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authorBenjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org>2010-05-06 23:20:40 (GMT)
committerBenjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org>2010-05-06 23:20:40 (GMT)
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Merged revisions 80897 via svnmerge from
svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/branches/py3k ................ r80897 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-05-06 18:03:05 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 13 lines Merged revisions 80894,80896 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r80894 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-05-06 17:33:46 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line Availability gets its own line ........ r80896 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-05-06 17:49:28 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line ensure that availability information is on its own line at the end of the function docs ........ ................
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/library/os.rst')
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/os.rst442
1 files changed, 319 insertions, 123 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst
index bf8abe6..b14dc92 100644
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ Notes on the availability of these functions:
* If not separately noted, all functions that claim "Availability: Unix" are
supported on Mac OS X, which builds on a Unix core.
+.. Availability notes get their own line and occur at the end of the function
+.. documentation.
+
.. note::
All functions in this module raise :exc:`OSError` in the case of invalid or
@@ -139,33 +142,40 @@ process and user.
.. function:: ctermid()
Return the filename corresponding to the controlling terminal of the process.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getegid()
Return the effective group id of the current process. This corresponds to the
- "set id" bit on the file being executed in the current process. Availability:
- Unix.
+ "set id" bit on the file being executed in the current process.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: geteuid()
.. index:: single: user; effective id
- Return the current process's effective user id. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the current process's effective user id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getgid()
.. index:: single: process; group
- Return the real group id of the current process. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the real group id of the current process.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getgroups()
Return list of supplemental group ids associated with the current process.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -175,48 +185,60 @@ process and user.
process. For most purposes, it is more useful to use the environment variable
:envvar:`LOGNAME` to find out who the user is, or
``pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0]`` to get the login name of the currently
- effective user id. Availability: Unix.
+ effective user id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getpgid(pid)
Return the process group id of the process with process id *pid*. If *pid* is 0,
- the process group id of the current process is returned. Availability: Unix.
+ the process group id of the current process is returned.
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getpgrp()
.. index:: single: process; group
- Return the id of the current process group. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the id of the current process group.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getpid()
.. index:: single: process; id
- Return the current process id. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ Return the current process id.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: getppid()
.. index:: single: process; id of parent
- Return the parent's process id. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the parent's process id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getuid()
.. index:: single: user; id
- Return the current process's user id. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the current process's user id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getenv(varname[, value])
Return the value of the environment variable *varname* if it exists, or *value*
- if it doesn't. *value* defaults to ``None``. Availability: most flavors of
- Unix, Windows.
+ if it doesn't. *value* defaults to ``None``.
+
+ Availability: most flavors of Unix, Windows.
.. function:: putenv(varname, value)
@@ -225,8 +247,9 @@ process and user.
Set the environment variable named *varname* to the string *value*. Such
changes to the environment affect subprocesses started with :func:`os.system`,
- :func:`popen` or :func:`fork` and :func:`execv`. Availability: most flavors of
- Unix, Windows.
+ :func:`popen` or :func:`fork` and :func:`execv`.
+
+ Availability: most flavors of Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -241,17 +264,23 @@ process and user.
.. function:: setegid(egid)
- Set the current process's effective group id. Availability: Unix.
+ Set the current process's effective group id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: seteuid(euid)
- Set the current process's effective user id. Availability: Unix.
+ Set the current process's effective user id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: setgid(gid)
- Set the current process' group id. Availability: Unix.
+ Set the current process' group id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: setgroups(groups)
@@ -259,6 +288,7 @@ process and user.
Set the list of supplemental group ids associated with the current process to
*groups*. *groups* must be a sequence, and each element must be an integer
identifying a group. This operation is typically available only to the superuser.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -266,6 +296,7 @@ process and user.
Call the system call :cfunc:`setpgrp` or :cfunc:`setpgrp(0, 0)` depending on
which version is implemented (if any). See the Unix manual for the semantics.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -273,28 +304,37 @@ process and user.
Call the system call :cfunc:`setpgid` to set the process group id of the
process with id *pid* to the process group with id *pgrp*. See the Unix manual
- for the semantics. Availability: Unix.
+ for the semantics.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: setreuid(ruid, euid)
- Set the current process's real and effective user ids. Availability: Unix.
