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authorGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:27:07 (GMT)
committerGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:27:07 (GMT)
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-\section{\module{struct} ---
- Interpret strings as packed binary data}
-\declaremodule{builtin}{struct}
-
-\modulesynopsis{Interpret strings as packed binary data.}
-
-\indexii{C}{structures}
-\indexiii{packing}{binary}{data}
-
-This module performs conversions between Python values and C
-structs represented as Python strings. It uses \dfn{format strings}
-(explained below) as compact descriptions of the lay-out of the C
-structs and the intended conversion to/from Python values. This can
-be used in handling binary data stored in files or from network
-connections, among other sources.
-
-The module defines the following exception and functions:
-
-
-\begin{excdesc}{error}
- Exception raised on various occasions; argument is a string
- describing what is wrong.
-\end{excdesc}
-
-\begin{funcdesc}{pack}{fmt, v1, v2, \textrm{\ldots}}
- Return a string containing the values
- \code{\var{v1}, \var{v2}, \textrm{\ldots}} packed according to the given
- format. The arguments must match the values required by the format
- exactly.
-\end{funcdesc}
-
-\begin{funcdesc}{pack_into}{fmt, buffer, offset, v1, v2, \moreargs}
- Pack the values \code{\var{v1}, \var{v2}, \textrm{\ldots}} according to the given
- format, write the packed bytes into the writable \var{buffer} starting at
- \var{offset}.
- Note that the offset is not an optional argument.
-
- \versionadded{2.5}
-\end{funcdesc}
-
-\begin{funcdesc}{unpack}{fmt, string}
- Unpack the string (presumably packed by \code{pack(\var{fmt},
- \textrm{\ldots})}) according to the given format. The result is a
- tuple even if it contains exactly one item. The string must contain
- exactly the amount of data required by the format
- (\code{len(\var{string})} must equal \code{calcsize(\var{fmt})}).
-\end{funcdesc}
-
-\begin{funcdesc}{unpack_from}{fmt, buffer\optional{,offset \code{= 0}}}
- Unpack the \var{buffer} according to tthe given format.
- The result is a tuple even if it contains exactly one item. The
- \var{buffer} must contain at least the amount of data required by the
- format (\code{len(buffer[offset:])} must be at least
- \code{calcsize(\var{fmt})}).
-
- \versionadded{2.5}
-\end{funcdesc}
-
-\begin{funcdesc}{calcsize}{fmt}
- Return the size of the struct (and hence of the string)
- corresponding to the given format.
-\end{funcdesc}
-
-Format characters have the following meaning; the conversion between
-C and Python values should be obvious given their types:
-
-\begin{tableiv}{c|l|l|c}{samp}{Format}{C Type}{Python}{Notes}
- \lineiv{x}{pad byte}{no value}{}
- \lineiv{c}{\ctype{char}}{string of length 1}{}
- \lineiv{b}{\ctype{signed char}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{B}{\ctype{unsigned char}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{t}{\ctype{_Bool}}{bool}{(1)}
- \lineiv{h}{\ctype{short}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{H}{\ctype{unsigned short}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{i}{\ctype{int}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{I}{\ctype{unsigned int}}{long}{}
- \lineiv{l}{\ctype{long}}{integer}{}
- \lineiv{L}{\ctype{unsigned long}}{long}{}
- \lineiv{q}{\ctype{long long}}{long}{(2)}
- \lineiv{Q}{\ctype{unsigned long long}}{long}{(2)}
- \lineiv{f}{\ctype{float}}{float}{}
- \lineiv{d}{\ctype{double}}{float}{}
- \lineiv{s}{\ctype{char[]}}{string}{}
- \lineiv{p}{\ctype{char[]}}{string}{}
- \lineiv{P}{\ctype{void *}}{integer}{}
-\end{tableiv}
-
-\noindent
-Notes:
-
-\begin{description}
-\item[(1)]
- The \character{t} conversion code corresponds to the \ctype{_Bool} type
- defined by C99. If this type is not available, it is simulated using a
- \ctype{char}. In standard mode, it is always represented by one byte.
- \versionadded{2.6}
-\item[(2)]
- The \character{q} and \character{Q} conversion codes are available in
- native mode only if the platform C compiler supports C \ctype{long long},
- or, on Windows, \ctype{__int64}. They are always available in standard
- modes.
- \versionadded{2.2}
-\end{description}
-
-
-A format character may be preceded by an integral repeat count. For
-example, the format string \code{'4h'} means exactly the same as
-\code{'hhhh'}.
-
-Whitespace characters between formats are ignored; a count and its
-format must not contain whitespace though.
-
-For the \character{s} format character, the count is interpreted as the
-size of the string, not a repeat count like for the other format
-characters; for example, \code{'10s'} means a single 10-byte string, while
-\code{'10c'} means 10 characters. For packing, the string is
-truncated or padded with null bytes as appropriate to make it fit.
-For unpacking, the resulting string always has exactly the specified
-number of bytes. As a special case, \code{'0s'} means a single, empty
-string (while \code{'0c'} means 0 characters).
-
-The \character{p} format character encodes a "Pascal string", meaning
-a short variable-length string stored in a fixed number of bytes.
-The count is the total number of bytes stored. The first byte stored is
-the length of the string, or 255, whichever is smaller. The bytes
-of the string follow. If the string passed in to \function{pack()} is too
-long (longer than the count minus 1), only the leading count-1 bytes of the
-string are stored. If the string is shorter than count-1, it is padded
-with null bytes so that exactly count bytes in all are used. Note that
-for \function{unpack()}, the \character{p} format character consumes count
-bytes, but that the string returned can never contain more than 255
-characters.
