3. Data model¶

3.2.4.1. numbers.Integral¶

These represent elements from the mathematical set of integers (positive and negative).

There are two types of integers:

Integers (int)

These represent numbers in an unlimited range, subject to available (virtual) memory only. For the purpose of shift and mask operations, a binary representation is assumed, and negative numbers are represented in a variant of 2’s complement which gives the illusion of an infinite string of sign bits extending to the left.

Booleans (bool)

These represent the truth values False and True. The two objects representing the values False and True are the only Boolean objects. The Boolean type is a subtype of the integer type, and Boolean values behave like the values 0 and 1, respectively, in almost all contexts, the exception being that when converted to a string, the strings "False" or "True" are returned, respectively.

3.2.4.2. numbers.Real (float)¶

These represent machine-level double precision floating-point numbers. You are at the mercy of the underlying machine architecture (and C or Java implementation) for the accepted range and handling of overflow. Python does not support single-precision floating-point numbers; the savings in processor and memory usage that are usually the reason for using these are dwarfed by the overhead of using objects in Python, so there is no reason to complicate the language with two kinds of floating-point numbers.

3.2.4.3. numbers.Complex (complex)¶

These represent complex numbers as a pair of machine-level double precision floating-point numbers. The same caveats apply as for floating-point numbers. The real and imaginary parts of a complex number z can be retrieved through the read-only attributes z.real and z.imag.

3.2.5.1. Immutable sequences¶

An object of an immutable sequence type cannot change once it is created. (If the object contains references to other objects, these other objects may be mutable and may be changed; however, the collection of objects directly referenced by an immutable object cannot change.)

The following types are immutable sequences:

Strings

A string is a sequence of values that represent Unicode code points. All the code points in the range U+0000 - U+10FFFF can be represented in a string. Python doesn’t have a char type; instead, every code point in the string is represented as a string object with length 1. The built-in function ord() converts a code point from its string form to an integer in the range 0 - 10FFFF; chr() converts an integer in the range 0 - 10FFFF to the corresponding length 1 string object. str.encode() can be used to convert a str to bytes using the given text encoding, and bytes.decode() can be used to achieve the opposite.

Tuples

The items of a tuple are arbitrary Python objects. Tuples of two or more items are formed by comma-separated lists of expressions. A tuple of one item (a ‘singleton’) can be formed by affixing a comma to an expression (an expression by itself does not create a tuple, since parentheses must be usable for grouping of expressions). An empty tuple can be formed by an empty pair of parentheses.

Bytes

A bytes object is an immutable array. The items are 8-bit bytes, represented by integers in the range 0 <= x < 256. Bytes literals (like b'abc') and the built-in bytes() constructor can be used to create bytes objects. Also, bytes objects can be decoded to strings via the decode() method.

3.2.5.2. Mutable sequences¶

Mutable sequences can be changed after they are created. The subscription and slicing notations can be used as the target of assignment and del (delete) statements.

There are currently two intrinsic mutable sequence types:

Lists

The items of a list are arbitrary Python objects. Lists are formed by placing a comma-separated list of expressions in square brackets. (Note that there are no special cases needed to form lists of length 0 or 1.)

Byte Arrays

A bytearray object is a mutable array. They are created by the built-in bytearray() constructor. Aside from being mutable (and hence unhashable), byte arrays otherwise provide the same interface and functionality as immutable bytes objects.

3.2.7.1. Dictionaries¶

These represent finite sets of objects indexed by nearly arbitrary values. The only types of values not acceptable as keys are values containing lists or dictionaries or other mutable types that are compared by value rather than by object identity, the reason being that the efficient implementation of dictionaries requires a key’s hash value to remain constant. Numeric types used for keys obey the normal rules for numeric comparison: if two numbers compare equal (e.g., 1 and 1.0) then they can be used interchangeably to index the same dictionary entry.

Dictionaries preserve insertion order, meaning that keys will be produced in the same order they were added sequentially over the dictionary. Replacing an existing key does not change the order, however removing a key and re-inserting it will add it to the end instead of keeping its old place.

Dictionaries are mutable; they can be created by the {} notation (see section Dictionary displays).

The extension modules dbm.ndbm and dbm.gnu provide additional examples of mapping types, as does the collections module.

3.2.8.1. User-defined functions¶

A user-defined function object is created by a function definition (see section Function definitions). It should be called with an argument list containing the same number of items as the function’s formal parameter list.

