symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/zlib.rst
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     2 :mod:`zlib` --- Compression compatible with :program:`gzip`
       
     3 ===========================================================
       
     4 
       
     5 .. module:: zlib
       
     6    :synopsis: Low-level interface to compression and decompression routines compatible with
       
     7               gzip.
       
     8 
       
     9 
       
    10 For applications that require data compression, the functions in this module
       
    11 allow compression and decompression, using the zlib library. The zlib library
       
    12 has its own home page at http://www.zlib.net.   There are known
       
    13 incompatibilities between the Python module and versions of the zlib library
       
    14 earlier than 1.1.3; 1.1.3 has a security vulnerability, so we recommend using
       
    15 1.1.4 or later.
       
    16 
       
    17 zlib's functions have many options and often need to be used in a particular
       
    18 order.  This documentation doesn't attempt to cover all of the permutations;
       
    19 consult the zlib manual at http://www.zlib.net/manual.html for authoritative
       
    20 information.
       
    21 
       
    22 For reading and writing ``.gz`` files see the :mod:`gzip` module. For
       
    23 other archive formats, see the :mod:`bz2`, :mod:`zipfile`, and
       
    24 :mod:`tarfile` modules.
       
    25 
       
    26 The available exception and functions in this module are:
       
    27 
       
    28 
       
    29 .. exception:: error
       
    30 
       
    31    Exception raised on compression and decompression errors.
       
    32 
       
    33 
       
    34 .. function:: adler32(string[, value])
       
    35 
       
    36    Computes a Adler-32 checksum of *string*.  (An Adler-32 checksum is almost as
       
    37    reliable as a CRC32 but can be computed much more quickly.)  If *value* is
       
    38    present, it is used as the starting value of the checksum; otherwise, a fixed
       
    39    default value is used.  This allows computing a running checksum over the
       
    40    concatenation of several input strings.  The algorithm is not cryptographically
       
    41    strong, and should not be used for authentication or digital signatures.  Since
       
    42    the algorithm is designed for use as a checksum algorithm, it is not suitable
       
    43    for use as a general hash algorithm.
       
    44 
       
    45    This function always returns an integer object.
       
    46 
       
    47    .. versionchanged:: 2.6
       
    48      For consistent cross-platform behavior we always return a signed integer.
       
    49      ie: Results in the (2**31)...(2**32-1) range will be negative.
       
    50 
       
    51 
       
    52 .. function:: compress(string[, level])
       
    53 
       
    54    Compresses the data in *string*, returning a string contained compressed data.
       
    55    *level* is an integer from ``1`` to ``9`` controlling the level of compression;
       
    56    ``1`` is fastest and produces the least compression, ``9`` is slowest and
       
    57    produces the most.  The default value is ``6``.  Raises the :exc:`error`
       
    58    exception if any error occurs.
       
    59 
       
    60 
       
    61 .. function:: compressobj([level])
       
    62 
       
    63    Returns a compression object, to be used for compressing data streams that won't
       
    64    fit into memory at once.  *level* is an integer from ``1`` to ``9`` controlling
       
    65    the level of compression; ``1`` is fastest and produces the least compression,
       
    66    ``9`` is slowest and produces the most.  The default value is ``6``.
       
    67 
       
    68 
       
    69 .. function:: crc32(string[, value])
       
    70 
       
    71    .. index::
       
    72       single: Cyclic Redundancy Check
       
    73       single: checksum; Cyclic Redundancy Check
       
    74 
       
    75    Computes a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)  checksum of *string*. If *value* is
       
    76    present, it is used as the starting value of the checksum; otherwise, a fixed
       
    77    default value is used.  This allows computing a running checksum over the
       
    78    concatenation of several input strings.  The algorithm is not cryptographically
       
    79    strong, and should not be used for authentication or digital signatures.  Since
       
    80    the algorithm is designed for use as a checksum algorithm, it is not suitable
       
    81    for use as a general hash algorithm.
       
    82 
       
    83    This function always returns an integer object.
       
    84 
       
    85    .. versionchanged:: 2.6
       
    86      For consistent cross-platform behavior we always return a signed integer.
       
    87      ie: Results in the (2**31)...(2**32-1) range will be negative.
       
    88 
       
    89 
       
    90 .. function:: decompress(string[, wbits[, bufsize]])
       
    91 
       
    92    Decompresses the data in *string*, returning a string containing the
       
    93    uncompressed data.  The *wbits* parameter controls the size of the window
       
    94    buffer.  If *bufsize* is given, it is used as the initial size of the output
       
    95    buffer.  Raises the :exc:`error` exception if any error occurs.
       
    96 
       
    97    The absolute value of *wbits* is the base two logarithm of the size of the
       
    98    history buffer (the "window size") used when compressing data.  Its absolute
       
    99    value should be between 8 and 15 for the most recent versions of the zlib
       
   100    library, larger values resulting in better compression at the expense of greater
       
   101    memory usage.  The default value is 15.  When *wbits* is negative, the standard
       
   102    :program:`gzip` header is suppressed; this is an undocumented feature of the
       
   103    zlib library, used for compatibility with :program:`unzip`'s compression file
       
   104    format.
       
   105 
       
   106    *bufsize* is the initial size of the buffer used to hold decompressed data.  If
       
   107    more space is required, the buffer size will be increased as needed, so you
       
   108    don't have to get this value exactly right; tuning it will only save a few calls
       
   109    to :cfunc:`malloc`.  The default size is 16384.
       
