The Python/C API

Release 3.12.9

Guido van Rossum and the Python development team

April 07, 2025

Python Software Foundation

Email: [email protected]
 CONTENTS

1 Introduction 3
1.1 Coding standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Include Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Useful macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Objects, Types and Reference Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.1 Reference Counts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.2 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Embedding Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 Debugging Builds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2 C API Stability 13
2.1 Unstable C API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Stable Application Binary Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.1 Limited C API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.2 Stable ABI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.3 Limited API Scope and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2.4 Limited API Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 Platform Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4 Contents of Limited API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3 The Very High Level Layer 39

4 Reference Counting 45

5 Exception Handling 49
5.1 Printing and clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.2 Raising exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.3 Issuing warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.4 Querying the error indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.5 Signal Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.6 Exception Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.7 Exception Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.8 Unicode Exception Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.9 Recursion Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.10 Standard Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.11 Standard Warning Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

6 Utilities 63
6.1 Operating System Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.2 System Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.3 Process Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.4 Importing Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.5 Data marshalling support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.6 Parsing arguments and building values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

i
 6.6.1 Parsing arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.6.2 Building values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.7 String conversion and formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.8 PyHash API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.9 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.10 Codec registry and support functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.10.1 Codec lookup API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.10.2 Registry API for Unicode encoding error handlers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.11 Support for Perf Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

7 Abstract Objects Layer 87

7.1 Object Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.2 Call Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.2.1 The tp_call Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.2.2 The Vectorcall Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.2.3 Object Calling API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7.2.4 Call Support API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.3 Number Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.4 Sequence Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
7.5 Mapping Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
7.6 Iterator Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
7.7 Buffer Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.7.1 Buffer structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
7.7.2 Buffer request types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
7.7.3 Complex arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
7.7.4 Buffer-related functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
7.8 Old Buffer Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

8 Concrete Objects Layer 113

8.1 Fundamental Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8.1.1 Type Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8.1.2 The None Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.2 Numeric Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.2.1 Integer Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.2.2 Boolean Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.2.3 Floating-Point Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.2.4 Complex Number Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
8.3 Sequence Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
8.3.1 Bytes Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
8.3.2 Byte Array Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
8.3.3 Unicode Objects and Codecs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
8.3.4 Tuple Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
8.3.5 Struct Sequence Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
8.3.6 List Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
8.4 Container Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
8.4.1 Dictionary Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
8.4.2 Set Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
8.5 Function Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
8.5.1 Function Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
8.5.2 Instance Method Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.5.3 Method Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.5.4 Cell Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.5.5 Code Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.5.6 Extra information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
8.6 Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
8.6.1 File Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
8.6.2 Module Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
8.6.3 Iterator Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

ii
 8.6.4 Descriptor Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
8.6.5 Slice Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
8.6.6 MemoryView objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
8.6.7 Weak Reference Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
8.6.8 Capsules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
8.6.9 Frame Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
8.6.10 Generator Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8.6.11 Coroutine Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
8.6.12 Context Variables Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
8.6.13 DateTime Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
8.6.14 Objects for Type Hinting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

9 Initialization, Finalization, and Threads 187

9.1 Before Python Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
9.2 Global configuration variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
9.3 Initializing and finalizing the interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
9.4 Process-wide parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
9.5 Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
9.5.1 Releasing the GIL from extension code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
9.5.2 Non-Python created threads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.5.3 Cautions about fork() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
9.5.4 High-level API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
9.5.5 Low-level API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
9.6 Sub-interpreter support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
9.6.1 A Per-Interpreter GIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
9.6.2 Bugs and caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
9.7 Asynchronous Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
9.8 Profiling and Tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
9.9 Advanced Debugger Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
9.10 Thread Local Storage Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
9.10.1 Thread Specific Storage (TSS) API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
9.10.2 Thread Local Storage (TLS) API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

10 Python Initialization Configuration 213

10.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
10.2 PyWideStringList . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.3 PyStatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
10.4 PyPreConfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
10.5 Preinitialize Python with PyPreConfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
10.6 PyConfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
10.7 Initialization with PyConfig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
10.8 Isolated Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
10.9 Python Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
10.10 Python Path Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
10.11 Py_RunMain() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
10.12 Py_GetArgcArgv() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
10.13 Multi-Phase Initialization Private Provisional API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

11 Memory Management 235

11.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
11.2 Allocator Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
11.3 Raw Memory Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
11.4 Memory Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
11.5 Object allocators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
11.6 Default Memory Allocators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
11.7 Customize Memory Allocators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
11.8 Debug hooks on the Python memory allocators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
11.9 The pymalloc allocator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
11.9.1 Customize pymalloc Arena Allocator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

iii
 11.10 tracemalloc C API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
11.11 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

12 Object Implementation Support 245

12.1 Allocating Objects on the Heap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
12.2 Common Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
12.2.1 Base object types and macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
12.2.2 Implementing functions and methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
12.2.3 Accessing attributes of extension types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
12.3 Type Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
12.3.1 Quick Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
12.3.2 PyTypeObject Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
12.3.3 PyObject Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
12.3.4 PyVarObject Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
12.3.5 PyTypeObject Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
12.3.6 Static Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
12.3.7 Heap Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
12.3.8 Number Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
12.3.9 Mapping Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
12.3.10 Sequence Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
12.3.11 Buffer Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
12.3.12 Async Object Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
12.3.13 Slot Type typedefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
12.3.14 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
12.4 Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
12.4.1 Controlling the Garbage Collector State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
12.4.2 Querying Garbage Collector State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

13 API and ABI Versioning 295

A Glossary 297

B About this documentation 313

B.1 Contributors to the Python documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

C History and License 315

C.1 History of the software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
C.2 Terms and conditions for accessing or otherwise using Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
C.2.1 PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE VERSION 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
C.2.2 BEOPEN.COM LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
C.2.3 CNRI LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 1.6.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
C.2.4 CWI LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 0.9.0 THROUGH 1.2 . . . . . . . . . . 318
C.2.5 ZERO-CLAUSE BSD LICENSE FOR CODE IN THE PYTHON DOCUMENTATION . 319
C.3 Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
C.3.1 Mersenne Twister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
C.3.2 Sockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
C.3.3 Asynchronous socket services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
C.3.4 Cookie management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
C.3.5 Execution tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
C.3.6 UUencode and UUdecode functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
C.3.7 XML Remote Procedure Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
C.3.8 test_epoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
C.3.9 Select kqueue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
C.3.10 SipHash24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
C.3.11 strtod and dtoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
C.3.12 OpenSSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
C.3.13 expat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
C.3.14 libffi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
C.3.15 zlib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

iv
 C.3.16 cfuhash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
C.3.17 libmpdec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
C.3.18 W3C C14N test suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
C.3.19 Audioop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
C.3.20 asyncio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

D Copyright 333

Index 335

v
vi
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This manual documents the API used by C and C++ programmers who want to write extension modules or embed
Python. It is a companion to extending-index, which describes the general principles of extension writing but does
not document the API functions in detail.

CONTENTS 1
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

2 CONTENTS
 CHAPTER

ONE

INTRODUCTION

The Application Programmer’s Interface to Python gives C and C++ programmers access to the Python interpreter
at a variety of levels. The API is equally usable from C++, but for brevity it is generally referred to as the Python/C
API. There are two fundamentally different reasons for using the Python/C API. The first reason is to write extension
modules for specific purposes; these are C modules that extend the Python interpreter. This is probably the most
common use. The second reason is to use Python as a component in a larger application; this technique is generally
referred to as embedding Python in an application.
Writing an extension module is a relatively well-understood process, where a “cookbook” approach works well. There
are several tools that automate the process to some extent. While people have embedded Python in other applications
since its early existence, the process of embedding Python is less straightforward than writing an extension.
Many API functions are useful independent of whether you’re embedding or extending Python; moreover, most
applications that embed Python will need to provide a custom extension as well, so it’s probably a good idea to
become familiar with writing an extension before attempting to embed Python in a real application.

1.1 Coding standards

If you’re writing C code for inclusion in CPython, you must follow the guidelines and standards defined in PEP 7.
These guidelines apply regardless of the version of Python you are contributing to. Following these conventions is
not necessary for your own third party extension modules, unless you eventually expect to contribute them to Python.

1.2 Include Files

All function, type and macro definitions needed to use the Python/C API are included in your code by the following
line:

#define PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN
#include <Python.h>

This implies inclusion of the following standard headers: <stdio.h>, <string.h>, <errno.h>, <limits.h>,
<assert.h> and <stdlib.h> (if available).

® Note

Since Python may define some pre-processor definitions which affect the standard headers on some systems, you
must include Python.h before any standard headers are included.
It is recommended to always define PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN before including Python.h. See Parsing arguments
and building values for a description of this macro.

All user visible names defined by Python.h (except those defined by the included standard headers) have one of the
prefixes Py or _Py. Names beginning with _Py are for internal use by the Python implementation and should not be
used by extension writers. Structure member names do not have a reserved prefix.

3
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

® Note

User code should never define names that begin with Py or _Py. This confuses the reader, and jeopardizes the
portability of the user code to future Python versions, which may define additional names beginning with one of
these prefixes.

The header files are typically installed with Python. On Unix, these are located in the directories prefix/include/
pythonversion/ and exec_prefix/include/pythonversion/, where prefix and exec_prefix are
defined by the corresponding parameters to Python’s configure script and version is '%d.%d' % sys.
version_info[:2]. On Windows, the headers are installed in prefix/include, where prefix is the installa-
tion directory specified to the installer.
To include the headers, place both directories (if different) on your compiler’s search path for includes. Do not place
the parent directories on the search path and then use #include <pythonX.Y/Python.h>; this will break on
multi-platform builds since the platform independent headers under prefix include the platform specific headers
from exec_prefix.
C++ users should note that although the API is defined entirely using C, the header files properly declare the entry
points to be extern "C". As a result, there is no need to do anything special to use the API from C++.

1.3 Useful macros

Several useful macros are defined in the Python header files. Many are defined closer to where they are useful (e.g.
Py_RETURN_NONE). Others of a more general utility are defined here. This is not necessarily a complete listing.
PyMODINIT_FUNC
Declare an extension module PyInit initialization function. The function return type is PyObject*. The
macro declares any special linkage declarations required by the platform, and for C++ declares the function as
extern "C".
The initialization function must be named PyInit_name, where name is the name of the module, and should
be the only non-static item defined in the module file. Example:

static struct PyModuleDef spam_module = {

PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
.m_name = "spam",
...
};

PyMODINIT_FUNC
PyInit_spam(void)
{
return PyModule_Create(&spam_module);
}

Py_ABS(x)
Return the absolute value of x.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_ALWAYS_INLINE
Ask the compiler to always inline a static inline function. The compiler can ignore it and decides to not inline
the function.
It can be used to inline performance critical static inline functions when building Python in debug mode with
function inlining disabled. For example, MSC disables function inlining when building in debug mode.
Marking blindly a static inline function with Py_ALWAYS_INLINE can result in worse performances (due
to increased code size for example). The compiler is usually smarter than the developer for the cost/benefit
analysis.

4 Chapter 1. Introduction
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If Python is built in debug mode (if the Py_DEBUG macro is defined), the Py_ALWAYS_INLINE macro does
nothing.
It must be specified before the function return type. Usage:

static inline Py_ALWAYS_INLINE int random(void) { return 4; }

Added in version 3.11.

Py_CHARMASK(c)
Argument must be a character or an integer in the range [-128, 127] or [0, 255]. This macro returns c cast to
an unsigned char.
Py_DEPRECATED(version)
Use this for deprecated declarations. The macro must be placed before the symbol name.
Example:

Py_DEPRECATED(3.8) PyAPI_FUNC(int) Py_OldFunction(void);

Changed in version 3.8: MSVC support was added.

Py_GETENV(s)
Like getenv(s), but returns NULL if -E was passed on the command line (see PyConfig.
use_environment).
Py_MAX(x, y)
Return the maximum value between x and y.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_MEMBER_SIZE(type, member)
Return the size of a structure (type) member in bytes.
Added in version 3.6.
Py_MIN(x, y)
Return the minimum value between x and y.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_NO_INLINE
Disable inlining on a function. For example, it reduces the C stack consumption: useful on LTO+PGO builds
which heavily inline code (see bpo-33720).
Usage:

Py_NO_INLINE static int random(void) { return 4; }

Added in version 3.11.

Py_STRINGIFY(x)
Convert x to a C string. E.g. Py_STRINGIFY(123) returns "123".
Added in version 3.4.
Py_UNREACHABLE()
Use this when you have a code path that cannot be reached by design. For example, in the default: clause
in a switch statement for which all possible values are covered in case statements. Use this in places where
you might be tempted to put an assert(0) or abort() call.
In release mode, the macro helps the compiler to optimize the code, and avoids a warning about unreachable
code. For example, the macro is implemented with __builtin_unreachable() on GCC in release mode.
A use for Py_UNREACHABLE() is following a call a function that never returns but that is not declared
_Py_NO_RETURN.

1.3. Useful macros 5

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If a code path is very unlikely code but can be reached under exceptional case, this macro must not be used.
For example, under low memory condition or if a system call returns a value out of the expected range. In this
case, it’s better to report the error to the caller. If the error cannot be reported to caller, Py_FatalError()
can be used.
Added in version 3.7.
Py_UNUSED(arg)
Use this for unused arguments in a function definition to silence compiler warnings. Example: int func(int
a, int Py_UNUSED(b)) { return a; }.

Added in version 3.4.

PyDoc_STRVAR(name, str)
Creates a variable with name name that can be used in docstrings. If Python is built without docstrings, the
value will be empty.
Use PyDoc_STRVAR for docstrings to support building Python without docstrings, as specified in PEP 7.
Example:

PyDoc_STRVAR(pop_doc, "Remove and return the rightmost element.");

static PyMethodDef deque_methods[] = {

// ...
{"pop", (PyCFunction)deque_pop, METH_NOARGS, pop_doc},
// ...
}

PyDoc_STR(str)
Creates a docstring for the given input string or an empty string if docstrings are disabled.
Use PyDoc_STR in specifying docstrings to support building Python without docstrings, as specified in PEP
7.
Example:

static PyMethodDef pysqlite_row_methods[] = {

{"keys", (PyCFunction)pysqlite_row_keys, METH_NOARGS,
PyDoc_STR("Returns the keys of the row.")},
{NULL, NULL}
};

1.4 Objects, Types and Reference Counts

Most Python/C API functions have one or more arguments as well as a return value of type PyObject*. This type
is a pointer to an opaque data type representing an arbitrary Python object. Since all Python object types are treated
the same way by the Python language in most situations (e.g., assignments, scope rules, and argument passing), it
is only fitting that they should be represented by a single C type. Almost all Python objects live on the heap: you
never declare an automatic or static variable of type PyObject, only pointer variables of type PyObject* can be
declared. The sole exception are the type objects; since these must never be deallocated, they are typically static
PyTypeObject objects.

All Python objects (even Python integers) have a type and a reference count. An object’s type determines what kind
of object it is (e.g., an integer, a list, or a user-defined function; there are many more as explained in types). For each
of the well-known types there is a macro to check whether an object is of that type; for instance, PyList_Check(a)
is true if (and only if) the object pointed to by a is a Python list.

6 Chapter 1. Introduction
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

1.4.1 Reference Counts

The reference count is important because today’s computers have a finite (and often severely limited) memory size;
it counts how many different places there are that have a strong reference to an object. Such a place could be another
object, or a global (or static) C variable, or a local variable in some C function. When the last strong reference to an
object is released (i.e. its reference count becomes zero), the object is deallocated. If it contains references to other
objects, those references are released. Those other objects may be deallocated in turn, if there are no more references
to them, and so on. (There’s an obvious problem with objects that reference each other here; for now, the solution is
“don’t do that.”)
Reference counts are always manipulated explicitly. The normal way is to use the macro Py_INCREF() to take a new
reference to an object (i.e. increment its reference count by one), and Py_DECREF() to release that reference (i.e.
decrement the reference count by one). The Py_DECREF() macro is considerably more complex than the incref one,
since it must check whether the reference count becomes zero and then cause the object’s deallocator to be called. The
deallocator is a function pointer contained in the object’s type structure. The type-specific deallocator takes care of
releasing references for other objects contained in the object if this is a compound object type, such as a list, as well as
performing any additional finalization that’s needed. There’s no chance that the reference count can overflow; at least
as many bits are used to hold the reference count as there are distinct memory locations in virtual memory (assuming
sizeof(Py_ssize_t) >= sizeof(void*)). Thus, the reference count increment is a simple operation.
It is not necessary to hold a strong reference (i.e. increment the reference count) for every local variable that contains
a pointer to an object. In theory, the object’s reference count goes up by one when the variable is made to point to
it and it goes down by one when the variable goes out of scope. However, these two cancel each other out, so at the
end the reference count hasn’t changed. The only real reason to use the reference count is to prevent the object from
being deallocated as long as our variable is pointing to it. If we know that there is at least one other reference to the
object that lives at least as long as our variable, there is no need to take a new strong reference (i.e. increment the
reference count) temporarily. An important situation where this arises is in objects that are passed as arguments to
C functions in an extension module that are called from Python; the call mechanism guarantees to hold a reference
to every argument for the duration of the call.
However, a common pitfall is to extract an object from a list and hold on to it for a while without taking a new
reference. Some other operation might conceivably remove the object from the list, releasing that reference, and
possibly deallocating it. The real danger is that innocent-looking operations may invoke arbitrary Python code which
could do this; there is a code path which allows control to flow back to the user from a Py_DECREF(), so almost any
operation is potentially dangerous.
A safe approach is to always use the generic operations (functions whose name begins with PyObject_, PyNumber_,
PySequence_ or PyMapping_). These operations always create a new strong reference (i.e. increment the reference
count) of the object they return. This leaves the caller with the responsibility to call Py_DECREF() when they are
done with the result; this soon becomes second nature.