3.2.8.2. Instance methods¶

An instance method object combines a class, a class instance and any callable object (normally a user-defined function).

Special read-only attributes:

Methods also support accessing (but not setting) the arbitrary function attributes on the underlying function object.

User-defined method objects may be created when getting an attribute of a class (perhaps via an instance of that class), if that attribute is a user-defined function object or a classmethod object.

When an instance method object is created by retrieving a user-defined function object from a class via one of its instances, its __self__ attribute is the instance, and the method object is said to be bound. The new method’s __func__ attribute is the original function object.

When an instance method object is created by retrieving a classmethod object from a class or instance, its __self__ attribute is the class itself, and its __func__ attribute is the function object underlying the class method.

When an instance method object is called, the underlying function (__func__) is called, inserting the class instance (__self__) in front of the argument list. For instance, when C is a class which contains a definition for a function f(), and x is an instance of C, calling x.f(1) is equivalent to calling C.f(x, 1).

When an instance method object is derived from a classmethod object, the “class instance” stored in __self__ will actually be the class itself, so that calling either x.f(1) or C.f(1) is equivalent to calling f(C,1) where f is the underlying function.

It is important to note that user-defined functions which are attributes of a class instance are not converted to bound methods; this only happens when the function is an attribute of the class.

3.2.8.3. Generator functions¶

A function or method which uses the yield statement (see section The yield statement) is called a generator function. Such a function, when called, always returns an iterator object which can be used to execute the body of the function: calling the iterator’s iterator.__next__() method will cause the function to execute until it provides a value using the yield statement. When the function executes a return statement or falls off the end, a StopIteration exception is raised and the iterator will have reached the end of the set of values to be returned.

3.2.8.4. Coroutine functions¶

A function or method which is defined using async def is called a coroutine function. Such a function, when called, returns a coroutine object. It may contain await expressions, as well as async with and async for statements. See also the Coroutine Objects section.

3.2.8.5. Asynchronous generator functions¶

A function or method which is defined using async def and which uses the yield statement is called a asynchronous generator function. Such a function, when called, returns an asynchronous iterator object which can be used in an async for statement to execute the body of the function.

Calling the asynchronous iterator’s aiterator.__anext__ method will return an awaitable which when awaited will execute until it provides a value using the yield expression. When the function executes an empty return statement or falls off the end, a StopAsyncIteration exception is raised and the asynchronous iterator will have reached the end of the set of values to be yielded.

3.2.8.6. Built-in functions¶

A built-in function object is a wrapper around a C function. Examples of built-in functions are len() and math.sin() (math is a standard built-in module). The number and type of the arguments are determined by the C function. Special read-only attributes:

• __doc__ is the function’s documentation string, or None if unavailable. See function.__doc__.

• __name__ is the function’s name. See function.__name__.

• __self__ is set to None (but see the next item).

• __module__ is the name of the module the function was defined in or None if unavailable. See function.__module__.

3.2.8.7. Built-in methods¶

This is really a different disguise of a built-in function, this time containing an object passed to the C function as an implicit extra argument. An example of a built-in method is alist.append(), assuming alist is a list object. In this case, the special read-only attribute __self__ is set to the object denoted by alist. (The attribute has the same semantics as it does with other instance methods.)

3.2.8.8. Classes¶

Classes are callable. These objects normally act as factories for new instances of themselves, but variations are possible for class types that override __new__(). The arguments of the call are passed to __new__() and, in the typical case, to __init__() to initialize the new instance.

3.2.8.9. Class Instances¶

Instances of arbitrary classes can be made callable by defining a __call__() method in their class.

3.2.9.1. Import-related attributes on module objects¶

Module objects have the following attributes that relate to the import system. When a module is created using the machinery associated with the import system, these attributes are filled in based on the module’s spec, before the loader executes and loads the module.

To create a module dynamically rather than using the import system, it’s recommended to use importlib.util.module_from_spec(), which will set the various import-controlled attributes to appropriate values. It’s also possible to use the types.ModuleType constructor to create modules directly, but this technique is more error-prone, as most attributes must be manually set on the module object after it has been created when using this approach.