-
-For the \character{I}, \character{L}, \character{q} and \character{Q}
-format characters, the return value is a Python long integer.
-
-For the \character{P} format character, the return value is a Python
-integer or long integer, depending on the size needed to hold a
-pointer when it has been cast to an integer type. A \NULL{} pointer will
-always be returned as the Python integer \code{0}. When packing pointer-sized
-values, Python integer or long integer objects may be used. For
-example, the Alpha and Merced processors use 64-bit pointer values,
-meaning a Python long integer will be used to hold the pointer; other
-platforms use 32-bit pointers and will use a Python integer.
-
-For the \character{t} format character, the return value is either
-\constant{True} or \constant{False}. When packing, the truth value
-of the argument object is used. Either 0 or 1 in the native or standard
-bool representation will be packed, and any non-zero value will be True
-when unpacking.
-
-By default, C numbers are represented in the machine's native format
-and byte order, and properly aligned by skipping pad bytes if
-necessary (according to the rules used by the C compiler).
-
-Alternatively, the first character of the format string can be used to
-indicate the byte order, size and alignment of the packed data,
-according to the following table:
-
-\begin{tableiii}{c|l|l}{samp}{Character}{Byte order}{Size and alignment}
- \lineiii{@}{native}{native}
- \lineiii{=}{native}{standard}
- \lineiii{<}{little-endian}{standard}
- \lineiii{>}{big-endian}{standard}
- \lineiii{!}{network (= big-endian)}{standard}
-\end{tableiii}
-
-If the first character is not one of these, \character{@} is assumed.
-
-Native byte order is big-endian or little-endian, depending on the
-host system. For example, Motorola and Sun processors are big-endian;
-Intel and DEC processors are little-endian.
-
-Native size and alignment are determined using the C compiler's
-\keyword{sizeof} expression. This is always combined with native byte
-order.
-
-Standard size and alignment are as follows: no alignment is required
-for any type (so you have to use pad bytes);
-\ctype{short} is 2 bytes;
-\ctype{int} and \ctype{long} are 4 bytes;
-\ctype{long long} (\ctype{__int64} on Windows) is 8 bytes;
-\ctype{float} and \ctype{double} are 32-bit and 64-bit
-IEEE floating point numbers, respectively.
-\ctype{_Bool} is 1 byte.
-
-Note the difference between \character{@} and \character{=}: both use
-native byte order, but the size and alignment of the latter is
-standardized.
-
-The form \character{!} is available for those poor souls who claim they
-can't remember whether network byte order is big-endian or
-little-endian.
-
-There is no way to indicate non-native byte order (force
-byte-swapping); use the appropriate choice of \character{<} or
-\character{>}.
-
-The \character{P} format character is only available for the native
-byte ordering (selected as the default or with the \character{@} byte
-order character). The byte order character \character{=} chooses to
-use little- or big-endian ordering based on the host system. The
-struct module does not interpret this as native ordering, so the
-\character{P} format is not available.
-
-Examples (all using native byte order, size and alignment, on a
-big-endian machine):
-
-\begin{verbatim}
->>> from struct import *
->>> pack('hhl', 1, 2, 3)
-'\x00\x01\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x03'
->>> unpack('hhl', '\x00\x01\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x03')
-(1, 2, 3)
->>> calcsize('hhl')
-8
-\end{verbatim}
-
-Hint: to align the end of a structure to the alignment requirement of
-a particular type, end the format with the code for that type with a
-repeat count of zero. For example, the format \code{'llh0l'}
-specifies two pad bytes at the end, assuming longs are aligned on
-4-byte boundaries. This only works when native size and alignment are
-in effect; standard size and alignment does not enforce any alignment.
-
-\begin{seealso}
- \seemodule{array}{Packed binary storage of homogeneous data.}
- \seemodule{xdrlib}{Packing and unpacking of XDR data.}
-\end{seealso}
-
-\subsection{Struct Objects \label{struct-objects}}
-
-The \module{struct} module also defines the following type:
-
-\begin{classdesc}{Struct}{format}
- Return a new Struct object which writes and reads binary data according to
- the format string \var{format}. Creating a Struct object once and calling
- its methods is more efficient than calling the \module{struct} functions
- with the same format since the format string only needs to be compiled once.
-
- \versionadded{2.5}
-\end{classdesc}
-
-Compiled Struct objects support the following methods and attributes:
-
-\begin{methoddesc}[Struct]{pack}{v1, v2, \moreargs}
- Identical to the \function{pack()} function, using the compiled format.
- (\code{len(result)} will equal \member{self.size}.)
-\end{methoddesc}
-
-\begin{methoddesc}[Struct]{pack_into}{buffer, offset, v1, v2, \moreargs}
- Identical to the \function{pack_into()} function, using the compiled format.
-\end{methoddesc}
-
-\begin{methoddesc}[Struct]{unpack}{string}
- Identical to the \function{unpack()} function, using the compiled format.
- (\code{len(string)} must equal \member{self.size}).
-\end{methoddesc}
-
-\begin{methoddesc}[Struct]{unpack_from}{buffer\optional{,offset
- \code{= 0}}}
- Identical to the \function{unpack_from()} function, using the compiled format.
- (\code{len(buffer[offset:])} must be at least \member{self.size}).
-\end{methoddesc}
-
-\begin{memberdesc}[Struct]{format}
- The format string used to construct this Struct object.
-\end{memberdesc}
-