+
+ Set the current process's real and effective user ids.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: setregid(rgid, egid)
- Set the current process's real and effective group ids. Availability: Unix.
+ Set the current process's real and effective group ids.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getsid(pid)
Call the system call :cfunc:`getsid`. See the Unix manual for the semantics.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: setsid()
Call the system call :cfunc:`setsid`. See the Unix manual for the semantics.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -302,7 +342,9 @@ process and user.
.. index:: single: user; id, setting
- Set the current process's user id. Availability: Unix.
+ Set the current process's user id.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. placed in this section since it relates to errno.... a little weak
@@ -310,13 +352,16 @@ process and user.
Return the error message corresponding to the error code in *code*.
On platforms where :cfunc:`strerror` returns ``NULL`` when given an unknown
- error number, :exc:`ValueError` is raised. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ error number, :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: umask(mask)
- Set the current numeric umask and return the previous umask. Availability:
- Unix, Windows.
+ Set the current numeric umask and return the previous umask.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: uname()
@@ -330,8 +375,9 @@ process and user.
machine)``. Some systems truncate the nodename to 8 characters or to the
leading component; a better way to get the hostname is
:func:`socket.gethostname` or even
- ``socket.gethostbyaddr(socket.gethostname())``. Availability: recent flavors of
- Unix.
+ ``socket.gethostbyaddr(socket.gethostname())``.
+
+ Availability: recent flavors of Unix.
.. function:: unsetenv(varname)
@@ -340,13 +386,15 @@ process and user.
Unset (delete) the environment variable named *varname*. Such changes to the
environment affect subprocesses started with :func:`os.system`, :func:`popen` or
- :func:`fork` and :func:`execv`. Availability: most flavors of Unix, Windows.
+ :func:`fork` and :func:`execv`.
When :func:`unsetenv` is supported, deletion of items in ``os.environ`` is
automatically translated into a corresponding call to :func:`unsetenv`; however,
calls to :func:`unsetenv` don't update ``os.environ``, so it is actually
preferable to delete items of ``os.environ``.
+ Availability: most flavors of Unix, Windows.
+
.. _os-newstreams:
@@ -362,7 +410,7 @@ These functions create new file objects. (See also :func:`open`.)
Return an open file object connected to the file descriptor *fd*. The *mode*
and *bufsize* arguments have the same meaning as the corresponding arguments to
- the built-in :func:`open` function. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ the built-in :func:`open` function.
When specified, the *mode* argument must start with one of the letters
``'r'``, ``'w'``, or ``'a'``, otherwise a :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
@@ -371,6 +419,8 @@ These functions create new file objects. (See also :func:`open`.)
set on the file descriptor (which the :cfunc:`fdopen` implementation already
does on most platforms).
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. _os-fd-ops:
@@ -389,7 +439,9 @@ by file descriptors.
.. function:: close(fd)
- Close file descriptor *fd*. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ Close file descriptor *fd*.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -402,7 +454,7 @@ by file descriptors.
.. function:: closerange(fd_low, fd_high)
Close all file descriptors from *fd_low* (inclusive) to *fd_high* (exclusive),
- ignoring errors. Availability: Unix, Windows. Equivalent to::
+ ignoring errors. Equivalent to::
for fd in range(fd_low, fd_high):
try:
@@ -410,6 +462,8 @@ by file descriptors.
except OSError:
pass
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. function:: device_encoding(fd)
@@ -419,33 +473,40 @@ by file descriptors.
.. function:: dup(fd)
- Return a duplicate of file descriptor *fd*. Availability: Unix,
- Windows.
+ Return a duplicate of file descriptor *fd*.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: dup2(fd, fd2)
Duplicate file descriptor *fd* to *fd2*, closing the latter first if necessary.
+
Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: fchmod(fd, mode)
Change the mode of the file given by *fd* to the numeric *mode*. See the docs
- for :func:`chmod` for possible values of *mode*. Availability: Unix.
+ for :func:`chmod` for possible values of *mode*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: fchown(fd, uid, gid)
Change the owner and group id of the file given by *fd* to the numeric *uid*
and *gid*. To leave one of the ids unchanged, set it to -1.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: fdatasync(fd)
Force write of file with filedescriptor *fd* to disk. Does not force update of
- metadata. Availability: Unix.
