The
attributes of the sys module are bound to data and
functions that provide information on the state of the Python
interpreter or that affect the interpreter directly. This section
documents the most frequently used attributes of
sys, in alphabetical order.
The list of command-line arguments passed to the main script.
argv[0] is the name or full path of the main
script, or '-c' if the -c
option was used. See Section 8.4 later in this chapter for a good way to use
sys.argv.
In interactive sessions, the Python interpreter calls
displayhook, passing it the result of each
expression-statement entered. The default
displayhook does nothing if
value is None,
otherwise it preserves and displays value:
if value is not None:
_ _builtin_ _._ = value
print repr(value)
You can rebind sys.displayhook in order to change
interactive behavior. The original value is available as
sys._ _displayhook_
_.
excepthook(type,value,traceback)
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When an exception is not caught by any handler, Python calls
excepthook, passing it the exception class,
exception object, and traceback object, as covered in Chapter 6. The default excepthook
displays the error and traceback. You can rebind
sys.excepthook to change what is displayed for
uncaught exceptions (just before Python returns to the interactive
loop or terminates). The original value is also available as
sys._ _excepthook_ _.
If the current thread is handling an exception,
exc_info returns a tuple whose three items are the
class, object, and traceback for the exception. If the current thread
is not handling any exception, exc_info returns
(None,None,None). A traceback object indirectly
holds references to all variables of all functions that propagated
the exception. Thus, if you hold a reference to the traceback object
(for example, indirectly, by binding a variable to the whole tuple
that exc_info returns), Python has to retain in
memory data that might otherwise be garbage-collected. So you should
make sure that any binding to the traceback object is of short
duration. To ensure that the binding gets removed, you can use a
try/finally statement
(discussed in Chapter 6).
Raises a SystemExit exception, which normally
terminates execution after executing cleanup handlers installed by
try/finally statements. If
arg is an integer, Python uses
arg as the program's exit
code: 0 indicates successful termination, while
any other value indicates unsuccessful termination of the program.
Most platforms require exit codes to be between 0
and 127. If arg is not
an integer, Python prints arg to
sys.stderr, and the exit code of the program is
1 (i.e., a generic unsuccessful termination code).
Returns the name of the default codec used to encode and decode
Unicode and string objects (normally 'ascii').
Unicode, codecs, encoding, and decoding are covered in Chapter 9.
Returns the reference count of object.
Reference counts are covered in Section 13.4.
Returns the current limit on the depth of Python's
call stack. See also Section 4.10.9 and
setrecursionlimit in this section.
Returns a frame object from the call stack. When
depth is 0, the result
is the frame of _getframe's
caller. When depth is
1, the result is the frame of the
caller's caller, and so forth. The leading
_ in
_getframe's name is a reminder
that it's a private system function, to be used for
internal specialized purposes. Chapter 17 covers
ways in which you can use frame objects for debugging.
The largest integer in this version of Python (at least
2147483647). Negative integers can go down to
-maxint-1, due to 2's complement
notation.
A dictionary whose items are the names and module objects for all
loaded modules. See Chapter 7 for more information
on sys.modules.
A list of strings that specifies the directories that Python searches
when looking for a module to load. See Chapter 7
for more information on sys.path.
A string that names the platform on which this program is running.
Typical values are brief operating system names, such as
'sunos5', 'linux2', and
'win32'.
ps1 and ps2 specify the primary
and secondary interpreter prompt strings, initially
'>>> ' and
'... ', respectively. These
attributes exist only in interactive interpreter sessions. If you
bind either attribute to a non-string object, Python prompts by
calling str( ) on the object each time a prompt is
output. This feature lets you create dynamic prompting by coding a
class that defines _ _str_ _ and assigning an
instance of that class to sys.ps1 and/or
sys.ps2.
Sets the default codec used to encode and decode Unicode and string
objects (normally 'ascii').
setdefaultencoding is meant to be called only from
sitecustomize.py during startup; the
site module removes this attribute from
sys. You can call reload(sys)
to make this attribute available again, but this is not considered
good programming practice. Unicode, codecs, encoding, and decoding
are covered in Chapter 9. The
site and sitecustomize modules
are covered in Chapter 13.
Sets a global profile function, a callable object that Python then
calls at each function entry and return. Profiling is covered in
Chapter 17.
Sets the limit on the depth of Python's call stack
(the default is 1000). The limit prevents runaway
recursion from crashing Python. Raising the limit may be necessary
for programs that rely on deep recursion, but most platforms cannot
support very large limits on call-stack depth. Lowering the limit may
help you check, during debugging, that your program is gracefully
degrading under situations of almost-runaway recursion. See also
Section 4.10.9.
Sets a global trace function, a callable object that Python then
calls as each logical source line executes. Chapter 17 covers tracing.
stdin
,
stdout, and stderr are
predefined file objects that correspond to Python's
standard input, output, and error streams. You can rebind
stdout and stderr to file-like
objects (objects that supply a write method
accepting a string argument) to redirect the destination of output
and error messages. You can rebind stdin to a
file-like object open for reading (one that supplies a
readline method returning a string) to redirect
the source from which built-in functions raw_input
and input read. The original values are available
as _ _stdin_ _, _ _stdout_ _,
and _ _stderr_ _. Chapter 10
covers file objects and streams.
The maximum number of levels of traceback displayed for unhandled
exceptions. By default, this attribute is not set (i.e., there is no
limit). When sys.tracebacklimit is less than or
equal to 0, traceback information is suppressed
and only the exception type and value are printed.
A string that describes the Python version, build number and date,
and C compiler used. version[:3] is
'2.1' for Python 2.1, '2.2' for
2.2, and so on.