Doc/libtypes2.tex

   1 \section{Built-in module \sectcode{types}}
   2 \stmodindex{types}
   3
   4 \renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module types)}
   5
   6 This module defines names for all object types that are used by the
   7 standard Python interpreter (but not for the types defined by various
   8 extension modules).  It is safe to use ``\code{from types import *}'' ---
   9 the module does not export any other names besides the ones listed
  10 here.  New names exported by future versions of this module will
  11 all end in \code{Type}.
  12
  13 Typical use is for functions that do different things depending on
  14 their argument types, like the following:
  15
  16 \begin{verbatim}
  17 from types import *
  18 def delete(list, item):
  19     if type(item) is IntType:
  20        del list[item]
  21     else:
  22        list.remove(item)
  23 \end{verbatim}
  24
  25 The module defines the following names:
  26
  27 \begin{datadesc}{NoneType}
  28 The type of \code{None}.
  29 \end{datadesc}
  30
  31 \begin{datadesc}{TypeType}
  32 The type of type objects (such as returned by \code{type()}).
  33 \end{datadesc}
  34
  35 \begin{datadesc}{IntType}
  36 The type of integers (e.g. \code{1}).
  37 \end{datadesc}
  38
  39 \begin{datadesc}{LongType}
  40 The type of long integers (e.g. \code{1L}).
  41 \end{datadesc}
  42
  43 \begin{datadesc}{FloatType}
  44 The type of floating point numbers (e.g. \code{1.0}).
  45 \end{datadesc}
  46
  47 \begin{datadesc}{StringType}
  48 The type of character strings (e.g. \code{'Spam'}).
  49 \end{datadesc}
  50
  51 \begin{datadesc}{TupleType}
  52 The type of tuples (e.g. \code{(1, 2, 3, 'Spam')}).
  53 \end{datadesc}
  54
  55 \begin{datadesc}{ListType}
  56 The type of lists (e.g. \code{[0, 1, 2, 3]}).
  57 \end{datadesc}
  58
  59 \begin{datadesc}{DictType}
  60 The type of dictionaries (e.g. \code{\{'Bacon': 1, 'Ham': 0\}}).
  61 \end{datadesc}
  62
  63 \begin{datadesc}{DictionaryType}
  64 An alternative name for \code{DictType}.
  65 \end{datadesc}
  66
  67 \begin{datadesc}{FunctionType}
  68 The type of user-defined functions and lambdas.
  69 \end{datadesc}
  70
  71 \begin{datadesc}{LambdaType}
  72         An alternative name for \code{FunctionType}.
  73 \end{datadesc}
  74
  75 \begin{datadesc}{CodeType}
  76 The type for code objects such as returned by \code{compile()}.
  77 \end{datadesc}
  78
  79 \begin{datadesc}{ClassType}
  80 The type of user-defined classes.
  81 \end{datadesc}
  82
  83 \begin{datadesc}{InstanceType}
  84 The type of instances of user-defined classes.
  85 \end{datadesc}
  86
  87 \begin{datadesc}{MethodType}
  88 The type of methods of user-defined class instances.
  89 \end{datadesc}
  90
  91 \begin{datadesc}{UnboundMethodType}
  92 An alternative name for \code{MethodType}.
  93 \end{datadesc}
  94
  95 \begin{datadesc}{BuiltinFunctionType}
  96 The type of built-in functions like \code{len} or \code{sys.exit}.
  97 \end{datadesc}
  98
  99 \begin{datadesc}{BuiltinMethodType}
 100 An alternative name for \code{BuiltinFunction}.
 101 \end{datadesc}
 102
 103 \begin{datadesc}{ModuleType}
 104 The type of modules.
 105 \end{datadesc}
 106
 107 \begin{datadesc}{FileType}
 108 The type of open file objects such as \code{sys.stdout}.
 109 \end{datadesc}
 110
 111 \begin{datadesc}{XRangeType}
 112 The type of range objects returned by \code{xrange()}.
 113 \end{datadesc}
 114
 115 \begin{datadesc}{TracebackType}
 116 The type of traceback objects such as found in \code{sys.exc_traceback}.
 117 \end{datadesc}
 118
 119 \begin{datadesc}{FrameType}
 120 The type of frame objects such as found in \code{tb.tb_frame} if
 121 \code{tb} is a traceback object.
 122 \end{datadesc}