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Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex | 25 |
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex b/Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex index 4cf4cb2..d82d655 100644 --- a/Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex +++ b/Doc/lib/libgdbm.tex @@ -2,29 +2,28 @@ \label{module-gdbm} \bimodindex{gdbm} -This module is quite similar to the \code{dbm} module, but uses {\sc gdbm} +This module is quite similar to the \code{dbm} module, but uses \code{gdbm} instead to provide some additional functionality. Please note that -the file formats created by {\sc gdbm} and dbm are incompatible. +the file formats created by \code{gdbm} and \code{dbm} are incompatible. \bimodindex{dbm} The \code{gdbm} module provides an interface to the GNU DBM -library. {\sc gdbm} objects behave like mappings +library. \code{gdbm} objects behave like mappings (dictionaries), except that keys and values are always strings. -Printing a {\sc gdbm} object doesn't print the keys and values, and the +Printing a \code{gdbm} object doesn't print the keys and values, and the \code{items()} and \code{values()} methods are not supported. The module defines the following constant and functions: -\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module dbm)} +\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module gdbm)} \begin{excdesc}{error} -Raised on dbm-specific errors, such as I/O errors. \code{KeyError} is +Raised on \code{gdbm}-specific errors, such as I/O errors. \code{KeyError} is raised for general mapping errors like specifying an incorrect key. \end{excdesc} \begin{funcdesc}{open}{filename\, \optional{flag\, \optional{mode}}} -Open a dbm database and return a dbm object. The \var{filename} -argument is the name of the database file (without the \file{.dir} or -\file{.pag} extensions). +Open a \code{gdbm} database and return a \code{gdbm} object. The +\var{filename} argument is the name of the database file. The optional \var{flag} argument can be \code{'r'} (to open an existing database for reading only --- default), @@ -44,12 +43,12 @@ only when the database has to be created. It defaults to octal \code{0666}. \end{funcdesc} -In addition to the dictionary-like methods, {\sc gdbm} objects have the +In addition to the dictionary-like methods, \code{gdbm} objects have the following methods: \begin{funcdesc}{firstkey}{} It's possible to loop over every key in the database using this method -and the \code{nextkey()} method. The traversal is ordered by {\sc gdbm}'s +and the \code{nextkey()} method. The traversal is ordered by \code{gdbm}'s internal hash values, and won't be sorted by the key values. This method returns the starting key. \end{funcdesc} @@ -68,8 +67,8 @@ while k!=None: \begin{funcdesc}{reorganize}{} If you have carried out a lot of deletions and would like to shrink -the space used by the {\sc gdbm} file, this routine will reorganize the -database. {\sc gdbm} will not shorten the length of a database file except +the space used by the \code{gdbm} file, this routine will reorganize the +database. \code{gdbm} will not shorten the length of a database file except by using this reorganization; otherwise, deleted file space will be kept and reused as new (key,value) pairs are added. \end{funcdesc} |