   110 
       
   111 
       
   112 .. function:: decompressobj([wbits])
       
   113 
       
   114    Returns a decompression object, to be used for decompressing data streams that
       
   115    won't fit into memory at once.  The *wbits* parameter controls the size of the
       
   116    window buffer.
       
   117 
       
   118 Compression objects support the following methods:
       
   119 
       
   120 
       
   121 .. method:: Compress.compress(string)
       
   122 
       
   123    Compress *string*, returning a string containing compressed data for at least
       
   124    part of the data in *string*.  This data should be concatenated to the output
       
   125    produced by any preceding calls to the :meth:`compress` method.  Some input may
       
   126    be kept in internal buffers for later processing.
       
   127 
       
   128 
       
   129 .. method:: Compress.flush([mode])
       
   130 
       
   131    All pending input is processed, and a string containing the remaining compressed
       
   132    output is returned.  *mode* can be selected from the constants
       
   133    :const:`Z_SYNC_FLUSH`,  :const:`Z_FULL_FLUSH`,  or  :const:`Z_FINISH`,
       
   134    defaulting to :const:`Z_FINISH`.  :const:`Z_SYNC_FLUSH` and
       
   135    :const:`Z_FULL_FLUSH` allow compressing further strings of data, while
       
   136    :const:`Z_FINISH` finishes the compressed stream and  prevents compressing any
       
   137    more data.  After calling :meth:`flush` with *mode* set to :const:`Z_FINISH`,
       
   138    the :meth:`compress` method cannot be called again; the only realistic action is
       
   139    to delete the object.
       
   140 
       
   141 
       
   142 .. method:: Compress.copy()
       
   143 
       
   144    Returns a copy of the compression object.  This can be used to efficiently
       
   145    compress a set of data that share a common initial prefix.
       
   146 
       
   147    .. versionadded:: 2.5
       
   148 
       
   149 Decompression objects support the following methods, and two attributes:
       
   150 
       
   151 
       
   152 .. attribute:: Decompress.unused_data
       
   153 
       
   154    A string which contains any bytes past the end of the compressed data. That is,
       
   155    this remains ``""`` until the last byte that contains compression data is
       
   156    available.  If the whole string turned out to contain compressed data, this is
       
   157    ``""``, the empty string.
       
   158 
       
   159    The only way to determine where a string of compressed data ends is by actually
       
   160    decompressing it.  This means that when compressed data is contained part of a
       
   161    larger file, you can only find the end of it by reading data and feeding it
       
   162    followed by some non-empty string into a decompression object's
       
   163    :meth:`decompress` method until the :attr:`unused_data` attribute is no longer
       
   164    the empty string.
       
   165 
       
   166 
       
   167 .. attribute:: Decompress.unconsumed_tail
       
   168 
       
   169    A string that contains any data that was not consumed by the last
       
   170    :meth:`decompress` call because it exceeded the limit for the uncompressed data
       
   171    buffer.  This data has not yet been seen by the zlib machinery, so you must feed
       
   172    it (possibly with further data concatenated to it) back to a subsequent
       
   173    :meth:`decompress` method call in order to get correct output.
       
   174 
       
   175 
       
   176 .. method:: Decompress.decompress(string[, max_length])
       
   177 
       
   178    Decompress *string*, returning a string containing the uncompressed data
       
   179    corresponding to at least part of the data in *string*.  This data should be
       
   180    concatenated to the output produced by any preceding calls to the
       
   181    :meth:`decompress` method.  Some of the input data may be preserved in internal
       
   182    buffers for later processing.
       
   183 
       
   184    If the optional parameter *max_length* is supplied then the return value will be
       
   185    no longer than *max_length*. This may mean that not all of the compressed input
       
   186    can be processed; and unconsumed data will be stored in the attribute
       
   187    :attr:`unconsumed_tail`. This string must be passed to a subsequent call to
       
   188    :meth:`decompress` if decompression is to continue.  If *max_length* is not
       
   189    supplied then the whole input is decompressed, and :attr:`unconsumed_tail` is an
       
   190    empty string.
       
   191 
       
   192 
       
   193 .. method:: Decompress.flush([length])
       
   194 
       
   195    All pending input is processed, and a string containing the remaining
       
   196    uncompressed output is returned.  After calling :meth:`flush`, the
       
   197    :meth:`decompress` method cannot be called again; the only realistic action is
       
   198    to delete the object.
       
   199 
       
   200    The optional parameter *length* sets the initial size of the output buffer.
       
   201 
       
   202 
       
   203 .. method:: Decompress.copy()
       
   204 
       
   205    Returns a copy of the decompression object.  This can be used to save the state
       
   206    of the decompressor midway through the data stream in order to speed up random
       
   207    seeks into the stream at a future point.
       
   208 
       
   209    .. versionadded:: 2.5
       
   210 
       
   211 
       
   212 .. seealso::
       
   213 
       
   214    Module :mod:`gzip`
       
   215       Reading and writing :program:`gzip`\ -format files.
       
   216 
       
   217    http://www.zlib.net
       
   218       The zlib library home page.
       
   219 
       
   220    http://www.zlib.net/manual.html
       
   221       The zlib manual explains  the semantics and usage of the library's many
       
   222       functions.
       
   223