.. _library-index:

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  The Python Standard Library

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:Release: |version|

:Date: |today|

While :ref:`reference-index` describes the exact syntax and

semantics of the Python language, this library reference manual

describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also

describes some of the optional components that are commonly included

in Python distributions.

Python's standard library is very extensive, offering a wide range of

facilities as indicated by the long table of contents listed below. The

library contains built-in modules (written in C) that provide access to

system functionality such as file I/O that would otherwise be

inaccessible to Python programmers, as well as modules written in Python

that provide standardized solutions for many problems that occur in

everyday programming. Some of these modules are explicitly designed to

encourage and enhance the portability of Python programs by abstracting

away platform-specifics into platform-neutral APIs.

The Python installers for the Windows platform usually includes

the entire standard library and often also include many additional

components. For Unix-like operating systems Python is normally provided

as a collection of packages, so it may be necessary to use the packaging

tools provided with the operating system to obtain some or all of the

optional components.

In addition to the standard library, there is a growing collection of

several thousand components (from individual programs and modules to

packages and entire application development frameworks), available from

the `Python Package Index <http://pypi.python.org/pypi>`_.

.. toctree::

   :maxdepth: 2

   intro.rst

   functions.rst

   constants.rst

   objects.rst

   stdtypes.rst

   exceptions.rst

   strings.rst

   datatypes.rst

   numeric.rst

   filesys.rst

   persistence.rst

   archiving.rst

   fileformats.rst

   crypto.rst

   allos.rst

   someos.rst

   ipc.rst

   netdata.rst

   markup.rst

   internet.rst

   mm.rst

   i18n.rst

   frameworks.rst

   tk.rst

   development.rst

   debug.rst

   python.rst

   custominterp.rst

   restricted.rst

   modules.rst

   language.rst

   compiler.rst

   misc.rst

   windows.rst

   unix.rst

   mac.rst

   macosa.rst

   sgi.rst

   sun.rst

   undoc.rst