and :func:`super`.  The
1506   attribute is dynamic and can change whenever the inheritance hierarchy is
1507   updated.
1508
1509   If the second argument is omitted, the super object returned is unbound.  If
1510   the second argument is an object, ``isinstance(obj, type)`` must be true.  If
1511   the second argument is a type, ``issubclass(type2, type)`` must be true (this
1512   is useful for classmethods).
1513
1514   There are two typical use cases for *super*.  In a class hierarchy with
1515   single inheritance, *super* can be used to refer to parent classes without
1516   naming them explicitly, thus making the code more maintainable.  This use
1517   closely parallels the use of *super* in other programming languages.
1518
1519   The second use case is to support cooperative multiple inheritance in a
1520   dynamic execution environment.  This use case is unique to Python and is
1521   not found in statically compiled languages or languages that only support
1522   single inheritance.  This makes it possible to implement "diamond diagrams"
1523   where multiple base classes implement the same method.  Good design dictates
1524   that this method have the same calling signature in every case (because the
1525   order of calls is determined at runtime, because that order adapts
1526   to changes in the class hierarchy, and because that order can include
1527   sibling classes that are unknown prior to runtime).
1528
1529   For both use cases, a typical superclass call looks like this::
1530
1531      class C(B):
1532          def method(self, arg):
1533              super().method(arg)    # This does the same thing as:
1534                                     # super(C, self).method(arg)
1535
1536   Note that :func:`super` is implemented as part of the binding process for
1537   explicit dotted attribute lookups such as ``super().__getitem__(name)``.
1538   It does so by implementing its own :meth:`__getattribute__` method for searching
1539   classes in a predictable order that supports cooperative multiple inheritance.
1540   Accordingly, :func:`super` is undefined for implicit lookups using statements or
1541   operators such as ``super()[name]``.
1542
1543   Also note that, aside from the zero argument form, :func:`super` is not
1544   limited to use inside methods.  The two argument form specifies the
1545   arguments exactly and makes the appropriate references.  The zero
1546   argument form only works inside a class definition, as the compiler fills
1547   in the necessary details to correctly retrieve the class being defined,
1548   as well as accessing the current instance for ordinary methods.
1549
1550   For practical suggestions on how to design cooperative classes using
1551   :func:`super`, see `guide to using super()
1552   <https://rhettinger.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/super-considered-super/>`_.
1553
1554
1555.. _func-tuple:
1556.. function:: tuple([iterable])
1557   :noindex:
1558
1559   Rather than being a function, :class:`tuple` is actually an immutable
1560   sequence type, as documented in :ref:`typesseq-tuple` and :ref:`typesseq`.
1561
1562
1563.. class:: type(object)
1564           type(name, bases, dict)
1565
1566   .. index:: object: type
1567
1568   With one argument, return the type of an *object*.  The return value is a
1569   type object and generally the same object as returned by
1570   :attr:`object.__class__ <instance.__class__>`.
1571
1572   The :func:`isinstance` built-in function is recommended for testing the type
1573   of an object, because it takes subclasses into account.
1574
1575
1576   With three arguments, return a new type object.  This is essentially a
1577   dynamic form of the :keyword:`class` statement. The *name* string is the
1578   class name and becomes the :attr:`~definition.__name__` attribute; the *bases*
1579   tuple itemizes the base classes and becomes the :attr:`~class.__bases__`
1580   attribute; and the *dict* dictionary is the namespace containing definitions
1581   for class body and is copied to a standard dictionary to become the
1582   :attr:`~object.__dict__` attribute.  For example, the following two
1583   statements create identical :class:`type` objects:
1584
1585      >>> class X:
1586      ...     a = 1
1587      ...
1588      >>> X = type('X', (object,), dict(a=1))
1589
1590   See also :ref:`bltin-type-objects`.
1591
1592   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
1593      Subclasses of :class:`type` which don't override ``type.__new__`` may no
1594      longer use the one-argument form to get the type of an object.
1595
1596.. function:: vars([object])
1597
1598   Return the :attr:`~object.__dict__` attribute for a module, class, instance,
1599   or any other object with a :attr:`~object.__dict__` attribute.
1600
1601   Objects such as modules and instances have an updateable :attr:`~object.__dict__`
1602   attribute; however, other objects may have write restrictions on their
1603   :attr:`~object.__dict__` attributes (for example, classes use a
1604   :class:`types.MappingProxyType` to prevent direct dictionary updates).
1605
1606   Without an argument, :func:`vars` acts like :func:`locals`.  Note, the
1607   locals dictionary is only useful for reads since updates to the locals
1608   dictionary are ignored.