Reference Count Details

The reference count behavior of functions in the Python/C API is best explained in terms of ownership of references.
Ownership pertains to references, never to objects (objects are not owned: they are always shared). “Owning a
reference” means being responsible for calling Py_DECREF on it when the reference is no longer needed. Ownership
can also be transferred, meaning that the code that receives ownership of the reference then becomes responsible for
eventually releasing it by calling Py_DECREF() or Py_XDECREF() when it’s no longer needed—or passing on this
responsibility (usually to its caller). When a function passes ownership of a reference on to its caller, the caller is
said to receive a new reference. When no ownership is transferred, the caller is said to borrow the reference. Nothing
needs to be done for a borrowed reference.
Conversely, when a calling function passes in a reference to an object, there are two possibilities: the function steals
a reference to the object, or it does not. Stealing a reference means that when you pass a reference to a function, that
function assumes that it now owns that reference, and you are not responsible for it any longer.
Few functions steal references; the two notable exceptions are PyList_SetItem() and PyTuple_SetItem(),
which steal a reference to the item (but not to the tuple or list into which the item is put!). These functions were
designed to steal a reference because of a common idiom for populating a tuple or list with newly created objects; for
example, the code to create the tuple (1, 2, "three") could look like this (forgetting about error handling for
the moment; a better way to code this is shown below):

1.4. Objects, Types and Reference Counts 7

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *t;

t = PyTuple_New(3);
PyTuple_SetItem(t, 0, PyLong_FromLong(1L));
PyTuple_SetItem(t, 1, PyLong_FromLong(2L));
PyTuple_SetItem(t, 2, PyUnicode_FromString("three"));

Here, PyLong_FromLong() returns a new reference which is immediately stolen by PyTuple_SetItem(). When
you want to keep using an object although the reference to it will be stolen, use Py_INCREF() to grab another
reference before calling the reference-stealing function.
Incidentally, PyTuple_SetItem() is the only way to set tuple items; PySequence_SetItem() and
PyObject_SetItem() refuse to do this since tuples are an immutable data type. You should only use
PyTuple_SetItem() for tuples that you are creating yourself.

Equivalent code for populating a list can be written using PyList_New() and PyList_SetItem().
However, in practice, you will rarely use these ways of creating and populating a tuple or list. There’s a generic
function, Py_BuildValue(), that can create most common objects from C values, directed by a format string.
For example, the above two blocks of code could be replaced by the following (which also takes care of the error
checking):

PyObject *tuple, *list;

tuple = Py_BuildValue("(iis)", 1, 2, "three");

list = Py_BuildValue("[iis]", 1, 2, "three");

It is much more common to use PyObject_SetItem() and friends with items whose references you are only
borrowing, like arguments that were passed in to the function you are writing. In that case, their behaviour regarding
references is much saner, since you don’t have to take a new reference just so you can give that reference away (“have
it be stolen”). For example, this function sets all items of a list (actually, any mutable sequence) to a given item:

int
set_all(PyObject *target, PyObject *item)
{
Py_ssize_t i, n;

n = PyObject_Length(target);
if (n < 0)
return -1;
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
PyObject *index = PyLong_FromSsize_t(i);
if (!index)
return -1;
if (PyObject_SetItem(target, index, item) < 0) {
Py_DECREF(index);
return -1;
}
Py_DECREF(index);
}
return 0;
}

The situation is slightly different for function return values. While passing a reference to most functions does not
change your ownership responsibilities for that reference, many functions that return a reference to an object give you
ownership of the reference. The reason is simple: in many cases, the returned object is created on the fly, and the
reference you get is the only reference to the object. Therefore, the generic functions that return object references,
like PyObject_GetItem() and PySequence_GetItem(), always return a new reference (the caller becomes the
owner of the reference).

8 Chapter 1. Introduction
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

It is important to realize that whether you own a reference returned by a function depends on which function you call
only — the plumage (the type of the object passed as an argument to the function) doesn’t enter into it! Thus, if you
extract an item from a list using PyList_GetItem(), you don’t own the reference — but if you obtain the same
item from the same list using PySequence_GetItem() (which happens to take exactly the same arguments), you
do own a reference to the returned object.
Here is an example of how you could write a function that computes the sum of the items in a list of integers; once
using PyList_GetItem(), and once using PySequence_GetItem().

long
sum_list(PyObject *list)
{
Py_ssize_t i, n;
long total = 0, value;
PyObject *item;

n = PyList_Size(list);
if (n < 0)
return -1; /* Not a list */
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
item = PyList_GetItem(list, i); /* Can't fail */
if (!PyLong_Check(item)) continue; /* Skip non-integers */
value = PyLong_AsLong(item);
if (value == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
/* Integer too big to fit in a C long, bail out */
return -1;
total += value;
}
return total;
}

long
sum_sequence(PyObject *sequence)
{
Py_ssize_t i, n;
long total = 0, value;
PyObject *item;
n = PySequence_Length(sequence);
if (n < 0)
return -1; /* Has no length */
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
item = PySequence_GetItem(sequence, i);
if (item == NULL)
return -1; /* Not a sequence, or other failure */
if (PyLong_Check(item)) {
value = PyLong_AsLong(item);
Py_DECREF(item);
if (value == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
/* Integer too big to fit in a C long, bail out */
return -1;
total += value;
}
else {
Py_DECREF(item); /* Discard reference ownership */
}
}
return total;
}

1.4. Objects, Types and Reference Counts 9

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

1.4.2 Types
There are few other data types that play a significant role in the Python/C API; most are simple C types such as int,
long, double and char*. A few structure types are used to describe static tables used to list the functions exported
by a module or the data attributes of a new object type, and another is used to describe the value of a complex number.
These will be discussed together with the functions that use them.
type Py_ssize_t
Part of the Stable ABI. A signed integral type such that sizeof(Py_ssize_t) == sizeof(size_t).
C99 doesn’t define such a thing directly (size_t is an unsigned integral type). See PEP 353 for details.
PY_SSIZE_T_MAX is the largest positive value of type Py_ssize_t.

1.5 Exceptions
The Python programmer only needs to deal with exceptions if specific error handling is required; unhandled excep-
tions are automatically propagated to the caller, then to the caller’s caller, and so on, until they reach the top-level
interpreter, where they are reported to the user accompanied by a stack traceback.
For C programmers, however, error checking always has to be explicit. All functions in the Python/C API can raise
exceptions, unless an explicit claim is made otherwise in a function’s documentation. In general, when a function
encounters an error, it sets an exception, discards any object references that it owns, and returns an error indicator.
If not documented otherwise, this indicator is either NULL or -1, depending on the function’s return type. A few
functions return a Boolean true/false result, with false indicating an error. Very few functions return no explicit error
indicator or have an ambiguous return value, and require explicit testing for errors with PyErr_Occurred(). These
exceptions are always explicitly documented.
Exception state is maintained in per-thread storage (this is equivalent to using global storage in an unthreaded appli-
cation). A thread can be in one of two states: an exception has occurred, or not. The function PyErr_Occurred()
can be used to check for this: it returns a borrowed reference to the exception type object when an exception has
occurred, and NULL otherwise. There are a number of functions to set the exception state: PyErr_SetString()
is the most common (though not the most general) function to set the exception state, and PyErr_Clear() clears
the exception state.
The full exception state consists of three objects (all of which can be NULL): the exception type, the corresponding
exception value, and the traceback. These have the same meanings as the Python result of sys.exc_info();
however, they are not the same: the Python objects represent the last exception being handled by a Python try …
except statement, while the C level exception state only exists while an exception is being passed on between C
functions until it reaches the Python bytecode interpreter’s main loop, which takes care of transferring it to sys.
exc_info() and friends.

Note that starting with Python 1.5, the preferred, thread-safe way to access the exception state from Python code
is to call the function sys.exc_info(), which returns the per-thread exception state for Python code. Also, the
semantics of both ways to access the exception state have changed so that a function which catches an exception will
save and restore its thread’s exception state so as to preserve the exception state of its caller. This prevents common
bugs in exception handling code caused by an innocent-looking function overwriting the exception being handled; it
also reduces the often unwanted lifetime extension for objects that are referenced by the stack frames in the traceback.
As a general principle, a function that calls another function to perform some task should check whether the called
function raised an exception, and if so, pass the exception state on to its caller. It should discard any object references
that it owns, and return an error indicator, but it should not set another exception — that would overwrite the exception
that was just raised, and lose important information about the exact cause of the error.
A simple example of detecting exceptions and passing them on is shown in the sum_sequence() example above.
It so happens that this example doesn’t need to clean up any owned references when it detects an error. The following
example function shows some error cleanup. First, to remind you why you like Python, we show the equivalent
Python code:

def incr_item(dict, key):

try:
item = dict[key]
(continues on next page)

10 Chapter 1. Introduction
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

except KeyError:
item = 0
dict[key] = item + 1

Here is the corresponding C code, in all its glory:

int
incr_item(PyObject *dict, PyObject *key)
{
/* Objects all initialized to NULL for Py_XDECREF */
PyObject *item = NULL, *const_one = NULL, *incremented_item = NULL;
int rv = -1; /* Return value initialized to -1 (failure) */

item = PyObject_GetItem(dict, key);

if (item == NULL) {
/* Handle KeyError only: */
if (!PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_KeyError))
goto error;

/* Clear the error and use zero: */

PyErr_Clear();
item = PyLong_FromLong(0L);
if (item == NULL)
goto error;
}
const_one = PyLong_FromLong(1L);
if (const_one == NULL)
goto error;

incremented_item = PyNumber_Add(item, const_one);

if (incremented_item == NULL)
goto error;

if (PyObject_SetItem(dict, key, incremented_item) < 0)

goto error;
rv = 0; /* Success */
/* Continue with cleanup code */

error:
/* Cleanup code, shared by success and failure path */

/* Use Py_XDECREF() to ignore NULL references */

Py_XDECREF(item);
Py_XDECREF(const_one);
Py_XDECREF(incremented_item);

return rv; /* -1 for error, 0 for success */

}

This example represents an endorsed use of the goto statement in C! It illustrates the use of
PyErr_ExceptionMatches() and PyErr_Clear() to handle specific exceptions, and the use of Py_XDECREF()
to dispose of owned references that may be NULL (note the 'X' in the name; Py_DECREF() would crash when
confronted with a NULL reference). It is important that the variables used to hold owned references are initialized to
NULL for this to work; likewise, the proposed return value is initialized to -1 (failure) and only set to success after
the final call made is successful.

1.5. Exceptions 11
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

1.6 Embedding Python

The one important task that only embedders (as opposed to extension writers) of the Python interpreter have to worry
about is the initialization, and possibly the finalization, of the Python interpreter. Most functionality of the interpreter
can only be used after the interpreter has been initialized.
The basic initialization function is Py_Initialize(). This initializes the table of loaded modules, and creates the
fundamental modules builtins, __main__, and sys. It also initializes the module search path (sys.path).
Py_Initialize() does not set the “script argument list” (sys.argv). If this variable is needed by Python code that
will be executed later, setting PyConfig.argv and PyConfig.parse_argv must be set: see Python Initialization
Configuration.
On most systems (in particular, on Unix and Windows, although the details are slightly different),
Py_Initialize() calculates the module search path based upon its best guess for the location of the standard
Python interpreter executable, assuming that the Python library is found in a fixed location relative to the Python
interpreter executable. In particular, it looks for a directory named lib/pythonX.Y relative to the parent directory
where the executable named python is found on the shell command search path (the environment variable PATH).
For instance, if the Python executable is found in /usr/local/bin/python, it will assume that the libraries are in
/usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y . (In fact, this particular path is also the “fallback” location, used when no executable
file named python is found along PATH.) The user can override this behavior by setting the environment variable
PYTHONHOME, or insert additional directories in front of the standard path by setting PYTHONPATH.

The embedding application can steer the search by calling Py_SetProgramName(file) before calling
Py_Initialize(). Note that PYTHONHOME still overrides this and PYTHONPATH is still inserted in front
of the standard path. An application that requires total control has to provide its own implementation of
Py_GetPath(), Py_GetPrefix(), Py_GetExecPrefix(), and Py_GetProgramFullPath() (all defined in
Modules/getpath.c).

Sometimes, it is desirable to “uninitialize” Python. For instance, the application may want to start over (make another
call to Py_Initialize()) or the application is simply done with its use of Python and wants to free memory allo-
cated by Python. This can be accomplished by calling Py_FinalizeEx(). The function Py_IsInitialized()
returns true if Python is currently in the initialized state. More information about these functions is given in a later
chapter. Notice that Py_FinalizeEx() does not free all memory allocated by the Python interpreter, e.g. memory
allocated by extension modules currently cannot be released.

1.7 Debugging Builds

Python can be built with several macros to enable extra checks of the interpreter and extension modules. These
checks tend to add a large amount of overhead to the runtime so they are not enabled by default.
A full list of the various types of debugging builds is in the file Misc/SpecialBuilds.txt in the Python source
distribution. Builds are available that support tracing of reference counts, debugging the memory allocator, or low-
level profiling of the main interpreter loop. Only the most frequently used builds will be described in the remainder
of this section.
Py_DEBUG

Compiling the interpreter with the Py_DEBUG macro defined produces what is generally meant by a debug build of
Python. Py_DEBUG is enabled in the Unix build by adding --with-pydebug to the ./configure command. It
is also implied by the presence of the not-Python-specific _DEBUG macro. When Py_DEBUG is enabled in the Unix
build, compiler optimization is disabled.
In addition to the reference count debugging described below, extra checks are performed, see Python Debug Build.
Defining Py_TRACE_REFS enables reference tracing (see the configure --with-trace-refs option). When
defined, a circular doubly linked list of active objects is maintained by adding two extra fields to every PyObject.
Total allocations are tracked as well. Upon exit, all existing references are printed. (In interactive mode this happens
after every statement run by the interpreter.)
Please refer to Misc/SpecialBuilds.txt in the Python source distribution for more detailed information.

12 Chapter 1. Introduction
 CHAPTER

TWO

C API STABILITY

Unless documented otherwise, Python’s C API is covered by the Backwards Compatibility Policy, PEP 387. Most
changes to it are source-compatible (typically by only adding new API). Changing existing API or removing API is
only done after a deprecation period or to fix serious issues.
CPython’s Application Binary Interface (ABI) is forward- and backwards-compatible across a minor release (if these
are compiled the same way; see Platform Considerations below). So, code compiled for Python 3.10.0 will work on
3.10.8 and vice versa, but will need to be compiled separately for 3.9.x and 3.11.x.
There are two tiers of C API with different stability expectations:
• Unstable API, may change in minor versions without a deprecation period. It is marked by the PyUnstable
prefix in names.
• Limited API, is compatible across several minor releases. When Py_LIMITED_API is defined, only this subset
is exposed from Python.h.
These are discussed in more detail below.
Names prefixed by an underscore, such as _Py_InternalState, are private API that can change without notice
even in patch releases. If you need to use this API, consider reaching out to CPython developers to discuss adding
public API for your use case.

2.1 Unstable C API

Any API named with the PyUnstable prefix exposes CPython implementation details, and may change in every
minor release (e.g. from 3.9 to 3.10) without any deprecation warnings. However, it will not change in a bugfix
release (e.g. from 3.10.0 to 3.10.1).
It is generally intended for specialized, low-level tools like debuggers.
Projects that use this API are expected to follow CPython development and spend extra effort adjusting to changes.

2.2 Stable Application Binary Interface

For simplicity, this document talks about extensions, but the Limited API and Stable ABI work the same way for all
uses of the API – for example, embedding Python.

2.2.1 Limited C API

Python 3.2 introduced the Limited API, a subset of Python’s C API. Extensions that only use the Limited API can be
compiled once and be loaded on multiple versions of Python. Contents of the Limited API are listed below.
Py_LIMITED_API
Define this macro before including Python.h to opt in to only use the Limited API, and to select the Limited
API version.
Define Py_LIMITED_API to the value of PY_VERSION_HEX corresponding to the lowest Python version your
extension supports. The extension will be ABI-compatible with all Python 3 releases from the specified one
onward, and can use Limited API introduced up to that version.

13
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Rather than using the PY_VERSION_HEX macro directly, hardcode a minimum minor version (e.g.
0x030A0000 for Python 3.10) for stability when compiling with future Python versions.

You can also define Py_LIMITED_API to 3. This works the same as 0x03020000 (Python 3.2, the version
that introduced Limited API).

2.2.2 Stable ABI

To enable this, Python provides a Stable ABI: a set of symbols that will remain ABI-compatible across Python 3.x
versions.

® Note

The Stable ABI prevents ABI issues, like linker errors due to missing symbols or data corruption due to changes in
structure layouts or function signatures. However, other changes in Python can change the behavior of extensions.
See Python’s Backwards Compatibility Policy (PEP 387) for details.

The Stable ABI contains symbols exposed in the Limited API, but also other ones – for example, functions necessary
to support older versions of the Limited API.
On Windows, extensions that use the Stable ABI should be linked against python3.dll rather than a version-specific
library such as python39.dll.
On some platforms, Python will look for and load shared library files named with the abi3 tag (e.g. mymodule.
abi3.so). It does not check if such extensions conform to a Stable ABI. The user (or their packaging tools) need to
ensure that, for example, extensions built with the 3.10+ Limited API are not installed for lower versions of Python.
All functions in the Stable ABI are present as functions in Python’s shared library, not solely as macros. This makes
them usable from languages that don’t use the C preprocessor.

2.2.3 Limited API Scope and Performance

The goal for the Limited API is to allow everything that is possible with the full C API, but possibly with a perfor-
mance penalty.
For example, while PyList_GetItem() is available, its “unsafe” macro variant PyList_GET_ITEM() is not. The
macro can be faster because it can rely on version-specific implementation details of the list object.
Without Py_LIMITED_API defined, some C API functions are inlined or replaced by macros. Defining
Py_LIMITED_API disables this inlining, allowing stability as Python’s data structures are improved, but possibly
reducing performance.
By leaving out the Py_LIMITED_API definition, it is possible to compile a Limited API extension with a version-
specific ABI. This can improve performance for that Python version, but will limit compatibility. Compiling with
Py_LIMITED_API will then yield an extension that can be distributed where a version-specific one is not available
– for example, for prereleases of an upcoming Python version.