+ metadata.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. note::
This function is not available on MacOS.
@@ -460,24 +521,28 @@ by file descriptors.
additional names as well. The names known to the host operating system are
given in the ``pathconf_names`` dictionary. For configuration variables not
included in that mapping, passing an integer for *name* is also accepted.
- Availability: Unix.
If *name* is a string and is not known, :exc:`ValueError` is raised. If a
specific value for *name* is not supported by the host system, even if it is
included in ``pathconf_names``, an :exc:`OSError` is raised with
:const:`errno.EINVAL` for the error number.
+ Availability: Unix.
+
.. function:: fstat(fd)
- Return status for file descriptor *fd*, like :func:`stat`. Availability:
- Unix, Windows.
+ Return status for file descriptor *fd*, like :func:`stat`.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: fstatvfs(fd)
Return information about the filesystem containing the file associated with file
- descriptor *fd*, like :func:`statvfs`. Availability: Unix.
+ descriptor *fd*, like :func:`statvfs`.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: fsync(fd)
@@ -487,19 +552,25 @@ by file descriptors.
If you're starting with a Python file object *f*, first do ``f.flush()``, and
then do ``os.fsync(f.fileno())``, to ensure that all internal buffers associated
- with *f* are written to disk. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ with *f* are written to disk.
+
+ Availability: Unix, and Windows.
.. function:: ftruncate(fd, length)
Truncate the file corresponding to file descriptor *fd*, so that it is at most
- *length* bytes in size. Availability: Unix.
+ *length* bytes in size.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: isatty(fd)
Return ``True`` if the file descriptor *fd* is open and connected to a
- tty(-like) device, else ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ tty(-like) device, else ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: lseek(fd, pos, how)
@@ -508,7 +579,9 @@ by file descriptors.
by *how*: :const:`SEEK_SET` or ``0`` to set the position relative to the
beginning of the file; :const:`SEEK_CUR` or ``1`` to set it relative to the
current position; :const:`os.SEEK_END` or ``2`` to set it relative to the end of
- the file. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ the file.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: open(file, flags[, mode])
@@ -516,17 +589,19 @@ by file descriptors.
Open the file *file* and set various flags according to *flags* and possibly
its mode according to *mode*. The default *mode* is ``0o777`` (octal), and
the current umask value is first masked out. Return the file descriptor for
- the newly opened file. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ the newly opened file.
For a description of the flag and mode values, see the C run-time documentation;
flag constants (like :const:`O_RDONLY` and :const:`O_WRONLY`) are defined in
this module too (see below).
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. note::
This function is intended for low-level I/O. For normal usage, use the
built-in function :func:`open`, which returns a "file object" with
- :meth:`~file.read` and :meth:`~file.write` methods (and many more). To
+ :meth:`~file.read` and :meth:`~file.wprite` methods (and many more). To
wrap a file descriptor in a "file object", use :func:`fdopen`.
@@ -536,21 +611,26 @@ by file descriptors.
Open a new pseudo-terminal pair. Return a pair of file descriptors ``(master,
slave)`` for the pty and the tty, respectively. For a (slightly) more portable
- approach, use the :mod:`pty` module. Availability: some flavors of
- Unix.
+ approach, use the :mod:`pty` module.
+
+ Availability: some flavors of Unix.
.. function:: pipe()
Create a pipe. Return a pair of file descriptors ``(r, w)`` usable for reading
- and writing, respectively. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ and writing, respectively.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: read(fd, n)
Read at most *n* bytes from file descriptor *fd*. Return a bytestring containing the
bytes read. If the end of the file referred to by *fd* has been reached, an
- empty bytes object is returned. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ empty bytes object is returned.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -564,26 +644,34 @@ by file descriptors.
.. function:: tcgetpgrp(fd)
Return the process group associated with the terminal given by *fd* (an open
- file descriptor as returned by :func:`os.open`). Availability: Unix.
+ file descriptor as returned by :func:`os.open`).
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: tcsetpgrp(fd, pg)
Set the process group associated with the terminal given by *fd* (an open file
- descriptor as returned by :func:`os.open`) to *pg*. Availability: Unix.
