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<div class="section" id="module-StringIO">
<span id="stringio-read-and-write-strings-as-files"></span><h1>7.5. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> — Read and write strings as files<a class="headerlink" href="#module-StringIO" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>This module implements a file-like class, <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a>, that reads and
writes a string buffer (also known as <em>memory files</em>). See the description of
file objects for operations (section <a class="reference internal" href="stdtypes.html#bltin-file-objects"><span class="std std-ref">File Objects</span></a>). (For
standard strings, see <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#str" title="str"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">str</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#unicode" title="unicode"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">unicode</span></code></a>.)</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="StringIO.StringIO">
<em class="property">class </em><code class="descclassname">StringIO.</code><code class="descname">StringIO</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="optional">[</span><em>buffer</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>When a <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> object is created, it can be initialized to an existing
string by passing the string to the constructor. If no string is given, the
<a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> will start empty. In both cases, the initial file position
starts at zero.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> object can accept either Unicode or 8-bit strings, but
mixing the two may take some care. If both are used, 8-bit strings that cannot
be interpreted as 7-bit ASCII (that use the 8th bit) will cause a
<a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.UnicodeError" title="exceptions.UnicodeError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">UnicodeError</span></code></a> to be raised when <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO.getvalue" title="StringIO.StringIO.getvalue"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getvalue()</span></code></a> is called.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>The following methods of <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> objects require special mention:</p>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="StringIO.StringIO.getvalue">
<code class="descclassname">StringIO.</code><code class="descname">getvalue</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#StringIO.StringIO.getvalue" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Retrieve the entire contents of the “file” at any time before the
<a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> object’s <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO.close" title="StringIO.StringIO.close"><code class="xref py py-meth docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">close()</span></code></a> method is called. See the note above
for information about mixing Unicode and 8-bit strings; such mixing can cause
this method to raise <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.UnicodeError" title="exceptions.UnicodeError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">UnicodeError</span></code></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="method">
<dt id="StringIO.StringIO.close">
<code class="descclassname">StringIO.</code><code class="descname">close</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#StringIO.StringIO.close" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Free the memory buffer. Attempting to do further operations with a closed
<a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> object will raise a <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError" title="exceptions.ValueError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></code></a>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>Example usage:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">StringIO</span>
<span class="n">output</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'First line.</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="o">>></span><span class="n">output</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'Second line.'</span>
<span class="c1"># Retrieve file contents -- this will be</span>
<span class="c1"># 'First line.\nSecond line.\n'</span>
<span class="n">contents</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getvalue</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="c1"># Close object and discard memory buffer --</span>
<span class="c1"># .getvalue() will now raise an exception.</span>
<span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="module-cStringIO">
<span id="cstringio-faster-version-of-stringio"></span><h1>7.6. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-cStringIO" title="cStringIO: Faster version of StringIO, but not subclassable."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cStringIO</span></code></a> — Faster version of <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a><a class="headerlink" href="#module-cStringIO" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>The module <a class="reference internal" href="#module-cStringIO" title="cStringIO: Faster version of StringIO, but not subclassable."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cStringIO</span></code></a> provides an interface similar to that of the
<a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> module. Heavy use of <a class="reference internal" href="#StringIO.StringIO" title="StringIO.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO.StringIO</span></code></a> objects can be
made more efficient by using the function <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO()</span></code></a> from this module
instead.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="cStringIO.StringIO">
<code class="descclassname">cStringIO.</code><code class="descname">StringIO</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><span class="optional">[</span><em>s</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#cStringIO.StringIO" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Return a StringIO-like stream for reading or writing.</p>
<p>Since this is a factory function which returns objects of built-in types,
there’s no way to build your own version using subclassing. It’s not
possible to set attributes on it. Use the original <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> module in
those cases.</p>
<p>Unlike the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> module, this module is not able to accept Unicode
strings that cannot be encoded as plain ASCII strings.</p>
<p>Another difference from the <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a> module is that calling
<a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO()</span></code></a> with a string parameter creates a read-only object. Unlike an
object created without a string parameter, it does not have write methods.
These objects are not generally visible. They turn up in tracebacks as
<code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringI</span></code> and <code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringO</span></code>.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>The following data objects are provided as well:</p>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="cStringIO.InputType">
<code class="descclassname">cStringIO.</code><code class="descname">InputType</code><a class="headerlink" href="#cStringIO.InputType" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The type object of the objects created by calling <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO()</span></code></a> with a string
parameter.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="data">
<dt id="cStringIO.OutputType">
<code class="descclassname">cStringIO.</code><code class="descname">OutputType</code><a class="headerlink" href="#cStringIO.OutputType" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The type object of the objects returned by calling <a class="reference internal" href="#module-StringIO" title="StringIO: Read and write strings as if they were files."><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO()</span></code></a> with no
parameters.</p>
</dd></dl>
<p>There is a C API to the module as well; refer to the module source for more
information.</p>
<p>Example usage:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">cStringIO</span>
<span class="n">output</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">cStringIO</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'First line.</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s1">'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="o">>></span><span class="n">output</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s1">'Second line.'</span>
<span class="c1"># Retrieve file contents -- this will be</span>
<span class="c1"># 'First line.\nSecond line.\n'</span>
<span class="n">contents</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getvalue</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="c1"># Close object and discard memory buffer --</span>
<span class="c1"># .getvalue() will now raise an exception.</span>
<span class="n">output</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">7.5. <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code> — Read and write strings as files</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#module-cStringIO">7.6. <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cStringIO</span></code> — Faster version of <code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">StringIO</span></code></a></li>
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