2.2.4 Limited API Caveats

Note that compiling with Py_LIMITED_API is not a complete guarantee that code conforms to the Limited API or
the Stable ABI. Py_LIMITED_API only covers definitions, but an API also includes other issues, such as expected
semantics.
One issue that Py_LIMITED_API does not guard against is calling a function with arguments that are invalid in a
lower Python version. For example, consider a function that starts accepting NULL for an argument. In Python 3.9,
NULL now selects a default behavior, but in Python 3.8, the argument will be used directly, causing a NULL dereference
and crash. A similar argument works for fields of structs.
Another issue is that some struct fields are currently not hidden when Py_LIMITED_API is defined, even though
they’re part of the Limited API.

14 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

For these reasons, we recommend testing an extension with all minor Python versions it supports, and preferably to
build with the lowest such version.
We also recommend reviewing documentation of all used API to check if it is explicitly part of the Limited API. Even
with Py_LIMITED_API defined, a few private declarations are exposed for technical reasons (or even unintentionally,
as bugs).
Also note that the Limited API is not necessarily stable: compiling with Py_LIMITED_API with Python 3.8 means
that the extension will run with Python 3.12, but it will not necessarily compile with Python 3.12. In particular, parts
of the Limited API may be deprecated and removed, provided that the Stable ABI stays stable.

2.3 Platform Considerations

ABI stability depends not only on Python, but also on the compiler used, lower-level libraries and compiler options.
For the purposes of the Stable ABI, these details define a “platform”. They usually depend on the OS type and
processor architecture
It is the responsibility of each particular distributor of Python to ensure that all Python versions on a particular
platform are built in a way that does not break the Stable ABI. This is the case with Windows and macOS releases
from python.org and many third-party distributors.

2.4 Contents of Limited API

Currently, the Limited API includes the following items:

• PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET
• PyAIter_Check()
• PyArg_Parse()
• PyArg_ParseTuple()
• PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords()
• PyArg_UnpackTuple()
• PyArg_VaParse()
• PyArg_VaParseTupleAndKeywords()
• PyArg_ValidateKeywordArguments()
• PyBaseObject_Type
• PyBool_FromLong()
• PyBool_Type
• PyBuffer_FillContiguousStrides()
• PyBuffer_FillInfo()
• PyBuffer_FromContiguous()
• PyBuffer_GetPointer()
• PyBuffer_IsContiguous()
• PyBuffer_Release()
• PyBuffer_SizeFromFormat()
• PyBuffer_ToContiguous()
• PyByteArrayIter_Type
• PyByteArray_AsString()

2.3. Platform Considerations 15

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyByteArray_Concat()
• PyByteArray_FromObject()
• PyByteArray_FromStringAndSize()
• PyByteArray_Resize()
• PyByteArray_Size()
• PyByteArray_Type
• PyBytesIter_Type
• PyBytes_AsString()
• PyBytes_AsStringAndSize()
• PyBytes_Concat()
• PyBytes_ConcatAndDel()
• PyBytes_DecodeEscape()
• PyBytes_FromFormat()
• PyBytes_FromFormatV()
• PyBytes_FromObject()
• PyBytes_FromString()
• PyBytes_FromStringAndSize()
• PyBytes_Repr()
• PyBytes_Size()
• PyBytes_Type
• PyCFunction
• PyCFunctionWithKeywords
• PyCFunction_Call()
• PyCFunction_GetFlags()
• PyCFunction_GetFunction()
• PyCFunction_GetSelf()
• PyCFunction_New()
• PyCFunction_NewEx()
• PyCFunction_Type
• PyCMethod_New()
• PyCallIter_New()
• PyCallIter_Type
• PyCallable_Check()
• PyCapsule_Destructor
• PyCapsule_GetContext()
• PyCapsule_GetDestructor()
• PyCapsule_GetName()
• PyCapsule_GetPointer()
• PyCapsule_Import()

16 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyCapsule_IsValid()
• PyCapsule_New()
• PyCapsule_SetContext()
• PyCapsule_SetDestructor()
• PyCapsule_SetName()
• PyCapsule_SetPointer()
• PyCapsule_Type
• PyClassMethodDescr_Type
• PyCodec_BackslashReplaceErrors()
• PyCodec_Decode()
• PyCodec_Decoder()
• PyCodec_Encode()
• PyCodec_Encoder()
• PyCodec_IgnoreErrors()
• PyCodec_IncrementalDecoder()
• PyCodec_IncrementalEncoder()
• PyCodec_KnownEncoding()
• PyCodec_LookupError()
• PyCodec_NameReplaceErrors()
• PyCodec_Register()
• PyCodec_RegisterError()
• PyCodec_ReplaceErrors()
• PyCodec_StreamReader()
• PyCodec_StreamWriter()
• PyCodec_StrictErrors()
• PyCodec_Unregister()
• PyCodec_XMLCharRefReplaceErrors()
• PyComplex_FromDoubles()
• PyComplex_ImagAsDouble()
• PyComplex_RealAsDouble()
• PyComplex_Type
• PyDescr_NewClassMethod()
• PyDescr_NewGetSet()
• PyDescr_NewMember()
• PyDescr_NewMethod()
• PyDictItems_Type
• PyDictIterItem_Type
• PyDictIterKey_Type
• PyDictIterValue_Type

2.4. Contents of Limited API 17

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyDictKeys_Type
• PyDictProxy_New()
• PyDictProxy_Type
• PyDictRevIterItem_Type
• PyDictRevIterKey_Type
• PyDictRevIterValue_Type
• PyDictValues_Type
• PyDict_Clear()
• PyDict_Contains()
• PyDict_Copy()
• PyDict_DelItem()
• PyDict_DelItemString()
• PyDict_GetItem()
• PyDict_GetItemString()
• PyDict_GetItemWithError()
• PyDict_Items()
• PyDict_Keys()
• PyDict_Merge()
• PyDict_MergeFromSeq2()
• PyDict_New()
• PyDict_Next()
• PyDict_SetItem()
• PyDict_SetItemString()
• PyDict_Size()
• PyDict_Type
• PyDict_Update()
• PyDict_Values()
• PyEllipsis_Type
• PyEnum_Type
• PyErr_BadArgument()
• PyErr_BadInternalCall()
• PyErr_CheckSignals()
• PyErr_Clear()
• PyErr_Display()
• PyErr_DisplayException()
• PyErr_ExceptionMatches()
• PyErr_Fetch()
• PyErr_Format()
• PyErr_FormatV()

18 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyErr_GetExcInfo()
• PyErr_GetHandledException()
• PyErr_GetRaisedException()
• PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches()
• PyErr_NewException()
• PyErr_NewExceptionWithDoc()
• PyErr_NoMemory()
• PyErr_NormalizeException()
• PyErr_Occurred()
• PyErr_Print()
• PyErr_PrintEx()
• PyErr_ProgramText()
• PyErr_ResourceWarning()
• PyErr_Restore()
• PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErr()
• PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilename()
• PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObject()
• PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObjects()
• PyErr_SetExcInfo()
• PyErr_SetFromErrno()
• PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilename()
• PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObject()
• PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObjects()
• PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr()
• PyErr_SetFromWindowsErrWithFilename()
• PyErr_SetHandledException()
• PyErr_SetImportError()
• PyErr_SetImportErrorSubclass()
• PyErr_SetInterrupt()
• PyErr_SetInterruptEx()
• PyErr_SetNone()
• PyErr_SetObject()
• PyErr_SetRaisedException()
• PyErr_SetString()
• PyErr_SyntaxLocation()
• PyErr_SyntaxLocationEx()
• PyErr_WarnEx()
• PyErr_WarnExplicit()
• PyErr_WarnFormat()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 19

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyErr_WriteUnraisable()
• PyEval_AcquireLock()
• PyEval_AcquireThread()
• PyEval_CallFunction()
• PyEval_CallMethod()
• PyEval_CallObjectWithKeywords()
• PyEval_EvalCode()
• PyEval_EvalCodeEx()
• PyEval_EvalFrame()
• PyEval_EvalFrameEx()
• PyEval_GetBuiltins()
• PyEval_GetFrame()
• PyEval_GetFuncDesc()
• PyEval_GetFuncName()
• PyEval_GetGlobals()
• PyEval_GetLocals()
• PyEval_InitThreads()
• PyEval_ReleaseLock()
• PyEval_ReleaseThread()
• PyEval_RestoreThread()
• PyEval_SaveThread()
• PyEval_ThreadsInitialized()
• PyExc_ArithmeticError
• PyExc_AssertionError
• PyExc_AttributeError
• PyExc_BaseException
• PyExc_BaseExceptionGroup
• PyExc_BlockingIOError
• PyExc_BrokenPipeError
• PyExc_BufferError
• PyExc_BytesWarning
• PyExc_ChildProcessError
• PyExc_ConnectionAbortedError
• PyExc_ConnectionError
• PyExc_ConnectionRefusedError
• PyExc_ConnectionResetError
• PyExc_DeprecationWarning
• PyExc_EOFError
• PyExc_EncodingWarning

20 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyExc_EnvironmentError
• PyExc_Exception
• PyExc_FileExistsError
• PyExc_FileNotFoundError
• PyExc_FloatingPointError
• PyExc_FutureWarning
• PyExc_GeneratorExit
• PyExc_IOError
• PyExc_ImportError
• PyExc_ImportWarning
• PyExc_IndentationError
• PyExc_IndexError
• PyExc_InterruptedError
• PyExc_IsADirectoryError
• PyExc_KeyError
• PyExc_KeyboardInterrupt
• PyExc_LookupError
• PyExc_MemoryError
• PyExc_ModuleNotFoundError
• PyExc_NameError
• PyExc_NotADirectoryError
• PyExc_NotImplementedError
• PyExc_OSError
• PyExc_OverflowError
• PyExc_PendingDeprecationWarning
• PyExc_PermissionError
• PyExc_ProcessLookupError
• PyExc_RecursionError
• PyExc_ReferenceError
• PyExc_ResourceWarning
• PyExc_RuntimeError
• PyExc_RuntimeWarning
• PyExc_StopAsyncIteration
• PyExc_StopIteration
• PyExc_SyntaxError
• PyExc_SyntaxWarning
• PyExc_SystemError
• PyExc_SystemExit
• PyExc_TabError

2.4. Contents of Limited API 21

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyExc_TimeoutError
• PyExc_TypeError
• PyExc_UnboundLocalError
• PyExc_UnicodeDecodeError
• PyExc_UnicodeEncodeError
• PyExc_UnicodeError
• PyExc_UnicodeTranslateError
• PyExc_UnicodeWarning
• PyExc_UserWarning
• PyExc_ValueError
• PyExc_Warning
• PyExc_WindowsError
• PyExc_ZeroDivisionError
• PyExceptionClass_Name()
• PyException_GetArgs()
• PyException_GetCause()
• PyException_GetContext()
• PyException_GetTraceback()
• PyException_SetArgs()
• PyException_SetCause()
• PyException_SetContext()
• PyException_SetTraceback()
• PyFile_FromFd()
• PyFile_GetLine()
• PyFile_WriteObject()
• PyFile_WriteString()
• PyFilter_Type
• PyFloat_AsDouble()
• PyFloat_FromDouble()
• PyFloat_FromString()
• PyFloat_GetInfo()
• PyFloat_GetMax()
• PyFloat_GetMin()
• PyFloat_Type
• PyFrameObject
• PyFrame_GetCode()
• PyFrame_GetLineNumber()
• PyFrozenSet_New()
• PyFrozenSet_Type

22 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyGC_Collect()
• PyGC_Disable()
• PyGC_Enable()
• PyGC_IsEnabled()
• PyGILState_Ensure()
• PyGILState_GetThisThreadState()
• PyGILState_Release()
• PyGILState_STATE
• PyGetSetDef
• PyGetSetDescr_Type
• PyImport_AddModule()
• PyImport_AddModuleObject()
• PyImport_AppendInittab()
• PyImport_ExecCodeModule()
• PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx()
• PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject()
• PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames()
• PyImport_GetImporter()
• PyImport_GetMagicNumber()
• PyImport_GetMagicTag()
• PyImport_GetModule()
• PyImport_GetModuleDict()
• PyImport_Import()
• PyImport_ImportFrozenModule()
• PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject()
• PyImport_ImportModule()
• PyImport_ImportModuleLevel()
• PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject()
• PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock()
• PyImport_ReloadModule()
• PyIndex_Check()
• PyInterpreterState
• PyInterpreterState_Clear()
• PyInterpreterState_Delete()
• PyInterpreterState_Get()
• PyInterpreterState_GetDict()
• PyInterpreterState_GetID()
• PyInterpreterState_New()
• PyIter_Check()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 23

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyIter_Next()
• PyIter_Send()
• PyListIter_Type
• PyListRevIter_Type
• PyList_Append()
• PyList_AsTuple()
• PyList_GetItem()
• PyList_GetSlice()
• PyList_Insert()
• PyList_New()
• PyList_Reverse()
• PyList_SetItem()
• PyList_SetSlice()
• PyList_Size()
• PyList_Sort()
• PyList_Type
• PyLongObject
• PyLongRangeIter_Type
• PyLong_AsDouble()
• PyLong_AsLong()
• PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow()
• PyLong_AsLongLong()
• PyLong_AsLongLongAndOverflow()
• PyLong_AsSize_t()
• PyLong_AsSsize_t()
• PyLong_AsUnsignedLong()
• PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong()
• PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLongMask()
• PyLong_AsUnsignedLongMask()
• PyLong_AsVoidPtr()
• PyLong_FromDouble()
• PyLong_FromLong()
• PyLong_FromLongLong()
• PyLong_FromSize_t()
• PyLong_FromSsize_t()
• PyLong_FromString()
• PyLong_FromUnsignedLong()
• PyLong_FromUnsignedLongLong()
• PyLong_FromVoidPtr()

24 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyLong_GetInfo()
• PyLong_Type
• PyMap_Type
• PyMapping_Check()
• PyMapping_GetItemString()
• PyMapping_HasKey()
• PyMapping_HasKeyString()
• PyMapping_Items()
• PyMapping_Keys()
• PyMapping_Length()
• PyMapping_SetItemString()
• PyMapping_Size()
• PyMapping_Values()
• PyMem_Calloc()
• PyMem_Free()
• PyMem_Malloc()
• PyMem_Realloc()
• PyMemberDef
• PyMemberDescr_Type
• PyMember_GetOne()
• PyMember_SetOne()
• PyMemoryView_FromBuffer()
• PyMemoryView_FromMemory()
• PyMemoryView_FromObject()
• PyMemoryView_GetContiguous()
• PyMemoryView_Type
• PyMethodDef
• PyMethodDescr_Type
• PyModuleDef
• PyModuleDef_Base
• PyModuleDef_Init()
• PyModuleDef_Type
• PyModule_AddFunctions()
• PyModule_AddIntConstant()
• PyModule_AddObject()
• PyModule_AddObjectRef()
• PyModule_AddStringConstant()
• PyModule_AddType()
• PyModule_Create2()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 25

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyModule_ExecDef()
• PyModule_FromDefAndSpec2()
• PyModule_GetDef()
• PyModule_GetDict()
• PyModule_GetFilename()
• PyModule_GetFilenameObject()
• PyModule_GetName()
• PyModule_GetNameObject()
• PyModule_GetState()
• PyModule_New()
• PyModule_NewObject()
• PyModule_SetDocString()
• PyModule_Type
• PyNumber_Absolute()
• PyNumber_Add()
• PyNumber_And()
• PyNumber_AsSsize_t()
• PyNumber_Check()
• PyNumber_Divmod()
• PyNumber_Float()
• PyNumber_FloorDivide()
• PyNumber_InPlaceAdd()
• PyNumber_InPlaceAnd()
• PyNumber_InPlaceFloorDivide()
• PyNumber_InPlaceLshift()
• PyNumber_InPlaceMatrixMultiply()
• PyNumber_InPlaceMultiply()
• PyNumber_InPlaceOr()
• PyNumber_InPlacePower()
• PyNumber_InPlaceRemainder()
• PyNumber_InPlaceRshift()
• PyNumber_InPlaceSubtract()
• PyNumber_InPlaceTrueDivide()
• PyNumber_InPlaceXor()
• PyNumber_Index()
• PyNumber_Invert()
• PyNumber_Long()
• PyNumber_Lshift()
• PyNumber_MatrixMultiply()

26 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyNumber_Multiply()
• PyNumber_Negative()
• PyNumber_Or()
• PyNumber_Positive()
• PyNumber_Power()
• PyNumber_Remainder()
• PyNumber_Rshift()
• PyNumber_Subtract()
• PyNumber_ToBase()
• PyNumber_TrueDivide()
• PyNumber_Xor()
• PyOS_AfterFork()
• PyOS_AfterFork_Child()
• PyOS_AfterFork_Parent()
• PyOS_BeforeFork()
• PyOS_CheckStack()
• PyOS_FSPath()
• PyOS_InputHook
• PyOS_InterruptOccurred()
• PyOS_double_to_string()
• PyOS_getsig()
• PyOS_mystricmp()
• PyOS_mystrnicmp()
• PyOS_setsig()
• PyOS_sighandler_t
• PyOS_snprintf()
• PyOS_string_to_double()
• PyOS_strtol()
• PyOS_strtoul()
• PyOS_vsnprintf()
• PyObject
• PyObject.ob_refcnt
• PyObject.ob_type
• PyObject_ASCII()
• PyObject_AsCharBuffer()
• PyObject_AsFileDescriptor()
• PyObject_AsReadBuffer()
• PyObject_AsWriteBuffer()
• PyObject_Bytes()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 27