+ descriptor as returned by :func:`os.open`) to *pg*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: ttyname(fd)
Return a string which specifies the terminal device associated with
file descriptor *fd*. If *fd* is not associated with a terminal device, an
- exception is raised. Availability: Unix.
+ exception is raised.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: write(fd, str)
Write the bytestring in *str* to file descriptor *fd*. Return the number of
- bytes actually written. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ bytes actually written.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -666,7 +754,9 @@ Files and Directories
can be the inclusive OR of one or more of :const:`R_OK`, :const:`W_OK`, and
:const:`X_OK` to test permissions. Return :const:`True` if access is allowed,
:const:`False` if not. See the Unix man page :manpage:`access(2)` for more
- information. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ information.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -710,25 +800,31 @@ Files and Directories
.. index:: single: directory; changing
- Change the current working directory to *path*. Availability: Unix,
- Windows.
+ Change the current working directory to *path*.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: fchdir(fd)
Change the current working directory to the directory represented by the file
descriptor *fd*. The descriptor must refer to an opened directory, not an open
- file. Availability: Unix.
+ file.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getcwd()
Return a string representing the current working directory.
+
Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. function:: getcwdb()
Return a bytestring representing the current working directory.
+
Availability: Unix, Windows.
@@ -796,32 +892,41 @@ Files and Directories
.. function:: chown(path, uid, gid)
Change the owner and group id of *path* to the numeric *uid* and *gid*. To leave
- one of the ids unchanged, set it to -1. Availability: Unix.
+ one of the ids unchanged, set it to -1.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: lchflags(path, flags)
Set the flags of *path* to the numeric *flags*, like :func:`chflags`, but do not
- follow symbolic links. Availability: Unix.
+ follow symbolic links.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: lchmod(path, mode)
Change the mode of *path* to the numeric *mode*. If path is a symlink, this
affects the symlink rather than the target. See the docs for :func:`chmod`
- for possible values of *mode*. Availability: Unix.
+ for possible values of *mode*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: lchown(path, uid, gid)
Change the owner and group id of *path* to the numeric *uid* and *gid*. This
- function will not follow symbolic links. Availability: Unix.
+ function will not follow symbolic links.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: link(source, link_name)
- Create a hard link pointing to *source* named *link_name*. Availability:
- Unix.
+ Create a hard link pointing to *source* named *link_name*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: listdir(path)
@@ -829,11 +934,12 @@ Files and Directories
Return a list containing the names of the entries in the directory given by
*path*. The list is in arbitrary order. It does not include the special
entries ``'.'`` and ``'..'`` even if they are present in the directory.
- Availability: Unix, Windows.
This function can be called with a bytes or string argument, and returns
filenames of the same datatype.
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. function:: lstat(path)
@@ -846,7 +952,7 @@ Files and Directories
Create a FIFO (a named pipe) named *path* with numeric mode *mode*. The
default *mode* is ``0o666`` (octal). The current umask value is first masked
- out from the mode. Availability: Unix.
+ out from the mode.
FIFOs are pipes that can be accessed like regular files. FIFOs exist until they
are deleted (for example with :func:`os.unlink`). Generally, FIFOs are used as
@@ -854,6 +960,8 @@ Files and Directories
FIFO for reading, and the client opens it for writing. Note that :func:`mkfifo`
doesn't open the FIFO --- it just creates the rendezvous point.
+ Availability: Unix.
+
.. function:: mknod(filename[, mode=0o600, device])
@@ -888,11 +996,13 @@ Files and Directories
Create a directory named *path* with numeric mode *mode*. The default *mode*
is ``0o777`` (octal). On some systems, *mode* is ignored. Where it is used,
- the current umask value is first masked out. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ the current umask value is first masked out.
It is also possible to create temporary directories; see the
:mod:`tempfile` module's :func:`tempfile.mkdtemp` function.
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. function:: makedirs(path[, mode])
@@ -923,13 +1033,14 @@ Files and Directories
additional names as well. The names known to the host operating system are
given in the ``pathconf_names`` dictionary. For configuration variables not
included in that mapping, passing an integer for *name* is also accepted.
- Availability: Unix.
If *name* is a string and is not known, :exc:`ValueError` is raised. If a
specific value for *name* is not supported by the host system, even if it is
included in ``pathconf_names``, an :exc:`OSError` is raised with
:const:`errno.EINVAL` for the error number.