1609
1610
1611.. function:: zip(*iterables)
1612
1613   Make an iterator that aggregates elements from each of the iterables.
1614
1615   Returns an iterator of tuples, where the *i*-th tuple contains
1616   the *i*-th element from each of the argument sequences or iterables.  The
1617   iterator stops when the shortest input iterable is exhausted. With a single
1618   iterable argument, it returns an iterator of 1-tuples.  With no arguments,
1619   it returns an empty iterator.  Equivalent to::
1620
1621        def zip(*iterables):
1622            # zip('ABCD', 'xy') --> Ax By
1623            sentinel = object()
1624            iterators = [iter(it) for it in iterables]
1625            while iterators:
1626                result = []
1627                for it in iterators:
1628                    elem = next(it, sentinel)
1629                    if elem is sentinel:
1630                        return
1631                    result.append(elem)
1632                yield tuple(result)
1633
1634   The left-to-right evaluation order of the iterables is guaranteed. This
1635   makes possible an idiom for clustering a data series into n-length groups
1636   using ``zip(*[iter(s)]*n)``.  This repeats the *same* iterator ``n`` times
1637   so that each output tuple has the result of ``n`` calls to the iterator.
1638   This has the effect of dividing the input into n-length chunks.
1639
1640   :func:`zip` should only be used with unequal length inputs when you don't
1641   care about trailing, unmatched values from the longer iterables.  If those
1642   values are important, use :func:`itertools.zip_longest` instead.
1643
1644   :func:`zip` in conjunction with the ``*`` operator can be used to unzip a
1645   list::
1646
1647      >>> x = [1, 2, 3]
1648      >>> y = [4, 5, 6]
1649      >>> zipped = zip(x, y)
1650      >>> list(zipped)
1651      [(1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)]
1652      >>> x2, y2 = zip(*zip(x, y))
1653      >>> x == list(x2) and y == list(y2)
1654      True
1655
1656
1657.. function:: __import__(name, globals=None, locals=None, fromlist=(), level=0)
1658
1659   .. index::
1660      statement: import
1661      module: imp
1662
1663   .. note::
1664
1665      This is an advanced function that is not needed in everyday Python
1666      programming, unlike :func:`importlib.import_module`.
1667
1668   This function is invoked by the :keyword:`import` statement.  It can be
1669   replaced (by importing the :mod:`builtins` module and assigning to
1670   ``builtins.__import__``) in order to change semantics of the
1671   :keyword:`!import` statement, but doing so is **strongly** discouraged as it
1672   is usually simpler to use import hooks (see :pep:`302`) to attain the same
1673   goals and does not cause issues with code which assumes the default import
1674   implementation is in use.  Direct use of :func:`__import__` is also
1675   discouraged in favor of :func:`importlib.import_module`.
1676
1677   The function imports the module *name*, potentially using the given *globals*
1678   and *locals* to determine how to interpret the name in a package context.
1679   The *fromlist* gives the names of objects or submodules that should be
1680   imported from the module given by *name*.  The standard implementation does
1681   not use its *locals* argument at all, and uses its *globals* only to
1682   determine the package context of the :keyword:`import` statement.
1683
1684   *level* specifies whether to use absolute or relative imports. ``0`` (the
1685   default) means only perform absolute imports.  Positive values for
1686   *level* indicate the number of parent directories to search relative to the
1687   directory of the module calling :func:`__import__` (see :pep:`328` for the
1688   details).
1689
1690   When the *name* variable is of the form ``package.module``, normally, the
1691   top-level package (the name up till the first dot) is returned, *not* the
1692   module named by *name*.  However, when a non-empty *fromlist* argument is
1693   given, the module named by *name* is returned.
1694
1695   For example, the statement ``import spam`` results in bytecode resembling the
1696   following code::
1697
1698      spam = __import__('spam', globals(), locals(), [], 0)
1699
1700   The statement ``import spam.ham`` results in this call::
1701
1702      spam = __import__('spam.ham', globals(), locals(), [], 0)
1703
1704   Note how :func:`__import__` returns the toplevel module here because this is
1705   the object that is bound to a name by the :keyword:`import` statement.
1706
1707   On the other hand, the statement ``from spam.ham import eggs, sausage as
1708   saus`` results in ::
1709
1710      _temp = __import__('spam.ham', globals(), locals(), ['eggs', 'sausage'], 0)
1711      eggs = _temp.eggs
1712      saus = _temp.sausage
1713
1714   Here, the ``spam.ham`` module is returned from :func:`__import__`.  From this
1715   object, the names to import are retrieved and assigned to their respective
1716   names.
1717
1718   If you simply want to import a module (potentially within a package) by name,
1719   use :func:`importlib.import_module`.
1720
1721   .. versionchanged:: 3.3
1722      Negative values for *level* are no longer supported (which also changes
1723      the default value to 0).
1724
1725
1726.. rubric:: Footnotes
1727
1728.. [#] Note that the parser only accepts the Unix-style end of line convention.
1729   If you are reading the code from a file, make sure to use newline conversion
1730   mode to convert Windows or Mac-style newlines.
1731