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyObject_Call()
• PyObject_CallFunction()
• PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs()
• PyObject_CallMethod()
• PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs()
• PyObject_CallNoArgs()
• PyObject_CallObject()
• PyObject_Calloc()
• PyObject_CheckBuffer()
• PyObject_CheckReadBuffer()
• PyObject_ClearWeakRefs()
• PyObject_CopyData()
• PyObject_DelItem()
• PyObject_DelItemString()
• PyObject_Dir()
• PyObject_Format()
• PyObject_Free()
• PyObject_GC_Del()
• PyObject_GC_IsFinalized()
• PyObject_GC_IsTracked()
• PyObject_GC_Track()
• PyObject_GC_UnTrack()
• PyObject_GenericGetAttr()
• PyObject_GenericGetDict()
• PyObject_GenericSetAttr()
• PyObject_GenericSetDict()
• PyObject_GetAIter()
• PyObject_GetAttr()
• PyObject_GetAttrString()
• PyObject_GetBuffer()
• PyObject_GetItem()
• PyObject_GetIter()
• PyObject_GetTypeData()
• PyObject_HasAttr()
• PyObject_HasAttrString()
• PyObject_Hash()
• PyObject_HashNotImplemented()
• PyObject_Init()
• PyObject_InitVar()

28 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyObject_IsInstance()
• PyObject_IsSubclass()
• PyObject_IsTrue()
• PyObject_Length()
• PyObject_Malloc()
• PyObject_Not()
• PyObject_Realloc()
• PyObject_Repr()
• PyObject_RichCompare()
• PyObject_RichCompareBool()
• PyObject_SelfIter()
• PyObject_SetAttr()
• PyObject_SetAttrString()
• PyObject_SetItem()
• PyObject_Size()
• PyObject_Str()
• PyObject_Type()
• PyObject_Vectorcall()
• PyObject_VectorcallMethod()
• PyProperty_Type
• PyRangeIter_Type
• PyRange_Type
• PyReversed_Type
• PySeqIter_New()
• PySeqIter_Type
• PySequence_Check()
• PySequence_Concat()
• PySequence_Contains()
• PySequence_Count()
• PySequence_DelItem()
• PySequence_DelSlice()
• PySequence_Fast()
• PySequence_GetItem()
• PySequence_GetSlice()
• PySequence_In()
• PySequence_InPlaceConcat()
• PySequence_InPlaceRepeat()
• PySequence_Index()
• PySequence_Length()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 29

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PySequence_List()
• PySequence_Repeat()
• PySequence_SetItem()
• PySequence_SetSlice()
• PySequence_Size()
• PySequence_Tuple()
• PySetIter_Type
• PySet_Add()
• PySet_Clear()
• PySet_Contains()
• PySet_Discard()
• PySet_New()
• PySet_Pop()
• PySet_Size()
• PySet_Type
• PySlice_AdjustIndices()
• PySlice_GetIndices()
• PySlice_GetIndicesEx()
• PySlice_New()
• PySlice_Type
• PySlice_Unpack()
• PyState_AddModule()
• PyState_FindModule()
• PyState_RemoveModule()
• PyStructSequence_Desc
• PyStructSequence_Field
• PyStructSequence_GetItem()
• PyStructSequence_New()
• PyStructSequence_NewType()
• PyStructSequence_SetItem()
• PyStructSequence_UnnamedField
• PySuper_Type
• PySys_AddWarnOption()
• PySys_AddWarnOptionUnicode()
• PySys_AddXOption()
• PySys_FormatStderr()
• PySys_FormatStdout()
• PySys_GetObject()
• PySys_GetXOptions()

30 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PySys_HasWarnOptions()
• PySys_ResetWarnOptions()
• PySys_SetArgv()
• PySys_SetArgvEx()
• PySys_SetObject()
• PySys_SetPath()
• PySys_WriteStderr()
• PySys_WriteStdout()
• PyThreadState
• PyThreadState_Clear()
• PyThreadState_Delete()
• PyThreadState_Get()
• PyThreadState_GetDict()
• PyThreadState_GetFrame()
• PyThreadState_GetID()
• PyThreadState_GetInterpreter()
• PyThreadState_New()
• PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc()
• PyThreadState_Swap()
• PyThread_GetInfo()
• PyThread_ReInitTLS()
• PyThread_acquire_lock()
• PyThread_acquire_lock_timed()
• PyThread_allocate_lock()
• PyThread_create_key()
• PyThread_delete_key()
• PyThread_delete_key_value()
• PyThread_exit_thread()
• PyThread_free_lock()
• PyThread_get_key_value()
• PyThread_get_stacksize()
• PyThread_get_thread_ident()
• PyThread_get_thread_native_id()
• PyThread_init_thread()
• PyThread_release_lock()
• PyThread_set_key_value()
• PyThread_set_stacksize()
• PyThread_start_new_thread()
• PyThread_tss_alloc()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 31

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyThread_tss_create()
• PyThread_tss_delete()
• PyThread_tss_free()
• PyThread_tss_get()
• PyThread_tss_is_created()
• PyThread_tss_set()
• PyTraceBack_Here()
• PyTraceBack_Print()
• PyTraceBack_Type
• PyTupleIter_Type
• PyTuple_GetItem()
• PyTuple_GetSlice()
• PyTuple_New()
• PyTuple_Pack()
• PyTuple_SetItem()
• PyTuple_Size()
• PyTuple_Type
• PyTypeObject
• PyType_ClearCache()
• PyType_FromMetaclass()
• PyType_FromModuleAndSpec()
• PyType_FromSpec()
• PyType_FromSpecWithBases()
• PyType_GenericAlloc()
• PyType_GenericNew()
• PyType_GetFlags()
• PyType_GetModule()
• PyType_GetModuleState()
• PyType_GetName()
• PyType_GetQualName()
• PyType_GetSlot()
• PyType_GetTypeDataSize()
• PyType_IsSubtype()
• PyType_Modified()
• PyType_Ready()
• PyType_Slot
• PyType_Spec
• PyType_Type
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_Create()

32 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEncoding()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEnd()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetObject()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetReason()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetStart()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetEnd()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetReason()
• PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetStart()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEncoding()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEnd()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetObject()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetReason()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetStart()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetEnd()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetReason()
• PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetStart()
• PyUnicodeIter_Type
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetEnd()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetObject()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetReason()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetStart()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetEnd()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetReason()
• PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetStart()
• PyUnicode_Append()
• PyUnicode_AppendAndDel()
• PyUnicode_AsASCIIString()
• PyUnicode_AsCharmapString()
• PyUnicode_AsDecodedObject()
• PyUnicode_AsDecodedUnicode()
• PyUnicode_AsEncodedObject()
• PyUnicode_AsEncodedString()
• PyUnicode_AsEncodedUnicode()
• PyUnicode_AsLatin1String()
• PyUnicode_AsMBCSString()
• PyUnicode_AsRawUnicodeEscapeString()
• PyUnicode_AsUCS4()
• PyUnicode_AsUCS4Copy()
• PyUnicode_AsUTF16String()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 33

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyUnicode_AsUTF32String()
• PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize()
• PyUnicode_AsUTF8String()
• PyUnicode_AsUnicodeEscapeString()
• PyUnicode_AsWideChar()
• PyUnicode_AsWideCharString()
• PyUnicode_BuildEncodingMap()
• PyUnicode_Compare()
• PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString()
• PyUnicode_Concat()
• PyUnicode_Contains()
• PyUnicode_Count()
• PyUnicode_Decode()
• PyUnicode_DecodeASCII()
• PyUnicode_DecodeCharmap()
• PyUnicode_DecodeCodePageStateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefault()
• PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize()
• PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1()
• PyUnicode_DecodeLocale()
• PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize()
• PyUnicode_DecodeMBCS()
• PyUnicode_DecodeMBCSStateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeRawUnicodeEscape()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16Stateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32Stateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7Stateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8Stateful()
• PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape()
• PyUnicode_EncodeCodePage()
• PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault()
• PyUnicode_EncodeLocale()
• PyUnicode_FSConverter()
• PyUnicode_FSDecoder()
• PyUnicode_Find()

34 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyUnicode_FindChar()
• PyUnicode_Format()
• PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject()
• PyUnicode_FromFormat()
• PyUnicode_FromFormatV()
• PyUnicode_FromObject()
• PyUnicode_FromOrdinal()
• PyUnicode_FromString()
• PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize()
• PyUnicode_FromWideChar()
• PyUnicode_GetDefaultEncoding()
• PyUnicode_GetLength()
• PyUnicode_InternFromString()
• PyUnicode_InternInPlace()
• PyUnicode_IsIdentifier()
• PyUnicode_Join()
• PyUnicode_Partition()
• PyUnicode_RPartition()
• PyUnicode_RSplit()
• PyUnicode_ReadChar()
• PyUnicode_Replace()
• PyUnicode_Resize()
• PyUnicode_RichCompare()
• PyUnicode_Split()
• PyUnicode_Splitlines()
• PyUnicode_Substring()
• PyUnicode_Tailmatch()
• PyUnicode_Translate()
• PyUnicode_Type
• PyUnicode_WriteChar()
• PyVarObject
• PyVarObject.ob_base
• PyVarObject.ob_size
• PyVectorcall_Call()
• PyVectorcall_NARGS()
• PyWeakReference
• PyWeakref_GetObject()
• PyWeakref_NewProxy()
• PyWeakref_NewRef()

2.4. Contents of Limited API 35

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• PyWrapperDescr_Type
• PyWrapper_New()
• PyZip_Type
• Py_AddPendingCall()
• Py_AtExit()
• Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
• Py_BLOCK_THREADS
• Py_BuildValue()
• Py_BytesMain()
• Py_CompileString()
• Py_DecRef()
• Py_DecodeLocale()
• Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
• Py_EncodeLocale()
• Py_EndInterpreter()
• Py_EnterRecursiveCall()
• Py_Exit()
• Py_FatalError()
• Py_FileSystemDefaultEncodeErrors
• Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding
• Py_Finalize()
• Py_FinalizeEx()
• Py_GenericAlias()
• Py_GenericAliasType
• Py_GetBuildInfo()
• Py_GetCompiler()
• Py_GetCopyright()
• Py_GetExecPrefix()
• Py_GetPath()
• Py_GetPlatform()
• Py_GetPrefix()
• Py_GetProgramFullPath()
• Py_GetProgramName()
• Py_GetPythonHome()
• Py_GetRecursionLimit()
• Py_GetVersion()
• Py_HasFileSystemDefaultEncoding
• Py_IncRef()
• Py_Initialize()

36 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• Py_InitializeEx()
• Py_Is()
• Py_IsFalse()
• Py_IsInitialized()
• Py_IsNone()
• Py_IsTrue()
• Py_LeaveRecursiveCall()
• Py_Main()
• Py_MakePendingCalls()
• Py_NewInterpreter()
• Py_NewRef()
• Py_ReprEnter()
• Py_ReprLeave()
• Py_SetPath()
• Py_SetProgramName()
• Py_SetPythonHome()
• Py_SetRecursionLimit()
• Py_UCS4
• Py_UNBLOCK_THREADS
• Py_UTF8Mode
• Py_VaBuildValue()
• Py_Version
• Py_XNewRef()
• Py_buffer
• Py_intptr_t
• Py_ssize_t
• Py_uintptr_t
• allocfunc
• binaryfunc
• descrgetfunc
• descrsetfunc
• destructor
• getattrfunc
• getattrofunc
• getbufferproc
• getiterfunc
• getter
• hashfunc
• initproc

2.4. Contents of Limited API 37

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• inquiry
• iternextfunc
• lenfunc
• newfunc
• objobjargproc
• objobjproc
• releasebufferproc
• reprfunc
• richcmpfunc
• setattrfunc
• setattrofunc
• setter
• ssizeargfunc
• ssizeobjargproc
• ssizessizeargfunc
• ssizessizeobjargproc
• symtable
• ternaryfunc
• traverseproc
• unaryfunc
• vectorcallfunc
• visitproc

38 Chapter 2. C API Stability

 CHAPTER

THREE

THE VERY HIGH LEVEL LAYER

The functions in this chapter will let you execute Python source code given in a file or a buffer, but they will not let
you interact in a more detailed way with the interpreter.
Several of these functions accept a start symbol from the grammar as a parameter. The available start symbols are
Py_eval_input, Py_file_input, and Py_single_input. These are described following the functions which
accept them as parameters.
Note also that several of these functions take FILE* parameters. One particular issue which needs to be handled
carefully is that the FILE structure for different C libraries can be different and incompatible. Under Windows (at
least), it is possible for dynamically linked extensions to actually use different libraries, so care should be taken that
FILE* parameters are only passed to these functions if it is certain that they were created by the same library that
the Python runtime is using.
int Py_Main(int argc, wchar_t **argv)
Part of the Stable ABI. The main program for the standard interpreter. This is made available for programs
which embed Python. The argc and argv parameters should be prepared exactly as those which are passed to
a C program’s main() function (converted to wchar_t according to the user’s locale). It is important to note
that the argument list may be modified (but the contents of the strings pointed to by the argument list are not).
The return value will be 0 if the interpreter exits normally (i.e., without an exception), 1 if the interpreter exits
due to an exception, or 2 if the parameter list does not represent a valid Python command line.
Note that if an otherwise unhandled SystemExit is raised, this function will not return 1, but exit the process,
as long as PyConfig.inspect is zero.
int Py_BytesMain(int argc, char **argv)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.8. Similar to Py_Main() but argv is an array of bytes strings.
Added in version 3.8.
int PyRun_AnyFile(FILE *fp, const char *filename)
This is a simplified interface to PyRun_AnyFileExFlags() below, leaving closeit set to 0 and flags set to
NULL.

int PyRun_AnyFileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

This is a simplified interface to PyRun_AnyFileExFlags() below, leaving the closeit argument set to 0.
int PyRun_AnyFileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit)
This is a simplified interface to PyRun_AnyFileExFlags() below, leaving the flags argument set to NULL.
int PyRun_AnyFileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
If fp refers to a file associated with an interactive device (console or terminal input or Unix pseudo-terminal),
return the value of PyRun_InteractiveLoop(), otherwise return the result of PyRun_SimpleFile().
filename is decoded from the filesystem encoding (sys.getfilesystemencoding()). If filename
is NULL, this function uses "???" as the filename. If closeit is true, the file is closed before
PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags() returns.

int PyRun_SimpleString(const char *command)

This is a simplified interface to PyRun_SimpleStringFlags() below, leaving the PyCompilerFlags*
argument set to NULL.

39
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyRun_SimpleStringFlags(const char *command, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

Executes the Python source code from command in the __main__ module according to the flags argument.
If __main__ does not already exist, it is created. Returns 0 on success or -1 if an exception was raised. If
there was an error, there is no way to get the exception information. For the meaning of flags, see below.
Note that if an otherwise unhandled SystemExit is raised, this function will not return -1, but exit the
process, as long as PyConfig.inspect is zero.
int PyRun_SimpleFile(FILE *fp, const char *filename)
This is a simplified interface to PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags() below, leaving closeit set to 0 and flags set
to NULL.
int PyRun_SimpleFileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit)
This is a simplified interface to PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags() below, leaving flags set to NULL.
int PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Similar to PyRun_SimpleStringFlags(), but the Python source code is read from fp instead of an in-
memory string. filename should be the name of the file, it is decoded from filesystem encoding and error
handler. If closeit is true, the file is closed before PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags() returns.

® Note

On Windows, fp should be opened as binary mode (e.g. fopen(filename, "rb")). Otherwise, Python
may not handle script file with LF line ending correctly.

int PyRun_InteractiveOne(FILE *fp, const char *filename)

This is a simplified interface to PyRun_InteractiveOneFlags() below, leaving flags set to NULL.
int PyRun_InteractiveOneFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Read and execute a single statement from a file associated with an interactive device according to the flags
argument. The user will be prompted using sys.ps1 and sys.ps2. filename is decoded from the filesystem
encoding and error handler.
Returns 0 when the input was executed successfully, -1 if there was an exception, or an error code from the
errcode.h include file distributed as part of Python if there was a parse error. (Note that errcode.h is not
included by Python.h, so must be included specifically if needed.)
int PyRun_InteractiveLoop(FILE *fp, const char *filename)
This is a simplified interface to PyRun_InteractiveLoopFlags() below, leaving flags set to NULL.
int PyRun_InteractiveLoopFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Read and execute statements from a file associated with an interactive device until EOF is reached. The user
will be prompted using sys.ps1 and sys.ps2. filename is decoded from the filesystem encoding and error
handler. Returns 0 at EOF or a negative number upon failure.
int (*PyOS_InputHook)(void)
Part of the Stable ABI. Can be set to point to a function with the prototype int func(void). The function
will be called when Python’s interpreter prompt is about to become idle and wait for user input from the
terminal. The return value is ignored. Overriding this hook can be used to integrate the interpreter’s prompt
with other event loops, as done in the Modules/_tkinter.c in the Python source code.
Changed in version 3.12: This function is only called from the main interpreter.
char *(*PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer)(FILE*, FILE*, const char*)
Can be set to point to a function with the prototype char *func(FILE *stdin, FILE *stdout, char
*prompt), overriding the default function used to read a single line of input at the interpreter’s prompt. The
function is expected to output the string prompt if it’s not NULL, and then read a line of input from the provided
standard input file, returning the resulting string. For example, The readline module sets this hook to provide
line-editing and tab-completion features.