>>> import typing
>>> typing.__name__, typing.__spec__.name
('typing', 'typing')
>>> typing.__spec__.name = 'spelling'
>>> typing.__name__, typing.__spec__.name
('typing', 'spelling')
>>> typing.__name__ = 'keyboard_smashing'
>>> typing.__name__, typing.__spec__.name
('keyboard_smashing', 'spelling')

module.__name__¶

The name used to uniquely identify the module in the import system. For a directly executed module, this will be set to "__main__".

This attribute must be set to the fully qualified name of the module. It is expected to match the value of module.__spec__.name.

module.__spec__¶

A record of the module’s import-system-related state.

Set to the module spec that was used when importing the module. See Module specs for more details.

Added in version 3.4.

module.__package__¶

The package a module belongs to.

If the module is top-level (that is, not a part of any specific package) then the attribute should be set to '' (the empty string). Otherwise, it should be set to the name of the module’s package (which can be equal to module.__name__ if the module itself is a package). See PEP 366 for further details.

This attribute is used instead of __name__ to calculate explicit relative imports for main modules. It defaults to None for modules created dynamically using the types.ModuleType constructor; use importlib.util.module_from_spec() instead to ensure the attribute is set to a str.

It is strongly recommended that you use module.__spec__.parent instead of module.__package__. __package__ is now only used as a fallback if __spec__.parent is not set, and this fallback path is deprecated.

Changed in version 3.4: This attribute now defaults to None for modules created dynamically using the types.ModuleType constructor. Previously the attribute was optional.

Changed in version 3.6: The value of __package__ is expected to be the same as __spec__.parent. __package__ is now only used as a fallback during import resolution if __spec__.parent is not defined.

Changed in version 3.10: ImportWarning is raised if an import resolution falls back to __package__ instead of __spec__.parent.

Changed in version 3.12: Raise DeprecationWarning instead of ImportWarning when falling back to __package__ during import resolution.

Deprecated since version 3.13, will be removed in version 3.15: __package__ will cease to be set or taken into consideration by the import system or standard library.

module.__loader__¶

The loader object that the import machinery used to load the module.

This attribute is mostly useful for introspection, but can be used for additional loader-specific functionality, for example getting data associated with a loader.

__loader__ defaults to None for modules created dynamically using the types.ModuleType constructor; use importlib.util.module_from_spec() instead to ensure the attribute is set to a loader object.

It is strongly recommended that you use module.__spec__.loader instead of module.__loader__.

Changed in version 3.4: This attribute now defaults to None for modules created dynamically using the types.ModuleType constructor. Previously the attribute was optional.

Deprecated since version 3.12, will be removed in version 3.16: Setting __loader__ on a module while failing to set __spec__.loader is deprecated. In Python 3.16, __loader__ will cease to be set or taken into consideration by the import system or the standard library.

module.__path__¶

A (possibly empty) sequence of strings enumerating the locations where the package’s submodules will be found. Non-package modules should not have a __path__ attribute. See __path__ attributes on modules for more details.

It is strongly recommended that you use module.__spec__.submodule_search_locations instead of module.__path__.

module.__file__¶

module.__cached__¶

__file__ and __cached__ are both optional attributes that may or may not be set. Both attributes should be a str when they are available.

__file__ indicates the pathname of the file from which the module was loaded (if loaded from a file), or the pathname of the shared library file for extension modules loaded dynamically from a shared library. It might be missing for certain types of modules, such as C modules that are statically linked into the interpreter, and the import system may opt to leave it unset if it has no semantic meaning (for example, a module loaded from a database).

If __file__ is set then the __cached__ attribute might also be set, which is the path to any compiled version of the code (for example, a byte-compiled file). The file does not need to exist to set this attribute; the path can simply point to where the compiled file would exist (see PEP 3147).

Note that __cached__ may be set even if __file__ is not set. However, that scenario is quite atypical. Ultimately, the loader is what makes use of the module spec provided by the finder (from which __file__ and __cached__ are derived). So if a loader can load from a cached module but otherwise does not load from a file, that atypical scenario may be appropriate.

It is strongly recommended that you use module.__spec__.cached instead of module.__cached__.

Deprecated since version 3.13, will be removed in version 3.15: Setting __cached__ on a module while failing to set __spec__.cached is deprecated. In Python 3.15, __cached__ will cease to be set or taken into consideration by the import system or standard library.

3.2.9.2. Other writable attributes on module objects¶

As well as the import-related attributes listed above, module objects also have the following writable attributes:

module.__doc__¶

The module’s documentation string, or None if unavailable. See also: __doc__ attributes.

module.__annotations__¶

A dictionary containing variable annotations collected during module body execution. For best practices on working with __annotations__, please see Annotations Best Practices.