+ Availability: Unix.
+
.. data:: pathconf_names
@@ -960,8 +1071,9 @@ Files and Directories
the :func:`unlink` function documented below. On Windows, attempting to
remove a file that is in use causes an exception to be raised; on Unix, the
directory entry is removed but the storage allocated to the file is not made
- available until the original file is no longer in use. Availability: Unix,
- Windows.
+ available until the original file is no longer in use.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: removedirs(path)
@@ -987,7 +1099,9 @@ Files and Directories
the renaming will be an atomic operation (this is a POSIX requirement). On
Windows, if *dst* already exists, :exc:`OSError` will be raised even if it is a
file; there may be no way to implement an atomic rename when *dst* names an
- existing file. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ existing file.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: renames(old, new)
@@ -1007,8 +1121,9 @@ Files and Directories
Remove (delete) the directory *path*. Only works when the directory is
empty, otherwise, :exc:`OSError` is raised. In order to remove whole
- directory trees, :func:`shutil.rmtree` can be used. Availability: Unix,
- Windows.
+ directory trees, :func:`shutil.rmtree` can be used.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: stat(path)
@@ -1099,20 +1214,25 @@ Files and Directories
correspond to the members of the :ctype:`statvfs` structure, namely:
:attr:`f_bsize`, :attr:`f_frsize`, :attr:`f_blocks`, :attr:`f_bfree`,
:attr:`f_bavail`, :attr:`f_files`, :attr:`f_ffree`, :attr:`f_favail`,
- :attr:`f_flag`, :attr:`f_namemax`. Availability: Unix.
+ :attr:`f_flag`, :attr:`f_namemax`.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: symlink(source, link_name)
- Create a symbolic link pointing to *source* named *link_name*. Availability:
- Unix.
+ Create a symbolic link pointing to *source* named *link_name*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: unlink(path)
Remove (delete) the file *path*. This is the same function as
:func:`remove`; the :func:`unlink` name is its traditional Unix
- name. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ name.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. function:: utime(path, times)
@@ -1236,6 +1356,7 @@ to be ignored.
behavior is to produce a core dump; on Windows, the process immediately returns
an exit code of ``3``. Be aware that programs which use :func:`signal.signal`
to register a handler for :const:`SIGABRT` will behave differently.
+
Availability: Unix, Windows.
@@ -1291,7 +1412,9 @@ to be ignored.
.. function:: _exit(n)
Exit to the system with status *n*, without calling cleanup handlers, flushing
- stdio buffers, etc. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ stdio buffers, etc.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. note::
@@ -1311,69 +1434,88 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
.. data:: EX_OK
- Exit code that means no error occurred. Availability: Unix.
+ Exit code that means no error occurred.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_USAGE
Exit code that means the command was used incorrectly, such as when the wrong
- number of arguments are given. Availability: Unix.
+ number of arguments are given.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_DATAERR
- Exit code that means the input data was incorrect. Availability: Unix.
+ Exit code that means the input data was incorrect.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_NOINPUT
Exit code that means an input file did not exist or was not readable.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_NOUSER
- Exit code that means a specified user did not exist. Availability: Unix.
+ Exit code that means a specified user did not exist.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_NOHOST
- Exit code that means a specified host did not exist. Availability: Unix.
+ Exit code that means a specified host did not exist.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_UNAVAILABLE
- Exit code that means that a required service is unavailable. Availability:
- Unix.
+ Exit code that means that a required service is unavailable.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_SOFTWARE
- Exit code that means an internal software error was detected. Availability:
- Unix.
+ Exit code that means an internal software error was detected.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_OSERR
Exit code that means an operating system error was detected, such as the
- inability to fork or create a pipe. Availability: Unix.
+ inability to fork or create a pipe.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_OSFILE
Exit code that means some system file did not exist, could not be opened, or had
- some other kind of error. Availability: Unix.
+ some other kind of error.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_CANTCREAT
Exit code that means a user specified output file could not be created.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_IOERR
Exit code that means that an error occurred while doing I/O on some file.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -1381,31 +1523,39 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
Exit code that means a temporary failure occurred. This indicates something
that may not really be an error, such as a network connection that couldn't be
- made during a retryable operation. Availability: Unix.