40 Chapter 3. The Very High Level Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The result must be a string allocated by PyMem_RawMalloc() or PyMem_RawRealloc(), or NULL if an

error occurred.
Changed in version 3.4: The result must be allocated by PyMem_RawMalloc() or PyMem_RawRealloc(),
instead of being allocated by PyMem_Malloc() or PyMem_Realloc().
Changed in version 3.12: This function is only called from the main interpreter.
PyObject *PyRun_String(const char *str, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)
Return value: New reference. This is a simplified interface to PyRun_StringFlags() below, leaving flags
set to NULL.
PyObject *PyRun_StringFlags(const char *str, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyCompilerFlags
*flags)
Return value: New reference. Execute Python source code from str in the context specified by the objects
globals and locals with the compiler flags specified by flags. globals must be a dictionary; locals can be any
object that implements the mapping protocol. The parameter start specifies the start token that should be used
to parse the source code.
Returns the result of executing the code as a Python object, or NULL if an exception was raised.
PyObject *PyRun_File(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)
Return value: New reference. This is a simplified interface to PyRun_FileExFlags() below, leaving closeit
set to 0 and flags set to NULL.
PyObject *PyRun_FileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, int
closeit)
Return value: New reference. This is a simplified interface to PyRun_FileExFlags() below, leaving flags
set to NULL.
PyObject *PyRun_FileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals,
PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Return value: New reference. This is a simplified interface to PyRun_FileExFlags() below, leaving closeit
set to 0.
PyObject *PyRun_FileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals,
int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Return value: New reference. Similar to PyRun_StringFlags(), but the Python source code is read from
fp instead of an in-memory string. filename should be the name of the file, it is decoded from the filesystem
encoding and error handler. If closeit is true, the file is closed before PyRun_FileExFlags() returns.
PyObject *Py_CompileString(const char *str, const char *filename, int start)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a simplified interface to
Py_CompileStringFlags() below, leaving flags set to NULL.
PyObject *Py_CompileStringFlags(const char *str, const char *filename, int start, PyCompilerFlags *flags)
Return value: New reference. This is a simplified interface to Py_CompileStringExFlags() below, with
optimize set to -1.
PyObject *Py_CompileStringObject(const char *str, PyObject *filename, int start, PyCompilerFlags *flags, int
optimize)
Return value: New reference. Parse and compile the Python source code in str, returning the resulting code
object. The start token is given by start; this can be used to constrain the code which can be compiled and
should be Py_eval_input, Py_file_input, or Py_single_input. The filename specified by filename
is used to construct the code object and may appear in tracebacks or SyntaxError exception messages. This
returns NULL if the code cannot be parsed or compiled.
The integer optimize specifies the optimization level of the compiler; a value of -1 selects the optimization
level of the interpreter as given by -O options. Explicit levels are 0 (no optimization; __debug__ is true), 1
(asserts are removed, __debug__ is false) or 2 (docstrings are removed too).
Added in version 3.4.

41
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *Py_CompileStringExFlags(const char *str, const char *filename, int start, PyCompilerFlags *flags,
int optimize)
Return value: New reference. Like Py_CompileStringObject(), but filename is a byte string decoded
from the filesystem encoding and error handler.
Added in version 3.2.
PyObject *PyEval_EvalCode(PyObject *co, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a simplified interface to PyEval_EvalCodeEx(),
with just the code object, and global and local variables. The other arguments are set to NULL.
PyObject *PyEval_EvalCodeEx(PyObject *co, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject *const *args, int
argcount, PyObject *const *kws, int kwcount, PyObject *const *defs, int
defcount, PyObject *kwdefs, PyObject *closure)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Evaluate a precompiled code object, given a particular
environment for its evaluation. This environment consists of a dictionary of global variables, a mapping object
of local variables, arrays of arguments, keywords and defaults, a dictionary of default values for keyword-only
arguments and a closure tuple of cells.
PyObject *PyEval_EvalFrame(PyFrameObject *f)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Evaluate an execution frame. This is a simplified interface
to PyEval_EvalFrameEx(), for backward compatibility.
PyObject *PyEval_EvalFrameEx(PyFrameObject *f, int throwflag)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is the main, unvarnished function of Python in-
terpretation. The code object associated with the execution frame f is executed, interpreting bytecode and
executing calls as needed. The additional throwflag parameter can mostly be ignored - if true, then it causes
an exception to immediately be thrown; this is used for the throw() methods of generator objects.
Changed in version 3.4: This function now includes a debug assertion to help ensure that it does not silently
discard an active exception.
int PyEval_MergeCompilerFlags(PyCompilerFlags *cf)
This function changes the flags of the current evaluation frame, and returns true on success, false on failure.
int Py_eval_input
The start symbol from the Python grammar for isolated expressions; for use with Py_CompileString().
int Py_file_input
The start symbol from the Python grammar for sequences of statements as read from a file or other source; for
use with Py_CompileString(). This is the symbol to use when compiling arbitrarily long Python source
code.
int Py_single_input
The start symbol from the Python grammar for a single statement; for use with Py_CompileString(). This
is the symbol used for the interactive interpreter loop.
struct PyCompilerFlags
This is the structure used to hold compiler flags. In cases where code is only being compiled, it is passed as
int flags, and in cases where code is being executed, it is passed as PyCompilerFlags *flags. In this
case, from __future__ import can modify flags.
Whenever PyCompilerFlags *flags is NULL, cf_flags is treated as equal to 0, and any modification
due to from __future__ import is discarded.
int cf_flags
Compiler flags.
int cf_feature_version
cf_feature_version is the minor Python version. It should be initialized to PY_MINOR_VERSION.
The field is ignored by default, it is used if and only if PyCF_ONLY_AST flag is set in cf_flags.

42 Chapter 3. The Very High Level Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.8: Added cf_feature_version field.

int CO_FUTURE_DIVISION
This bit can be set in flags to cause division operator / to be interpreted as “true division” according to PEP
238.

43
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

44 Chapter 3. The Very High Level Layer

 CHAPTER

FOUR

REFERENCE COUNTING

The functions and macros in this section are used for managing reference counts of Python objects.
Py_ssize_t Py_REFCNT(PyObject *o)
Get the reference count of the Python object o.
Note that the returned value may not actually reflect how many references to the object are actually held. For
example, some objects are “immortal” and have a very high refcount that does not reflect the actual number of
references. Consequently, do not rely on the returned value to be accurate, other than a value of 0 or 1.
Use the Py_SET_REFCNT() function to set an object reference count.
Changed in version 3.10: Py_REFCNT() is changed to the inline static function.
Changed in version 3.11: The parameter type is no longer const PyObject*.
void Py_SET_REFCNT(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t refcnt)
Set the object o reference counter to refcnt.
Note that this function has no effect on immortal objects.
Added in version 3.9.
Changed in version 3.12: Immortal objects are not modified.
void Py_INCREF(PyObject *o)
Indicate taking a new strong reference to object o, indicating it is in use and should not be destroyed.
This function is usually used to convert a borrowed reference to a strong reference in-place. The Py_NewRef()
function can be used to create a new strong reference.
When done using the object, release it by calling Py_DECREF().
The object must not be NULL; if you aren’t sure that it isn’t NULL, use Py_XINCREF().
Do not expect this function to actually modify o in any way. For at least some objects, this function has no
effect.
Changed in version 3.12: Immortal objects are not modified.
void Py_XINCREF(PyObject *o)
Similar to Py_INCREF(), but the object o can be NULL, in which case this has no effect.
See also Py_XNewRef().
PyObject *Py_NewRef(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Create a new strong reference to an object: call Py_INCREF() on o
and return the object o.
When the strong reference is no longer needed, Py_DECREF() should be called on it to release the reference.
The object o must not be NULL; use Py_XNewRef() if o can be NULL.
For example:

45
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_INCREF(obj);
self->attr = obj;

can be written as:

self->attr = Py_NewRef(obj);

See also Py_INCREF().

Added in version 3.10.
PyObject *Py_XNewRef(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Similar to Py_NewRef(), but the object o can be NULL.
If the object o is NULL, the function just returns NULL.
Added in version 3.10.
void Py_DECREF(PyObject *o)
Release a strong reference to object o, indicating the reference is no longer used.
Once the last strong reference is released (i.e. the object’s reference count reaches 0), the object’s type’s deal-
location function (which must not be NULL) is invoked.
This function is usually used to delete a strong reference before exiting its scope.
The object must not be NULL; if you aren’t sure that it isn’t NULL, use Py_XDECREF().
Do not expect this function to actually modify o in any way. For at least some objects, this function has no
effect.

Á Warning

The deallocation function can cause arbitrary Python code to be invoked (e.g. when a class instance with a
__del__() method is deallocated). While exceptions in such code are not propagated, the executed code
has free access to all Python global variables. This means that any object that is reachable from a global
variable should be in a consistent state before Py_DECREF() is invoked. For example, code to delete an
object from a list should copy a reference to the deleted object in a temporary variable, update the list data
structure, and then call Py_DECREF() for the temporary variable.

Changed in version 3.12: Immortal objects are not modified.

void Py_XDECREF(PyObject *o)
Similar to Py_DECREF(), but the object o can be NULL, in which case this has no effect. The same warning
from Py_DECREF() applies here as well.
void Py_CLEAR(PyObject *o)
Release a strong reference for object o. The object may be NULL, in which case the macro has no effect;
otherwise the effect is the same as for Py_DECREF(), except that the argument is also set to NULL. The
warning for Py_DECREF() does not apply with respect to the object passed because the macro carefully uses
a temporary variable and sets the argument to NULL before releasing the reference.
It is a good idea to use this macro whenever releasing a reference to an object that might be traversed during
garbage collection.
Changed in version 3.12: The macro argument is now only evaluated once. If the argument has side effects,
these are no longer duplicated.
void Py_IncRef(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Indicate taking a new strong reference to object o. A function version of
Py_XINCREF(). It can be used for runtime dynamic embedding of Python.

46 Chapter 4. Reference Counting

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void Py_DecRef(PyObject *o)

Part of the Stable ABI. Release a strong reference to object o. A function version of Py_XDECREF(). It can
be used for runtime dynamic embedding of Python.
Py_SETREF(dst, src)
Macro safely releasing a strong reference to object dst and setting dst to src.
As in case of Py_CLEAR(), “the obvious” code can be deadly:

Py_DECREF(dst);
dst = src;

The safe way is:

Py_SETREF(dst, src);

That arranges to set dst to src _before_ releasing the reference to the old value of dst, so that any code triggered
as a side-effect of dst getting torn down no longer believes dst points to a valid object.
Added in version 3.6.
Changed in version 3.12: The macro arguments are now only evaluated once. If an argument has side effects,
these are no longer duplicated.
Py_XSETREF(dst, src)
Variant of Py_SETREF macro that uses Py_XDECREF() instead of Py_DECREF().
Added in version 3.6.
Changed in version 3.12: The macro arguments are now only evaluated once. If an argument has side effects,
these are no longer duplicated.

47
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

48 Chapter 4. Reference Counting

 CHAPTER

FIVE

EXCEPTION HANDLING

The functions described in this chapter will let you handle and raise Python exceptions. It is important to understand
some of the basics of Python exception handling. It works somewhat like the POSIX errno variable: there is a
global indicator (per thread) of the last error that occurred. Most C API functions don’t clear this on success, but will
set it to indicate the cause of the error on failure. Most C API functions also return an error indicator, usually NULL
if they are supposed to return a pointer, or -1 if they return an integer (exception: the PyArg_* functions return 1
for success and 0 for failure).
Concretely, the error indicator consists of three object pointers: the exception’s type, the exception’s value, and the
traceback object. Any of those pointers can be NULL if non-set (although some combinations are forbidden, for
example you can’t have a non-NULL traceback if the exception type is NULL).
When a function must fail because some function it called failed, it generally doesn’t set the error indicator; the
function it called already set it. It is responsible for either handling the error and clearing the exception or returning
after cleaning up any resources it holds (such as object references or memory allocations); it should not continue
normally if it is not prepared to handle the error. If returning due to an error, it is important to indicate to the caller
that an error has been set. If the error is not handled or carefully propagated, additional calls into the Python/C API
may not behave as intended and may fail in mysterious ways.

® Note

The error indicator is not the result of sys.exc_info(). The former corresponds to an exception that is not yet
caught (and is therefore still propagating), while the latter returns an exception after it is caught (and has therefore
stopped propagating).

5.1 Printing and clearing

void PyErr_Clear()
Part of the Stable ABI. Clear the error indicator. If the error indicator is not set, there is no effect.
void PyErr_PrintEx(int set_sys_last_vars)
Part of the Stable ABI. Print a standard traceback to sys.stderr and clear the error indicator. Unless the
error is a SystemExit, in that case no traceback is printed and the Python process will exit with the error
code specified by the SystemExit instance.
Call this function only when the error indicator is set. Otherwise it will cause a fatal error!
If set_sys_last_vars is nonzero, the variable sys.last_exc is set to the printed exception. For backwards
compatibility, the deprecated variables sys.last_type, sys.last_value and sys.last_traceback
are also set to the type, value and traceback of this exception, respectively.
Changed in version 3.12: The setting of sys.last_exc was added.
void PyErr_Print()
Part of the Stable ABI. Alias for PyErr_PrintEx(1).

49
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyErr_WriteUnraisable(PyObject *obj)

Part of the Stable ABI. Call sys.unraisablehook() using the current exception and obj argument.
This utility function prints a warning message to sys.stderr when an exception has been set but it is im-
possible for the interpreter to actually raise the exception. It is used, for example, when an exception occurs
in an __del__() method.
The function is called with a single argument obj that identifies the context in which the unraisable exception
occurred. If possible, the repr of obj will be printed in the warning message. If obj is NULL, only the traceback
is printed.
An exception must be set when calling this function.
Changed in version 3.4: Print a traceback. Print only traceback if obj is NULL.
Changed in version 3.8: Use sys.unraisablehook().
void PyErr_DisplayException(PyObject *exc)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Print the standard traceback display of exc to sys.stderr, in-
cluding chained exceptions and notes.
Added in version 3.12.

5.2 Raising exceptions

These functions help you set the current thread’s error indicator. For convenience, some of these functions will always
return a NULL pointer for use in a return statement.
void PyErr_SetString(PyObject *type, const char *message)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the most common way to set the error indicator. The first argument specifies
the exception type; it is normally one of the standard exceptions, e.g. PyExc_RuntimeError. You need not
create a new strong reference to it (e.g. with Py_INCREF()). The second argument is an error message; it is
decoded from 'utf-8'.
void PyErr_SetObject(PyObject *type, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. This function is similar to PyErr_SetString() but lets you specify an arbitrary
Python object for the “value” of the exception.
PyObject *PyErr_Format(PyObject *exception, const char *format, ...)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. This function sets the error indicator and returns NULL.
exception should be a Python exception class. The format and subsequent parameters help format the error
message; they have the same meaning and values as in PyUnicode_FromFormat(). format is an ASCII-
encoded string.
PyObject *PyErr_FormatV(PyObject *exception, const char *format, va_list vargs)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.5. Same as PyErr_Format(), but taking
a va_list argument rather than a variable number of arguments.
Added in version 3.5.
void PyErr_SetNone(PyObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is a shorthand for PyErr_SetObject(type, Py_None).
int PyErr_BadArgument()
Part of the Stable ABI. This is a shorthand for PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, message), where
message indicates that a built-in operation was invoked with an illegal argument. It is mostly for internal use.
PyObject *PyErr_NoMemory()
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a shorthand for
PyErr_SetNone(PyExc_MemoryError); it returns NULL so an object allocation function can write
return PyErr_NoMemory(); when it runs out of memory.

50 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyObject *type)

Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a convenience function to raise an exception when
a C library function has returned an error and set the C variable errno. It constructs a tuple object whose
first item is the integer errno value and whose second item is the corresponding error message (gotten from
strerror()), and then calls PyErr_SetObject(type, object). On Unix, when the errno value is
EINTR, indicating an interrupted system call, this calls PyErr_CheckSignals(), and if that set the error
indicator, leaves it set to that. The function always returns NULL, so a wrapper function around a system call
can write return PyErr_SetFromErrno(type); when the system call returns an error.
PyObject *PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObject(PyObject *type, PyObject *filenameObject)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyErr_SetFromErrno(), with the additional
behavior that if filenameObject is not NULL, it is passed to the constructor of type as a third parameter. In the
case of OSError exception, this is used to define the filename attribute of the exception instance.
PyObject *PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObjects(PyObject *type, PyObject *filenameObject,
PyObject *filenameObject2)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObject(), but takes a second filename object, for raising
errors when a function that takes two filenames fails.
Added in version 3.4.
PyObject *PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilename(PyObject *type, const char *filename)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to
PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObject(), but the filename is given as a C string. filename
is decoded from the filesystem encoding and error handler.
PyObject *PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(int ierr)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. This is a convenience
function to raise OSError. If called with ierr of 0, the error code returned by a call to GetLastError() is
used instead. It calls the Win32 function FormatMessage() to retrieve the Windows description of error code
given by ierr or GetLastError(), then it constructs a OSError object with the winerror attribute set to the
error code, the strerror attribute set to the corresponding error message (gotten from FormatMessage()),
and then calls PyErr_SetObject(PyExc_OSError, object). This function always returns NULL.
Availability: Windows.
PyObject *PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErr(PyObject *type, int ierr)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(), with an additional parameter specifying the exception type to be raised.

Availability: Windows.
PyObject *PyErr_SetFromWindowsErrWithFilename(int ierr, const char *filename)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(), with the additional behavior that if filename is not NULL, it is decoded
from the filesystem encoding (os.fsdecode()) and passed to the constructor of OSError as a third param-
eter to be used to define the filename attribute of the exception instance.
Availability: Windows.
PyObject *PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObject(PyObject *type, int ierr, PyObject
*filename)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErr(), with the additional behavior that if filename is not NULL, it is passed to
the constructor of OSError as a third parameter to be used to define the filename attribute of the exception
instance.
Availability: Windows.
PyObject *PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObjects(PyObject *type, int ierr, PyObject
*filename, PyObject *filename2)

5.2. Raising exceptions 51

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObject(), but accepts a second filename object.

Availability: Windows.
Added in version 3.4.
PyObject *PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilename(PyObject *type, int ierr, const char *filename)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyErr_SetFromWindowsErrWithFilename(), with an additional parameter specifying the exception
type to be raised.
Availability: Windows.
PyObject *PyErr_SetImportError(PyObject *msg, PyObject *name, PyObject *path)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. This is a convenience function to raise
ImportError. msg will be set as the exception’s message string. name and path, both of which can be NULL,
will be set as the ImportError’s respective name and path attributes.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyErr_SetImportErrorSubclass(PyObject *exception, PyObject *msg, PyObject *name, PyObject
*path)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.6. Much like PyErr_SetImportError()
but this function allows for specifying a subclass of ImportError to raise.
Added in version 3.6.
void PyErr_SyntaxLocationObject(PyObject *filename, int lineno, int col_offset)
Set file, line, and offset information for the current exception. If the current exception is not a SyntaxError,
then it sets additional attributes, which make the exception printing subsystem think the exception is a
SyntaxError.