3.2.9.3. Module dictionaries¶

Module objects also have the following special read-only attribute:

module.__dict__¶

The module’s namespace as a dictionary object. Uniquely among the attributes listed here, __dict__ cannot be accessed as a global variable from within a module; it can only be accessed as an attribute on module objects.

CPython implementation detail: Because of the way CPython clears module dictionaries, the module dictionary will be cleared when the module falls out of scope even if the dictionary still has live references. To avoid this, copy the dictionary or keep the module around while using its dictionary directly.

3.2.10.1. Special attributes¶

3.2.10.2. Special methods¶

In addition to the special attributes described above, all Python classes also have the following two methods available:

type.mro()¶

This method can be overridden by a metaclass to customize the method resolution order for its instances. It is called at class instantiation, and its result is stored in __mro__.

type.__subclasses__()¶

Each class keeps a list of weak references to its immediate subclasses. This method returns a list of all those references still alive. The list is in definition order. Example:

>>> class A: pass
>>> class B(A): pass
>>> A.__subclasses__()
[<class 'B'>]

3.2.11.1. Special attributes¶

object.__class__¶

The class to which a class instance belongs.

object.__dict__¶

A dictionary or other mapping object used to store an object’s (writable) attributes. Not all instances have a __dict__ attribute; see the section on __slots__ for more details.

3.2.13.1. Code objects¶

Code objects represent byte-compiled executable Python code, or bytecode. The difference between a code object and a function object is that the function object contains an explicit reference to the function’s globals (the module in which it was defined), while a code object contains no context; also the default argument values are stored in the function object, not in the code object (because they represent values calculated at run-time). Unlike function objects, code objects are immutable and contain no references (directly or indirectly) to mutable objects.

3.2.13.2. Frame objects¶

Frame objects represent execution frames. They may occur in traceback objects, and are also passed to registered trace functions.

3.2.13.3. Traceback objects¶

Traceback objects represent the stack trace of an exception. A traceback object is implicitly created when an exception occurs, and may also be explicitly created by calling types.TracebackType.

For implicitly created tracebacks, when the search for an exception handler unwinds the execution stack, at each unwound level a traceback object is inserted in front of the current traceback. When an exception handler is entered, the stack trace is made available to the program. (See section The try statement.) It is accessible as the third item of the tuple returned by sys.exc_info(), and as the __traceback__ attribute of the caught exception.

When the program contains no suitable handler, the stack trace is written (nicely formatted) to the standard error stream; if the interpreter is interactive, it is also made available to the user as sys.last_traceback.

For explicitly created tracebacks, it is up to the creator of the traceback to determine how the tb_next attributes should be linked to form a full stack trace.

Special read-only attributes:

The line number and last instruction in the traceback may differ from the line number of its frame object if the exception occurred in a try statement with no matching except clause or with a finally clause.

traceback.tb_next¶

The special writable attribute tb_next is the next level in the stack trace (towards the frame where the exception occurred), or None if there is no next level.

Changed in version 3.7: This attribute is now writable

3.2.13.4. Slice objects¶

Slice objects are used to represent slices for __getitem__() methods. They are also created by the built-in slice() function.

Special read-only attributes: start is the lower bound; stop is the upper bound; step is the step value; each is None if omitted. These attributes can have any type.

Slice objects support one method:

slice.indices(self, length)¶

This method takes a single integer argument length and computes information about the slice that the slice object would describe if applied to a sequence of length items. It returns a tuple of three integers; respectively these are the start and stop indices and the step or stride length of the slice. Missing or out-of-bounds indices are handled in a manner consistent with regular slices.

3.2.13.5. Static method objects¶

Static method objects provide a way of defeating the transformation of function objects to method objects described above. A static method object is a wrapper around any other object, usually a user-defined method object. When a static method object is retrieved from a class or a class instance, the object actually returned is the wrapped object, which is not subject to any further transformation. Static method objects are also callable. Static method objects are created by the built-in staticmethod() constructor.

3.2.13.6. Class method objects¶

A class method object, like a static method object, is a wrapper around another object that alters the way in which that object is retrieved from classes and class instances. The behaviour of class method objects upon such retrieval is described above, under “instance methods”. Class method objects are created by the built-in classmethod() constructor.