+ made during a retryable operation.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_PROTOCOL
Exit code that means that a protocol exchange was illegal, invalid, or not
- understood. Availability: Unix.
+ understood.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_NOPERM
Exit code that means that there were insufficient permissions to perform the
- operation (but not intended for file system problems). Availability: Unix.
+ operation (but not intended for file system problems).
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_CONFIG
Exit code that means that some kind of configuration error occurred.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. data:: EX_NOTFOUND
- Exit code that means something like "an entry was not found". Availability:
- Unix.
+ Exit code that means something like "an entry was not found".
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: fork()
@@ -1426,6 +1576,7 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
new child's process id in the parent, and *fd* is the file descriptor of the
master end of the pseudo-terminal. For a more portable approach, use the
:mod:`pty` module. If an error occurs :exc:`OSError` is raised.
+
Availability: some flavors of Unix.
@@ -1446,19 +1597,24 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
single: process; killing
single: process; signalling
- Send the signal *sig* to the process group *pgid*. Availability: Unix.
+ Send the signal *sig* to the process group *pgid*.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: nice(increment)
Add *increment* to the process's "niceness". Return the new niceness.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: plock(op)
Lock program segments into memory. The value of *op* (defined in
- ``<sys/lock.h>``) determines which segments are locked. Availability: Unix.
+ ``<sys/lock.h>``) determines which segments are locked.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: popen(...)
@@ -1537,7 +1693,9 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
Possible values for the *mode* parameter to the :func:`spawn\*` family of
functions. If either of these values is given, the :func:`spawn\*` functions
will return as soon as the new process has been created, with the process id as
- the return value. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ the return value.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. data:: P_WAIT
@@ -1546,7 +1704,9 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
functions. If this is given as *mode*, the :func:`spawn\*` functions will not
return until the new process has run to completion and will return the exit code
of the process the run is successful, or ``-signal`` if a signal kills the
- process. Availability: Unix, Windows.
+ process.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
.. data:: P_DETACH
@@ -1557,6 +1717,7 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
is similar to :const:`P_NOWAIT`, but the new process is detached from the
console of the calling process. If :const:`P_OVERLAY` is used, the current
process will be replaced; the :func:`spawn\*` function will not return.
+
Availability: Windows.
@@ -1580,7 +1741,9 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
directory. If you want to use an absolute path, make sure the first character
is not a slash (``'/'``); the underlying Win32 :cfunc:`ShellExecute` function
doesn't work if it is. Use the :func:`os.path.normpath` function to ensure that
- the path is properly encoded for Win32. Availability: Windows.
+ the path is properly encoded for Win32.
+
+ Availability: Windows.
.. function:: system(command)
@@ -1602,22 +1765,24 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
the command run; on systems using a non-native shell, consult your shell
documentation.
- Availability: Unix, Windows.
-
The :mod:`subprocess` module provides more powerful facilities for spawning new
processes and retrieving their results; using that module is preferable to using
this function. Use the :mod:`subprocess` module. Check especially the
:ref:`subprocess-replacements` section.
+ Availability: Unix, Windows.
+
.. function:: times()
- Return a 5-tuple of floating point numbers indicating accumulated (processor or
- other) times, in seconds. The items are: user time, system time, children's
- user time, children's system time, and elapsed real time since a fixed point in
- the past, in that order. See the Unix manual page :manpage:`times(2)` or the
- corresponding Windows Platform API documentation. Availability: Unix,
- Windows. On Windows, only the first two items are filled, the others are zero.
+ Return a 5-tuple of floating point numbers indicating accumulated (processor
+ or other) times, in seconds. The items are: user time, system time,
+ children's user time, children's system time, and elapsed real time since a
+ fixed point in the past, in that order. See the Unix manual page
+ :manpage:`times(2)` or the corresponding Windows Platform API documentation.
+ On Windows, only the first two items are filled, the others are zero.
+
+ Availability: Unix, Windows
.. function:: wait()
@@ -1626,7 +1791,9 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
and exit status indication: a 16-bit number, whose low byte is the signal number
that killed the process, and whose high byte is the exit status (if the signal
number is zero); the high bit of the low byte is set if a core file was
- produced. Availability: Unix.