Added in version 3.4.

void PyErr_SyntaxLocationEx(const char *filename, int lineno, int col_offset)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Like PyErr_SyntaxLocationObject(), but filename is a byte
string decoded from the filesystem encoding and error handler.
Added in version 3.2.
void PyErr_SyntaxLocation(const char *filename, int lineno)
Part of the Stable ABI. Like PyErr_SyntaxLocationEx(), but the col_offset parameter is omitted.
void PyErr_BadInternalCall()
Part of the Stable ABI. This is a shorthand for PyErr_SetString(PyExc_SystemError, message),
where message indicates that an internal operation (e.g. a Python/C API function) was invoked with an illegal
argument. It is mostly for internal use.

5.3 Issuing warnings

Use these functions to issue warnings from C code. They mirror similar functions exported by the Python warnings
module. They normally print a warning message to sys.stderr; however, it is also possible that the user has specified
that warnings are to be turned into errors, and in that case they will raise an exception. It is also possible that the
functions raise an exception because of a problem with the warning machinery. The return value is 0 if no exception
is raised, or -1 if an exception is raised. (It is not possible to determine whether a warning message is actually printed,
nor what the reason is for the exception; this is intentional.) If an exception is raised, the caller should do its normal
exception handling (for example, Py_DECREF() owned references and return an error value).

52 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyErr_WarnEx(PyObject *category, const char *message, Py_ssize_t stack_level)

Part of the Stable ABI. Issue a warning message. The category argument is a warning category (see below)
or NULL; the message argument is a UTF-8 encoded string. stack_level is a positive number giving a number
of stack frames; the warning will be issued from the currently executing line of code in that stack frame. A
stack_level of 1 is the function calling PyErr_WarnEx(), 2 is the function above that, and so forth.
Warning categories must be subclasses of PyExc_Warning; PyExc_Warning is a subclass of
PyExc_Exception; the default warning category is PyExc_RuntimeWarning. The standard Python warn-
ing categories are available as global variables whose names are enumerated at Standard Warning Categories.
For information about warning control, see the documentation for the warnings module and the -W option in
the command line documentation. There is no C API for warning control.
int PyErr_WarnExplicitObject(PyObject *category, PyObject *message, PyObject *filename, int lineno,
PyObject *module, PyObject *registry)
Issue a warning message with explicit control over all warning attributes. This is a straightforward wrapper
around the Python function warnings.warn_explicit(); see there for more information. The module and
registry arguments may be set to NULL to get the default effect described there.
Added in version 3.4.
int PyErr_WarnExplicit(PyObject *category, const char *message, const char *filename, int lineno, const char
*module, PyObject *registry)
Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyErr_WarnExplicitObject() except that message and module are
UTF-8 encoded strings, and filename is decoded from the filesystem encoding and error handler.
int PyErr_WarnFormat(PyObject *category, Py_ssize_t stack_level, const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Function similar to PyErr_WarnEx(), but use PyUnicode_FromFormat() to format
the warning message. format is an ASCII-encoded string.
Added in version 3.2.
int PyErr_ResourceWarning(PyObject *source, Py_ssize_t stack_level, const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.6. Function similar to PyErr_WarnFormat(), but category is
ResourceWarning and it passes source to warnings.WarningMessage.

Added in version 3.6.

5.4 Querying the error indicator

PyObject *PyErr_Occurred()
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Test whether the error indicator is set. If set,
return the exception type (the first argument to the last call to one of the PyErr_Set* functions or to
PyErr_Restore()). If not set, return NULL. You do not own a reference to the return value, so you do
not need to Py_DECREF() it.
The caller must hold the GIL.

® Note

Do not compare the return value to a specific exception; use PyErr_ExceptionMatches() instead,
shown below. (The comparison could easily fail since the exception may be an instance instead of a class,
in the case of a class exception, or it may be a subclass of the expected exception.)

int PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyObject *exc)

Part of the Stable ABI. Equivalent to PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches(PyErr_Occurred(), exc).
This should only be called when an exception is actually set; a memory access violation will occur if no ex-
ception has been raised.

5.4. Querying the error indicator 53

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches(PyObject *given, PyObject *exc)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return true if the given exception matches the exception type in exc. If exc is a class
object, this also returns true when given is an instance of a subclass. If exc is a tuple, all exception types in the
tuple (and recursively in subtuples) are searched for a match.
PyObject *PyErr_GetRaisedException(void)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Return the exception currently being
raised, clearing the error indicator at the same time. Return NULL if the error indicator is not set.
This function is used by code that needs to catch exceptions, or code that needs to save and restore the error
indicator temporarily.
For example:

{
PyObject *exc = PyErr_GetRaisedException();

/* ... code that might produce other errors ... */

PyErr_SetRaisedException(exc);
}

µ See also

PyErr_GetHandledException(), to save the exception currently being handled.

Added in version 3.12.

void PyErr_SetRaisedException(PyObject *exc)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Set exc as the exception currently being raised, clearing the existing
exception if one is set.

Á Warning

This call steals a reference to exc, which must be a valid exception.

Added in version 3.12.

void PyErr_Fetch(PyObject **ptype, PyObject **pvalue, PyObject **ptraceback)
Part of the Stable ABI. Deprecated since version 3.12: Use PyErr_GetRaisedException() instead.
Retrieve the error indicator into three variables whose addresses are passed. If the error indicator is not set,
set all three variables to NULL. If it is set, it will be cleared and you own a reference to each object retrieved.
The value and traceback object may be NULL even when the type object is not.

® Note

This function is normally only used by legacy code that needs to catch exceptions or save and restore the
error indicator temporarily.
For example:
{
PyObject *type, *value, *traceback;
PyErr_Fetch(&type, &value, &traceback);

/* ... code that might produce other errors ... */

PyErr_Restore(type, value, traceback);

}

54 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyErr_Restore(PyObject *type, PyObject *value, PyObject *traceback)

Part of the Stable ABI. Deprecated since version 3.12: Use PyErr_SetRaisedException() instead.
Set the error indicator from the three objects, type, value, and traceback, clearing the existing exception if one
is set. If the objects are NULL, the error indicator is cleared. Do not pass a NULL type and non-NULL value or
traceback. The exception type should be a class. Do not pass an invalid exception type or value. (Violating
these rules will cause subtle problems later.) This call takes away a reference to each object: you must own
a reference to each object before the call and after the call you no longer own these references. (If you don’t
understand this, don’t use this function. I warned you.)

® Note

This function is normally only used by legacy code that needs to save and restore the error indicator tem-
porarily. Use PyErr_Fetch() to save the current error indicator.

void PyErr_NormalizeException(PyObject **exc, PyObject **val, PyObject **tb)

Part of the Stable ABI. Deprecated since version 3.12: Use PyErr_GetRaisedException() instead, to
avoid any possible de-normalization.
Under certain circumstances, the values returned by PyErr_Fetch() below can be “unnormalized”, meaning
that *exc is a class object but *val is not an instance of the same class. This function can be used to instantiate
the class in that case. If the values are already normalized, nothing happens. The delayed normalization is
implemented to improve performance.

® Note

This function does not implicitly set the __traceback__ attribute on the exception value. If setting the
traceback appropriately is desired, the following additional snippet is needed:
if (tb != NULL) {
PyException_SetTraceback(val, tb);
}

PyObject *PyErr_GetHandledException(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Retrieve the active exception instance, as would be returned by
sys.exception(). This refers to an exception that was already caught, not to an exception that was freshly
raised. Returns a new reference to the exception or NULL. Does not modify the interpreter’s exception state.

® Note

This function is not normally used by code that wants to handle exceptions. Rather, it can be used when
code needs to save and restore the exception state temporarily. Use PyErr_SetHandledException()
to restore or clear the exception state.

Added in version 3.11.

void PyErr_SetHandledException(PyObject *exc)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Set the active exception, as known from sys.exception(). This
refers to an exception that was already caught, not to an exception that was freshly raised. To clear the exception
state, pass NULL.

5.4. Querying the error indicator 55

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

® Note

This function is not normally used by code that wants to handle exceptions. Rather, it can be used when
code needs to save and restore the exception state temporarily. Use PyErr_GetHandledException()
to get the exception state.

Added in version 3.11.

void PyErr_GetExcInfo(PyObject **ptype, PyObject **pvalue, PyObject **ptraceback)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Retrieve the old-style representation of the exception info, as
known from sys.exc_info(). This refers to an exception that was already caught, not to an excep-
tion that was freshly raised. Returns new references for the three objects, any of which may be NULL.
Does not modify the exception info state. This function is kept for backwards compatibility. Prefer using
PyErr_GetHandledException().

® Note

This function is not normally used by code that wants to handle exceptions. Rather, it can be used when
code needs to save and restore the exception state temporarily. Use PyErr_SetExcInfo() to restore or
clear the exception state.

Added in version 3.3.

void PyErr_SetExcInfo(PyObject *type, PyObject *value, PyObject *traceback)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Set the exception info, as known from sys.exc_info(). This refers
to an exception that was already caught, not to an exception that was freshly raised. This function steals the
references of the arguments. To clear the exception state, pass NULL for all three arguments. This function is
kept for backwards compatibility. Prefer using PyErr_SetHandledException().

® Note

This function is not normally used by code that wants to handle exceptions. Rather, it can be used when
code needs to save and restore the exception state temporarily. Use PyErr_GetExcInfo() to read the
exception state.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.11: The type and traceback arguments are no longer used and can be NULL. The
interpreter now derives them from the exception instance (the value argument). The function still steals
references of all three arguments.

5.5 Signal Handling

int PyErr_CheckSignals()
Part of the Stable ABI. This function interacts with Python’s signal handling.
If the function is called from the main thread and under the main Python interpreter, it checks whether a signal
has been sent to the processes and if so, invokes the corresponding signal handler. If the signal module is
supported, this can invoke a signal handler written in Python.
The function attempts to handle all pending signals, and then returns 0. However, if a Python signal handler
raises an exception, the error indicator is set and the function returns -1 immediately (such that other pending
signals may not have been handled yet: they will be on the next PyErr_CheckSignals() invocation).
If the function is called from a non-main thread, or under a non-main Python interpreter, it does nothing and
returns 0.

56 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This function can be called by long-running C code that wants to be interruptible by user requests (such as by
pressing Ctrl-C).

® Note

The default Python signal handler for SIGINT raises the KeyboardInterrupt exception.

void PyErr_SetInterrupt()
Part of the Stable ABI. Simulate the effect of a SIGINT signal arriving. This is equivalent to
PyErr_SetInterruptEx(SIGINT).

® Note

This function is async-signal-safe. It can be called without the GIL and from a C signal handler.

int PyErr_SetInterruptEx(int signum)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Simulate the effect of a signal arriving. The next time
PyErr_CheckSignals() is called, the Python signal handler for the given signal number will be called.

This function can be called by C code that sets up its own signal handling and wants Python signal handlers
to be invoked as expected when an interruption is requested (for example when the user presses Ctrl-C to
interrupt an operation).
If the given signal isn’t handled by Python (it was set to signal.SIG_DFL or signal.SIG_IGN), it will be
ignored.
If signum is outside of the allowed range of signal numbers, -1 is returned. Otherwise, 0 is returned. The
error indicator is never changed by this function.

® Note

This function is async-signal-safe. It can be called without the GIL and from a C signal handler.

Added in version 3.10.

int PySignal_SetWakeupFd(int fd)
This utility function specifies a file descriptor to which the signal number is written as a single byte whenever
a signal is received. fd must be non-blocking. It returns the previous such file descriptor.
The value -1 disables the feature; this is the initial state. This is equivalent to signal.set_wakeup_fd()
in Python, but without any error checking. fd should be a valid file descriptor. The function should only be
called from the main thread.
Changed in version 3.5: On Windows, the function now also supports socket handles.

5.6 Exception Classes

PyObject *PyErr_NewException(const char *name, PyObject *base, PyObject *dict)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This utility function creates and returns a new exception
class. The name argument must be the name of the new exception, a C string of the form module.classname.
The base and dict arguments are normally NULL. This creates a class object derived from Exception (acces-
sible in C as PyExc_Exception).
The __module__ attribute of the new class is set to the first part (up to the last dot) of the name argument,
and the class name is set to the last part (after the last dot). The base argument can be used to specify alternate
base classes; it can either be only one class or a tuple of classes. The dict argument can be used to specify a
dictionary of class variables and methods.

5.6. Exception Classes 57

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyErr_NewExceptionWithDoc(const char *name, const char *doc, PyObject *base, PyObject *dict)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Same as PyErr_NewException(), except that the new
exception class can easily be given a docstring: If doc is non-NULL, it will be used as the docstring for the
exception class.
Added in version 3.2.

5.7 Exception Objects

PyObject *PyException_GetTraceback(PyObject *ex)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the traceback associated with the exception as
a new reference, as accessible from Python through the __traceback__ attribute. If there is no traceback
associated, this returns NULL.
int PyException_SetTraceback(PyObject *ex, PyObject *tb)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the traceback associated with the exception to tb. Use Py_None to clear it.
PyObject *PyException_GetContext(PyObject *ex)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the context (another exception instance during
whose handling ex was raised) associated with the exception as a new reference, as accessible from Python
through the __context__ attribute. If there is no context associated, this returns NULL.
void PyException_SetContext(PyObject *ex, PyObject *ctx)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the context associated with the exception to ctx. Use NULL to clear it. There is no
type check to make sure that ctx is an exception instance. This steals a reference to ctx.
PyObject *PyException_GetCause(PyObject *ex)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the cause (either an exception instance, or None,
set by raise ... from ...) associated with the exception as a new reference, as accessible from Python
through the __cause__ attribute.
void PyException_SetCause(PyObject *ex, PyObject *cause)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the cause associated with the exception to cause. Use NULL to clear it. There is no
type check to make sure that cause is either an exception instance or None. This steals a reference to cause.
The __suppress_context__ attribute is implicitly set to True by this function.
PyObject *PyException_GetArgs(PyObject *ex)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Return args of exception ex.
void PyException_SetArgs(PyObject *ex, PyObject *args)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Set args of exception ex to args.
PyObject *PyUnstable_Exc_PrepReraiseStar(PyObject *orig, PyObject *excs)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Implement part of the interpreter’s implementation of except*. orig is the original exception that was caught,
and excs is the list of the exceptions that need to be raised. This list contains the unhandled part of orig, if any,
as well as the exceptions that were raised from the except* clauses (so they have a different traceback from
orig) and those that were reraised (and have the same traceback as orig). Return the ExceptionGroup that
needs to be reraised in the end, or None if there is nothing to reraise.
Added in version 3.12.

58 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

5.8 Unicode Exception Objects

The following functions are used to create and modify Unicode exceptions from C.
PyObject *PyUnicodeDecodeError_Create(const char *encoding, const char *object, Py_ssize_t length,
Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end, const char *reason)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a UnicodeDecodeError object with the at-
tributes encoding, object, length, start, end and reason. encoding and reason are UTF-8 encoded strings.
PyObject *PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEncoding(PyObject *exc)
PyObject *PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEncoding(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the encoding attribute of the given exception
object.
PyObject *PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetObject(PyObject *exc)
PyObject *PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetObject(PyObject *exc)
PyObject *PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetObject(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object attribute of the given exception object.
int PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *start)
int PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *start)
int PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *start)
Part of the Stable ABI. Get the start attribute of the given exception object and place it into *start. start must
not be NULL. Return 0 on success, -1 on failure.
int PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t start)
int PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t start)
int PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetStart(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t start)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the start attribute of the given exception object to start. Return 0 on success, -1 on
failure.
int PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *end)
int PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *end)
int PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t *end)
Part of the Stable ABI. Get the end attribute of the given exception object and place it into *end. end must not
be NULL. Return 0 on success, -1 on failure.
int PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t end)
int PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t end)
int PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetEnd(PyObject *exc, Py_ssize_t end)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the end attribute of the given exception object to end. Return 0 on success, -1 on
failure.
PyObject *PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetReason(PyObject *exc)
PyObject *PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetReason(PyObject *exc)
PyObject *PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetReason(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the reason attribute of the given exception object.
int PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetReason(PyObject *exc, const char *reason)
int PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetReason(PyObject *exc, const char *reason)
int PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetReason(PyObject *exc, const char *reason)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the reason attribute of the given exception object to reason. Return 0 on success,
-1 on failure.

5.8. Unicode Exception Objects 59

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

5.9 Recursion Control

These two functions provide a way to perform safe recursive calls at the C level, both in the core and in extension
modules. They are needed if the recursive code does not necessarily invoke Python code (which tracks its recursion
depth automatically). They are also not needed for tp_call implementations because the call protocol takes care of
recursion handling.
int Py_EnterRecursiveCall(const char *where)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Marks a point where a recursive C-level call is about to be performed.
If USE_STACKCHECK is defined, this function checks if the OS stack overflowed using PyOS_CheckStack().
If this is the case, it sets a MemoryError and returns a nonzero value.
The function then checks if the recursion limit is reached. If this is the case, a RecursionError is set and a
nonzero value is returned. Otherwise, zero is returned.
where should be a UTF-8 encoded string such as " in instance check" to be concatenated to the
RecursionError message caused by the recursion depth limit.

Changed in version 3.9: This function is now also available in the limited API.
void Py_LeaveRecursiveCall(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Ends a Py_EnterRecursiveCall(). Must be called once for each
successful invocation of Py_EnterRecursiveCall().
Changed in version 3.9: This function is now also available in the limited API.
Properly implementing tp_repr for container types requires special recursion handling. In addition to protecting the
stack, tp_repr also needs to track objects to prevent cycles. The following two functions facilitate this functionality.
Effectively, these are the C equivalent to reprlib.recursive_repr().
int Py_ReprEnter(PyObject *object)
Part of the Stable ABI. Called at the beginning of the tp_repr implementation to detect cycles.
If the object has already been processed, the function returns a positive integer. In that case the tp_repr
implementation should return a string object indicating a cycle. As examples, dict objects return {...} and
list objects return [...].

The function will return a negative integer if the recursion limit is reached. In that case the tp_repr imple-
mentation should typically return NULL.
Otherwise, the function returns zero and the tp_repr implementation can continue normally.
void Py_ReprLeave(PyObject *object)
Part of the Stable ABI. Ends a Py_ReprEnter(). Must be called once for each invocation of
Py_ReprEnter() that returns zero.

5.10 Standard Exceptions

All standard Python exceptions are available as global variables whose names are PyExc_ followed by the Python
exception name. These have the type PyObject*; they are all class objects. For completeness, here are all the
variables:

C Name Python Name Notes

1
PyExc_BaseException BaseException
Page 61, 1
PyExc_Exception Exception
Page 61, 1
PyExc_ArithmeticError ArithmeticError
PyExc_AssertionError AssertionError
PyExc_AttributeError AttributeError
PyExc_BlockingIOError BlockingIOError
PyExc_BrokenPipeError BrokenPipeError
continues on next page

60 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Table 1 – continued from previous page

C Name Python Name Notes
PyExc_BufferError BufferError
PyExc_ChildProcessError ChildProcessError
PyExc_ConnectionAbortedErrorConnectionAbortedError
PyExc_ConnectionError ConnectionError
PyExc_ConnectionRefusedErrorConnectionRefusedError
PyExc_ConnectionResetError ConnectionResetError
PyExc_EOFError EOFError
PyExc_FileExistsError FileExistsError
PyExc_FileNotFoundError FileNotFoundError
PyExc_FloatingPointError FloatingPointError
PyExc_GeneratorExit GeneratorExit
PyExc_ImportError ImportError
PyExc_IndentationError IndentationError
PyExc_IndexError IndexError
PyExc_InterruptedError InterruptedError
PyExc_IsADirectoryError IsADirectoryError
PyExc_KeyError KeyError
PyExc_KeyboardInterrupt KeyboardInterrupt
1
PyExc_LookupError LookupError
PyExc_MemoryError MemoryError
PyExc_ModuleNotFoundError ModuleNotFoundError
PyExc_NameError NameError
PyExc_NotADirectoryError NotADirectoryError
PyExc_NotImplementedError NotImplementedError
1
PyExc_OSError OSError
PyExc_OverflowError OverflowError
PyExc_PermissionError PermissionError
PyExc_ProcessLookupError ProcessLookupError
PyExc_RecursionError RecursionError
PyExc_ReferenceError ReferenceError
PyExc_RuntimeError RuntimeError
PyExc_StopAsyncIteration StopAsyncIteration
PyExc_StopIteration StopIteration
PyExc_SyntaxError SyntaxError
PyExc_SystemError SystemError
PyExc_SystemExit SystemExit
PyExc_TabError TabError
PyExc_TimeoutError TimeoutError
PyExc_TypeError TypeError
PyExc_UnboundLocalError UnboundLocalError
PyExc_UnicodeDecodeError UnicodeDecodeError
PyExc_UnicodeEncodeError UnicodeEncodeError
PyExc_UnicodeError UnicodeError
PyExc_UnicodeTranslateError UnicodeTranslateError
PyExc_ValueError ValueError
PyExc_ZeroDivisionError ZeroDivisionError

Added in version 3.3: PyExc_BlockingIOError, PyExc_BrokenPipeError, PyExc_ChildProcessError,

PyExc_ConnectionError, PyExc_ConnectionAbortedError, PyExc_ConnectionRefusedError,
PyExc_ConnectionResetError, PyExc_FileExistsError, PyExc_FileNotFoundError,
PyExc_InterruptedError, PyExc_IsADirectoryError, PyExc_NotADirectoryError,
PyExc_PermissionError, PyExc_ProcessLookupError and PyExc_TimeoutError were introduced
following PEP 3151.
1 This is a base class for other standard exceptions.

5.10. Standard Exceptions 61

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.5: PyExc_StopAsyncIteration and PyExc_RecursionError.

Added in version 3.6: PyExc_ModuleNotFoundError.
These are compatibility aliases to PyExc_OSError:

C Name Notes
PyExc_EnvironmentError
PyExc_IOError
2
PyExc_WindowsError

Changed in version 3.3: These aliases used to be separate exception types.

Notes:

5.11 Standard Warning Categories

All standard Python warning categories are available as global variables whose names are PyExc_ followed by the
Python exception name. These have the type PyObject*; they are all class objects. For completeness, here are all
the variables:

C Name Python Name Notes

3
PyExc_Warning Warning
PyExc_BytesWarning BytesWarning
PyExc_DeprecationWarning DeprecationWarning
PyExc_FutureWarning FutureWarning
PyExc_ImportWarning ImportWarning
PyExc_PendingDeprecationWarning PendingDeprecationWarning
PyExc_ResourceWarning ResourceWarning
PyExc_RuntimeWarning RuntimeWarning
PyExc_SyntaxWarning SyntaxWarning
PyExc_UnicodeWarning UnicodeWarning
PyExc_UserWarning UserWarning

Added in version 3.2: PyExc_ResourceWarning.

Notes:

2 Only defined on Windows; protect code that uses this by testing that the preprocessor macro MS_WINDOWS is defined.
3 This is a base class for other standard warning categories.

62 Chapter 5. Exception Handling

 CHAPTER

SIX

UTILITIES

The functions in this chapter perform various utility tasks, ranging from helping C code be more portable across
platforms, using Python modules from C, and parsing function arguments and constructing Python values from C
values.

6.1 Operating System Utilities

PyObject *PyOS_FSPath(PyObject *path)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.6. Return the file system representation for
path. If the object is a str or bytes object, then a new strong reference is returned. If the object implements
the os.PathLike interface, then __fspath__() is returned as long as it is a str or bytes object. Otherwise
TypeError is raised and NULL is returned.

Added in version 3.6.

int Py_FdIsInteractive(FILE *fp, const char *filename)
Return true (nonzero) if the standard I/O file fp with name filename is deemed interactive. This is the case for
files for which isatty(fileno(fp)) is true. If the PyConfig.interactive is non-zero, this function
also returns true if the filename pointer is NULL or if the name is equal to one of the strings '<stdin>' or
'???'.

This function must not be called before Python is initialized.

void PyOS_BeforeFork()
Part of the Stable ABI on platforms with fork() since version 3.7. Function to prepare some internal state
before a process fork. This should be called before calling fork() or any similar function that clones the
current process. Only available on systems where fork() is defined.

Á Warning

The C fork() call should only be made from the “main” thread (of the “main” interpreter). The same is
true for PyOS_BeforeFork().

Added in version 3.7.

void PyOS_AfterFork_Parent()
Part of the Stable ABI on platforms with fork() since version 3.7. Function to update some internal state after
a process fork. This should be called from the parent process after calling fork() or any similar function that
clones the current process, regardless of whether process cloning was successful. Only available on systems
where fork() is defined.

Á Warning

The C fork() call should only be made from the “main” thread (of the “main” interpreter). The same is
true for PyOS_AfterFork_Parent().

63
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.7.

void PyOS_AfterFork_Child()
Part of the Stable ABI on platforms with fork() since version 3.7. Function to update internal interpreter state
after a process fork. This must be called from the child process after calling fork(), or any similar function
that clones the current process, if there is any chance the process will call back into the Python interpreter.
Only available on systems where fork() is defined.

Á Warning

The C fork() call should only be made from the “main” thread (of the “main” interpreter). The same is
true for PyOS_AfterFork_Child().

Added in version 3.7.

µ See also

os.register_at_fork() allows registering custom Python functions to be called by

PyOS_BeforeFork(), PyOS_AfterFork_Parent() and PyOS_AfterFork_Child().

void PyOS_AfterFork()
Part of the Stable ABI on platforms with fork(). Function to update some internal state after a process fork;
this should be called in the new process if the Python interpreter will continue to be used. If a new executable
is loaded into the new process, this function does not need to be called.
Deprecated since version 3.7: This function is superseded by PyOS_AfterFork_Child().
int PyOS_CheckStack()
Part of the Stable ABI on platforms with USE_STACKCHECK since version 3.7. Return true when the interpreter
runs out of stack space. This is a reliable check, but is only available when USE_STACKCHECK is defined
(currently on certain versions of Windows using the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler). USE_STACKCHECK will
be defined automatically; you should never change the definition in your own code.
typedef void (*PyOS_sighandler_t)(int)
Part of the Stable ABI.
PyOS_sighandler_t PyOS_getsig(int i)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current signal handler for signal i. This is a thin wrapper around either
sigaction() or signal(). Do not call those functions directly!

PyOS_sighandler_t PyOS_setsig(int i, PyOS_sighandler_t h)

Part of the Stable ABI. Set the signal handler for signal i to be h; return the old signal handler. This is a thin
wrapper around either sigaction() or signal(). Do not call those functions directly!
wchar_t *Py_DecodeLocale(const char *arg, size_t *size)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7.

Á Warning

This function should not be called directly: use the PyConfig API with the
PyConfig_SetBytesString() function which ensures that Python is preinitialized.

This function must not be called before Python is preinitialized and so that the LC_CTYPE locale is properly
configured: see the Py_PreInitialize() function.

Decode a byte string from the filesystem encoding and error handler. If the error handler is surrogateescape er-
ror handler, undecodable bytes are decoded as characters in range U+DC80..U+DCFF; and if a byte sequence

64 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

can be decoded as a surrogate character, the bytes are escaped using the surrogateescape error handler instead
of decoding them.
Return a pointer to a newly allocated wide character string, use PyMem_RawFree() to free the memory. If
size is not NULL, write the number of wide characters excluding the null character into *size
Return NULL on decoding error or memory allocation error. If size is not NULL, *size is set to (size_t)-1
on memory error or set to (size_t)-2 on decoding error.
The filesystem encoding and error handler are selected by PyConfig_Read(): see filesystem_encoding
and filesystem_errors members of PyConfig .
Decoding errors should never happen, unless there is a bug in the C library.
Use the Py_EncodeLocale() function to encode the character string back to a byte string.

µ See also

The PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize() and PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize() func-

tions.

Added in version 3.5.

Changed in version 3.7: The function now uses the UTF-8 encoding in the Python UTF-8 Mode.
Changed in version 3.8: The function now uses the UTF-8 encoding on Windows if PyPreConfig.
legacy_windows_fs_encoding is zero;

char *Py_EncodeLocale(const wchar_t *text, size_t *error_pos)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Encode a wide character string to the filesystem encoding and
error handler. If the error handler is surrogateescape error handler, surrogate characters in the range
U+DC80..U+DCFF are converted to bytes 0x80..0xFF.
Return a pointer to a newly allocated byte string, use PyMem_Free() to free the memory. Return NULL on
encoding error or memory allocation error.
If error_pos is not NULL, *error_pos is set to (size_t)-1 on success, or set to the index of the invalid
character on encoding error.
The filesystem encoding and error handler are selected by PyConfig_Read(): see filesystem_encoding
and filesystem_errors members of PyConfig .
Use the Py_DecodeLocale() function to decode the bytes string back to a wide character string.

Á Warning

This function must not be called before Python is preinitialized and so that the LC_CTYPE locale is properly
configured: see the Py_PreInitialize() function.

µ See also

The PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault() and PyUnicode_EncodeLocale() functions.

Added in version 3.5.

Changed in version 3.7: The function now uses the UTF-8 encoding in the Python UTF-8 Mode.
Changed in version 3.8: The function now uses the UTF-8 encoding on Windows if PyPreConfig.
legacy_windows_fs_encoding is zero.

6.1. Operating System Utilities 65

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

6.2 System Functions

These are utility functions that make functionality from the sys module accessible to C code. They all work with
the current interpreter thread’s sys module’s dict, which is contained in the internal thread state structure.
PyObject *PySys_GetObject(const char *name)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object name from the sys module or
NULL if it does not exist, without setting an exception.

int PySys_SetObject(const char *name, PyObject *v)

Part of the Stable ABI. Set name in the sys module to v unless v is NULL, in which case name is deleted from
the sys module. Returns 0 on success, -1 on error.
void PySys_ResetWarnOptions()
Part of the Stable ABI. Reset sys.warnoptions to an empty list. This function may be called prior to
Py_Initialize().
void PySys_AddWarnOption(const wchar_t *s)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.warnoptions should
be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Append s to sys.warnoptions. This function must be called prior to Py_Initialize() in order to affect
the warnings filter list.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
void PySys_AddWarnOptionUnicode(PyObject *unicode)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.warnoptions should
be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Append unicode to sys.warnoptions.
Note: this function is not currently usable from outside the CPython implementation, as it must be called prior
to the implicit import of warnings in Py_Initialize() to be effective, but can’t be called until enough of
the runtime has been initialized to permit the creation of Unicode objects.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
void PySys_SetPath(const wchar_t *path)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.
module_search_paths and PyConfig.module_search_paths_set should be used instead, see
Python Initialization Configuration.
Set sys.path to a list object of paths found in path which should be a list of paths separated with the platform’s
search path delimiter (: on Unix, ; on Windows).
Deprecated since version 3.11.
void PySys_WriteStdout(const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Write the output string described by format to sys.stdout. No exceptions are raised,
even if truncation occurs (see below).
format should limit the total size of the formatted output string to 1000 bytes or less – after 1000 bytes, the
output string is truncated. In particular, this means that no unrestricted “%s” formats should occur; these should
be limited using “%.<N>s” where <N> is a decimal number calculated so that <N> plus the maximum size of
other formatted text does not exceed 1000 bytes. Also watch out for “%f”, which can print hundreds of digits
for very large numbers.
If a problem occurs, or sys.stdout is unset, the formatted message is written to the real (C level) stdout.
void PySys_WriteStderr(const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. As PySys_WriteStdout(), but write to sys.stderr or stderr instead.

66 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PySys_FormatStdout(const char *format, ...)

Part of the Stable ABI. Function similar to PySys_WriteStdout() but format the message using
PyUnicode_FromFormatV() and don’t truncate the message to an arbitrary length.

Added in version 3.2.

void PySys_FormatStderr(const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. As PySys_FormatStdout(), but write to sys.stderr or stderr instead.
Added in version 3.2.
void PySys_AddXOption(const wchar_t *s)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.
xoptions should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.

Parse s as a set of -X options and add them to the current options mapping as returned by
PySys_GetXOptions(). This function may be called prior to Py_Initialize().

Added in version 3.2.

Deprecated since version 3.11.
PyObject *PySys_GetXOptions()
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the current dictionary of
-X options, similarly to sys._xoptions. On error, NULL is returned and an exception is set.

Added in version 3.2.

int PySys_Audit(const char *event, const char *format, ...)
Raise an auditing event with any active hooks. Return zero for success and non-zero with an exception set on
failure.
If any hooks have been added, format and other arguments will be used to construct a tuple to pass. Apart
from N, the same format characters as used in Py_BuildValue() are available. If the built value is not a
tuple, it will be added into a single-element tuple. (The N format option consumes a reference, but since there
is no way to know whether arguments to this function will be consumed, using it may cause reference leaks.)
Note that # format characters should always be treated as Py_ssize_t, regardless of whether
PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN was defined.

sys.audit() performs the same function from Python code.

Added in version 3.8.
Changed in version 3.8.2: Require Py_ssize_t for # format characters. Previously, an unavoidable depre-
cation warning was raised.
int PySys_AddAuditHook(Py_AuditHookFunction hook, void *userData)
Append the callable hook to the list of active auditing hooks. Return zero on success and non-zero on failure.
If the runtime has been initialized, also set an error on failure. Hooks added through this API are called for all
interpreters created by the runtime.
The userData pointer is passed into the hook function. Since hook functions may be called from different
runtimes, this pointer should not refer directly to Python state.
This function is safe to call before Py_Initialize(). When called after runtime initialization, existing audit
hooks are notified and may silently abort the operation by raising an error subclassed from Exception (other
errors will not be silenced).
The hook function is always called with the GIL held by the Python interpreter that raised the event.
See PEP 578 for a detailed description of auditing. Functions in the runtime and standard library that raise
events are listed in the audit events table. Details are in each function’s documentation.

If the interpreter is initialized, this function raises an auditing event sys.addaudithook with no arguments.
If any existing hooks raise an exception derived from Exception, the new hook will not be added and the

6.2. System Functions 67

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

exception is cleared. As a result, callers cannot assume that their hook has been added unless they control all
existing hooks.
typedef int (*Py_AuditHookFunction)(const char *event, PyObject *args, void *userData)
The type of the hook function. event is the C string event argument passed to PySys_Audit(). args is
guaranteed to be a PyTupleObject. userData is the argument passed to PySys_AddAuditHook().
Added in version 3.8.

6.3 Process Control

void Py_FatalError(const char *message)
Part of the Stable ABI. Print a fatal error message and kill the process. No cleanup is performed. This function
should only be invoked when a condition is detected that would make it dangerous to continue using the Python
interpreter; e.g., when the object administration appears to be corrupted. On Unix, the standard C library
function abort() is called which will attempt to produce a core file.
The Py_FatalError() function is replaced with a macro which logs automatically the name of the current
function, unless the Py_LIMITED_API macro is defined.
Changed in version 3.9: Log the function name automatically.
void Py_Exit(int status)
Part of the Stable ABI. Exit the current process. This calls Py_FinalizeEx() and then calls the standard C
library function exit(status). If Py_FinalizeEx() indicates an error, the exit status is set to 120.
Changed in version 3.6: Errors from finalization no longer ignored.
int Py_AtExit(void (*func)())
Part of the Stable ABI. Register a cleanup function to be called by Py_FinalizeEx(). The cleanup function
will be called with no arguments and should return no value. At most 32 cleanup functions can be registered.
When the registration is successful, Py_AtExit() returns 0; on failure, it returns -1. The cleanup func-
tion registered last is called first. Each cleanup function will be called at most once. Since Python’s internal
finalization will have completed before the cleanup function, no Python APIs should be called by func.