+ produced.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: waitpid(pid, options)
@@ -1664,6 +1831,7 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
resource usage information is returned. Refer to :mod:`resource`.\
:func:`getrusage` for details on resource usage information. The option
argument is the same as that provided to :func:`waitpid` and :func:`wait4`.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -1673,28 +1841,33 @@ written in Python, such as a mail server's external command delivery program.
process id, exit status indication, and resource usage information is returned.
Refer to :mod:`resource`.\ :func:`getrusage` for details on resource usage
information. The arguments to :func:`wait4` are the same as those provided to
- :func:`waitpid`. Availability: Unix.
+ :func:`waitpid`.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. data:: WNOHANG
The option for :func:`waitpid` to return immediately if no child process status
is available immediately. The function returns ``(0, 0)`` in this case.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. data:: WCONTINUED
This option causes child processes to be reported if they have been continued
- from a job control stop since their status was last reported. Availability: Some
- Unix systems.
+ from a job control stop since their status was last reported.
+
+ Availability: Some Unix systems.
.. data:: WUNTRACED
This option causes child processes to be reported if they have been stopped but
- their current state has not been reported since they were stopped. Availability:
- Unix.
+ their current state has not been reported since they were stopped.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
The following functions take a process status code as returned by
@@ -1704,48 +1877,63 @@ used to determine the disposition of a process.
.. function:: WCOREDUMP(status)
Return ``True`` if a core dump was generated for the process, otherwise
- return ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ return ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WIFCONTINUED(status)
Return ``True`` if the process has been continued from a job control stop,
- otherwise return ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ otherwise return ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WIFSTOPPED(status)
Return ``True`` if the process has been stopped, otherwise return
- ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WIFSIGNALED(status)
Return ``True`` if the process exited due to a signal, otherwise return
- ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WIFEXITED(status)
Return ``True`` if the process exited using the :manpage:`exit(2)` system call,
- otherwise return ``False``. Availability: Unix.
+ otherwise return ``False``.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WEXITSTATUS(status)
If ``WIFEXITED(status)`` is true, return the integer parameter to the
:manpage:`exit(2)` system call. Otherwise, the return value is meaningless.
+
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WSTOPSIG(status)
- Return the signal which caused the process to stop. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the signal which caused the process to stop.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: WTERMSIG(status)
- Return the signal which caused the process to exit. Availability: Unix.
+ Return the signal which caused the process to exit.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. _os-path:
@@ -1762,8 +1950,7 @@ Miscellaneous System Information
Unix 95, Unix 98, and others). Some platforms define additional names as well.
The names known to the host operating system are given as the keys of the
``confstr_names`` dictionary. For configuration variables not included in that
- mapping, passing an integer for *name* is also accepted. Availability:
- Unix.
+ mapping, passing an integer for *name* is also accepted.
If the configuration value specified by *name* isn't defined, ``None`` is
returned.
@@ -1773,19 +1960,25 @@ Miscellaneous System Information
included in ``confstr_names``, an :exc:`OSError` is raised with
:const:`errno.EINVAL` for the error number.
+ Availability: Unix
+
.. data:: confstr_names
Dictionary mapping names accepted by :func:`confstr` to the integer values
defined for those names by the host operating system. This can be used to
- determine the set of names known to the system. Availability: Unix.
+ determine the set of names known to the system.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: getloadavg()
Return the number of processes in the system run queue averaged over the last
1, 5, and 15 minutes or raises :exc:`OSError` if the load average was
- unobtainable. Availability: Unix.
+ unobtainable.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
.. function:: sysconf(name)
@@ -1794,6 +1987,7 @@ Miscellaneous System Information
specified by *name* isn't defined, ``-1`` is returned. The comments regarding
the *name* parameter for :func:`confstr` apply here as well; the dictionary that
provides information on the known names is given by ``sysconf_names``.
+
Availability: Unix.
@@ -1801,7 +1995,9 @@ Miscellaneous System Information
Dictionary mapping names accepted by :func:`sysconf` to the integer values
defined for those names by the host operating system. This can be used to
- determine the set of names known to the system. Availability: Unix.
+ determine the set of names known to the system.
+
+ Availability: Unix.
The following data values are used to support path manipulation operations. These
are defined for all platforms.