6.4 Importing Modules

PyObject *PyImport_ImportModule(const char *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a wrapper around PyImport_Import() which
takes a const char* as an argument instead of a PyObject*.
PyObject *PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock(const char *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This function is a deprecated alias of
PyImport_ImportModule().
Changed in version 3.3: This function used to fail immediately when the import lock was held by another
thread. In Python 3.3 though, the locking scheme switched to per-module locks for most purposes, so this
function’s special behaviour isn’t needed anymore.
PyObject *PyImport_ImportModuleEx(const char *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject
*fromlist)
Return value: New reference. Import a module. This is best described by referring to the built-in Python
function __import__().
The return value is a new reference to the imported module or top-level package, or NULL with an exception
set on failure. Like for __import__(), the return value when a submodule of a package was requested is
normally the top-level package, unless a non-empty fromlist was given.
Failing imports remove incomplete module objects, like with PyImport_ImportModule().

68 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject(PyObject *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals,

PyObject *fromlist, int level)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Import a module. This is best described
by referring to the built-in Python function __import__(), as the standard __import__() function calls
this function directly.
The return value is a new reference to the imported module or top-level package, or NULL with an exception
set on failure. Like for __import__(), the return value when a submodule of a package was requested is
normally the top-level package, unless a non-empty fromlist was given.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyImport_ImportModuleLevel(const char *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject
*fromlist, int level)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject(),
but the name is a UTF-8 encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
Changed in version 3.3: Negative values for level are no longer accepted.
PyObject *PyImport_Import(PyObject *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is a higher-level interface that calls the current
“import hook function” (with an explicit level of 0, meaning absolute import). It invokes the __import__()
function from the __builtins__ of the current globals. This means that the import is done using whatever
import hooks are installed in the current environment.
This function always uses absolute imports.
PyObject *PyImport_ReloadModule(PyObject *m)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Reload a module. Return a new reference to the reloaded
module, or NULL with an exception set on failure (the module still exists in this case).
PyObject *PyImport_AddModuleObject(PyObject *name)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the module object cor-
responding to a module name. The name argument may be of the form package.module. First check the
modules dictionary if there’s one there, and if not, create a new one and insert it in the modules dictionary.
Return NULL with an exception set on failure.

® Note

This function does not load or import the module; if the module wasn’t already loaded, you will get an empty
module object. Use PyImport_ImportModule() or one of its variants to import a module. Package
structures implied by a dotted name for name are not created if not already present.

Added in version 3.3.

PyObject *PyImport_AddModule(const char *name)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyImport_AddModuleObject(), but
the name is a UTF-8 encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
PyObject *PyImport_ExecCodeModule(const char *name, PyObject *co)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Given a module name (possibly of the form package.
module) and a code object read from a Python bytecode file or obtained from the built-in function compile(),
load the module. Return a new reference to the module object, or NULL with an exception set if an error
occurred. name is removed from sys.modules in error cases, even if name was already in sys.modules
on entry to PyImport_ExecCodeModule(). Leaving incompletely initialized modules in sys.modules
is dangerous, as imports of such modules have no way to know that the module object is an unknown (and
probably damaged with respect to the module author’s intents) state.
The module’s __spec__ and __loader__ will be set, if not set already, with the appropriate values. The
spec’s loader will be set to the module’s __loader__ (if set) and to an instance of SourceFileLoader
otherwise.

6.4. Importing Modules 69

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The module’s __file__ attribute will be set to the code object’s co_filename. If applicable, __cached__
will also be set.
This function will reload the module if it was already imported. See PyImport_ReloadModule() for the
intended way to reload a module.
If name points to a dotted name of the form package.module, any package structures not already created
will still not be created.
See also PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx() and PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames().
Changed in version 3.12: The setting of __cached__ and __loader__ is deprecated. See ModuleSpec for
alternatives.
PyObject *PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx(const char *name, PyObject *co, const char *pathname)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Like PyImport_ExecCodeModule(), but the
__file__ attribute of the module object is set to pathname if it is non-NULL.
See also PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames().
PyObject *PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject(PyObject *name, PyObject *co, PyObject *pathname, PyObject
*cpathname)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Like
PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx(), but the __cached__ attribute of the module object is set to
cpathname if it is non-NULL. Of the three functions, this is the preferred one to use.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.12: Setting __cached__ is deprecated. See ModuleSpec for alternatives.
PyObject *PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames(const char *name, PyObject *co, const char
*pathname, const char *cpathname)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Like PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject(), but
name, pathname and cpathname are UTF-8 encoded strings. Attempts are also made to figure out what the
value for pathname should be from cpathname if the former is set to NULL.
Added in version 3.2.
Changed in version 3.3: Uses imp.source_from_cache() in calculating the source path if only the byte-
code path is provided.
Changed in version 3.12: No longer uses the removed imp module.
long PyImport_GetMagicNumber()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the magic number for Python bytecode files (a.k.a. .pyc file). The magic
number should be present in the first four bytes of the bytecode file, in little-endian byte order. Returns -1 on
error.
Changed in version 3.3: Return value of -1 upon failure.
const char *PyImport_GetMagicTag()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the magic tag string for PEP 3147 format Python bytecode file names. Keep
in mind that the value at sys.implementation.cache_tag is authoritative and should be used instead of
this function.
Added in version 3.2.
PyObject *PyImport_GetModuleDict()
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the dictionary used for the module admin-
istration (a.k.a. sys.modules). Note that this is a per-interpreter variable.
PyObject *PyImport_GetModule(PyObject *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.8. Return the already imported module
with the given name. If the module has not been imported yet then returns NULL but does not set an error.
Returns NULL and sets an error if the lookup failed.
Added in version 3.7.

70 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyImport_GetImporter(PyObject *path)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a finder object for a sys.path/pkg.__path__
item path, possibly by fetching it from the sys.path_importer_cache dict. If it wasn’t yet cached, traverse
sys.path_hooks until a hook is found that can handle the path item. Return None if no hook could; this
tells our caller that the path based finder could not find a finder for this path item. Cache the result in sys.
path_importer_cache. Return a new reference to the finder object.

int PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject(PyObject *name)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Load a frozen module named name. Return 1 for success, 0 if the
module is not found, and -1 with an exception set if the initialization failed. To access the imported module
on a successful load, use PyImport_ImportModule(). (Note the misnomer — this function would reload
the module if it was already imported.)
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.4: The __file__ attribute is no longer set on the module.
int PyImport_ImportFrozenModule(const char *name)
Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject(), but the name is a UTF-8
encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
struct _frozen
This is the structure type definition for frozen module descriptors, as generated by the freeze utility (see
Tools/freeze/ in the Python source distribution). Its definition, found in Include/import.h, is:

struct _frozen {
const char *name;
const unsigned char *code;
int size;
bool is_package;
};

Changed in version 3.11: The new is_package field indicates whether the module is a package or not. This
replaces setting the size field to a negative value.
const struct _frozen *PyImport_FrozenModules
This pointer is initialized to point to an array of _frozen records, terminated by one whose members are all
NULL or zero. When a frozen module is imported, it is searched in this table. Third-party code could play
tricks with this to provide a dynamically created collection of frozen modules.
int PyImport_AppendInittab(const char *name, PyObject *(*initfunc)(void))
Part of the Stable ABI. Add a single module to the existing table of built-in modules. This is a convenience
wrapper around PyImport_ExtendInittab(), returning -1 if the table could not be extended. The new
module can be imported by the name name, and uses the function initfunc as the initialization function called
on the first attempted import. This should be called before Py_Initialize().
struct _inittab
Structure describing a single entry in the list of built-in modules. Programs which embed Python may use an
array of these structures in conjunction with PyImport_ExtendInittab() to provide additional built-in
modules. The structure consists of two members:
const char *name
The module name, as an ASCII encoded string.
PyObject *(*initfunc)(void)
Initialization function for a module built into the interpreter.
int PyImport_ExtendInittab(struct _inittab *newtab)
Add a collection of modules to the table of built-in modules. The newtab array must end with a sentinel entry
which contains NULL for the name field; failure to provide the sentinel value can result in a memory fault.
Returns 0 on success or -1 if insufficient memory could be allocated to extend the internal table. In the event
of failure, no modules are added to the internal table. This must be called before Py_Initialize().

6.4. Importing Modules 71

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If Python is initialized multiple times, PyImport_AppendInittab() or PyImport_ExtendInittab()

must be called before each Python initialization.

6.5 Data marshalling support

These routines allow C code to work with serialized objects using the same data format as the marshal module.
There are functions to write data into the serialization format, and additional functions that can be used to read the
data back. Files used to store marshalled data must be opened in binary mode.
Numeric values are stored with the least significant byte first.
The module supports two versions of the data format: version 0 is the historical version, version 1 shares in-
terned strings in the file, and upon unmarshalling. Version 2 uses a binary format for floating-point numbers.
Py_MARSHAL_VERSION indicates the current file format (currently 2).

void PyMarshal_WriteLongToFile(long value, FILE *file, int version)

Marshal a long integer, value, to file. This will only write the least-significant 32 bits of value; regardless of
the size of the native long type. version indicates the file format.
This function can fail, in which case it sets the error indicator. Use PyErr_Occurred() to check for that.
void PyMarshal_WriteObjectToFile(PyObject *value, FILE *file, int version)
Marshal a Python object, value, to file. version indicates the file format.
This function can fail, in which case it sets the error indicator. Use PyErr_Occurred() to check for that.
PyObject *PyMarshal_WriteObjectToString(PyObject *value, int version)
Return value: New reference. Return a bytes object containing the marshalled representation of value. version
indicates the file format.
The following functions allow marshalled values to be read back in.
long PyMarshal_ReadLongFromFile(FILE *file)
Return a C long from the data stream in a FILE* opened for reading. Only a 32-bit value can be read in using
this function, regardless of the native size of long.
On error, sets the appropriate exception (EOFError) and returns -1.
int PyMarshal_ReadShortFromFile(FILE *file)
Return a C short from the data stream in a FILE* opened for reading. Only a 16-bit value can be read in
using this function, regardless of the native size of short.
On error, sets the appropriate exception (EOFError) and returns -1.
PyObject *PyMarshal_ReadObjectFromFile(FILE *file)
Return value: New reference. Return a Python object from the data stream in a FILE* opened for reading.
On error, sets the appropriate exception (EOFError, ValueError or TypeError) and returns NULL.
PyObject *PyMarshal_ReadLastObjectFromFile(FILE *file)
Return value: New reference. Return a Python object from the data stream in a FILE* opened for reading.
Unlike PyMarshal_ReadObjectFromFile(), this function assumes that no further objects will be read
from the file, allowing it to aggressively load file data into memory so that the de-serialization can operate from
data in memory rather than reading a byte at a time from the file. Only use these variant if you are certain that
you won’t be reading anything else from the file.
On error, sets the appropriate exception (EOFError, ValueError or TypeError) and returns NULL.
PyObject *PyMarshal_ReadObjectFromString(const char *data, Py_ssize_t len)
Return value: New reference. Return a Python object from the data stream in a byte buffer containing len bytes
pointed to by data.
On error, sets the appropriate exception (EOFError, ValueError or TypeError) and returns NULL.

72 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

6.6 Parsing arguments and building values

These functions are useful when creating your own extension functions and methods. Additional information and
examples are available in extending-index.
The first three of these functions described, PyArg_ParseTuple(), PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(), and
PyArg_Parse(), all use format strings which are used to tell the function about the expected arguments. The format
strings use the same syntax for each of these functions.

6.6.1 Parsing arguments

A format string consists of zero or more “format units.” A format unit describes one Python object; it is usually
a single character or a parenthesized sequence of format units. With a few exceptions, a format unit that is not
a parenthesized sequence normally corresponds to a single address argument to these functions. In the following
description, the quoted form is the format unit; the entry in (round) parentheses is the Python object type that matches
the format unit; and the entry in [square] brackets is the type of the C variable(s) whose address should be passed.

Strings and buffers

These formats allow accessing an object as a contiguous chunk of memory. You don’t have to provide raw storage
for the returned unicode or bytes area.
Unless otherwise stated, buffers are not NUL-terminated.
There are three ways strings and buffers can be converted to C:
• Formats such as y* and s* fill a Py_buffer structure. This locks the underlying buffer so that the caller
can subsequently use the buffer even inside a Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS block without the risk of mutable
data being resized or destroyed. As a result, you have to call PyBuffer_Release() after you have finished
processing the data (or in any early abort case).
• The es, es#, et and et# formats allocate the result buffer. You have to call PyMem_Free() after you have
finished processing the data (or in any early abort case).
• Other formats take a str or a read-only bytes-like object, such as bytes, and provide a const char * pointer
to its buffer. In this case the buffer is “borrowed”: it is managed by the corresponding Python object, and shares
the lifetime of this object. You won’t have to release any memory yourself.
To ensure that the underlying buffer may be safely borrowed, the object’s PyBufferProcs.
bf_releasebuffer field must be NULL. This disallows common mutable objects such as bytearray, but
also some read-only objects such as memoryview of bytes.
Besides this bf_releasebuffer requirement, there is no check to verify whether the input object is im-
mutable (e.g. whether it would honor a request for a writable buffer, or whether another thread can mutate the
data).

® Note

For all # variants of formats (s#, y#, etc.), the macro PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN must be defined before in-
cluding Python.h. On Python 3.9 and older, the type of the length argument is Py_ssize_t if the
PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN macro is defined, or int otherwise.

s (str) [const char *]

Convert a Unicode object to a C pointer to a character string. A pointer to an existing string is stored in the
character pointer variable whose address you pass. The C string is NUL-terminated. The Python string must
not contain embedded null code points; if it does, a ValueError exception is raised. Unicode objects are
converted to C strings using 'utf-8' encoding. If this conversion fails, a UnicodeError is raised.

® Note

6.6. Parsing arguments and building values 73

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This format does not accept bytes-like objects. If you want to accept filesystem paths and convert them to
C character strings, it is preferable to use the O& format with PyUnicode_FSConverter() as converter.

Changed in version 3.5: Previously, TypeError was raised when embedded null code points were encountered
in the Python string.
s* (str or bytes-like object) [Py_buffer]
This format accepts Unicode objects as well as bytes-like objects. It fills a Py_buffer structure provided by
the caller. In this case the resulting C string may contain embedded NUL bytes. Unicode objects are converted
to C strings using 'utf-8' encoding.
s# (str, read-only bytes-like object) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
Like s*, except that it provides a borrowed buffer. The result is stored into two C variables, the first one a
pointer to a C string, the second one its length. The string may contain embedded null bytes. Unicode objects
are converted to C strings using 'utf-8' encoding.
z (str or None) [const char *]
Like s, but the Python object may also be None, in which case the C pointer is set to NULL.
z* (str, bytes-like object or None) [Py_buffer]
Like s*, but the Python object may also be None, in which case the buf member of the Py_buffer structure
is set to NULL.
z# (str, read-only bytes-like object or None) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
Like s#, but the Python object may also be None, in which case the C pointer is set to NULL.
y (read-only bytes-like object) [const char *]
This format converts a bytes-like object to a C pointer to a borrowed character string; it does not accept Unicode
objects. The bytes buffer must not contain embedded null bytes; if it does, a ValueError exception is raised.
Changed in version 3.5: Previously, TypeError was raised when embedded null bytes were encountered in
the bytes buffer.
y* (bytes-like object) [Py_buffer]
This variant on s* doesn’t accept Unicode objects, only bytes-like objects. This is the recommended way to
accept binary data.
y# (read-only bytes-like object) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
This variant on s# doesn’t accept Unicode objects, only bytes-like objects.
S (bytes) [PyBytesObject *]
Requires that the Python object is a bytes object, without attempting any conversion. Raises TypeError if
the object is not a bytes object. The C variable may also be declared as PyObject*.
Y (bytearray) [PyByteArrayObject *]
Requires that the Python object is a bytearray object, without attempting any conversion. Raises
TypeError if the object is not a bytearray object. The C variable may also be declared as PyObject*.

U (str) [PyObject *]
Requires that the Python object is a Unicode object, without attempting any conversion. Raises TypeError
if the object is not a Unicode object. The C variable may also be declared as PyObject*.
w* (read-write bytes-like object) [Py_buffer]
This format accepts any object which implements the read-write buffer interface. It fills a Py_buffer
structure provided by the caller. The buffer may contain embedded null bytes. The caller have to call
PyBuffer_Release() when it is done with the buffer.
es (str) [const char *encoding, char **buffer]
This variant on s is used for encoding Unicode into a character buffer. It only works for encoded data without
embedded NUL bytes.
This format requires two arguments. The first is only used as input, and must be a const char* which points
to the name of an encoding as a NUL-terminated string, or NULL, in which case 'utf-8' encoding is used.
An exception is raised if the named encoding is not known to Python. The second argument must be a char**;

74 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

the value of the pointer it references will be set to a buffer with the contents of the argument text. The text
will be encoded in the encoding specified by the first argument.
PyArg_ParseTuple() will allocate a buffer of the needed size, copy the encoded data into this buffer and
adjust *buffer to reference the newly allocated storage. The caller is responsible for calling PyMem_Free() to
free the allocated buffer after use.
et (str, bytes or bytearray) [const char *encoding, char **buffer]
Same as es except that byte string objects are passed through without recoding them. Instead, the implemen-
tation assumes that the byte string object uses the encoding passed in as parameter.
es# (str) [const char *encoding, char **buffer, Py_ssize_t *buffer_length]
This variant on s# is used for encoding Unicode into a character buffer. Unlike the es format, this variant
allows input data which contains NUL characters.
It requires three arguments. The first is only used as input, and must be a const char* which points to the
name of an encoding as a NUL-terminated string, or NULL, in which case 'utf-8' encoding is used. An
exception is raised if the named encoding is not known to Python. The second argument must be a char**;
the value of the pointer it references will be set to a buffer with the contents of the argument text. The text
will be encoded in the encoding specified by the first argument. The third argument must be a pointer to an
integer; the referenced integer will be set to the number of bytes in the output buffer.
There are two modes of operation:
If *buffer points a NULL pointer, the function will allocate a buffer of the needed size, copy the encoded data
into this buffer and set *buffer to reference the newly allocated storage. The caller is responsible for calling
PyMem_Free() to free the allocated buffer after usage.
If *buffer points to a non-NULL pointer (an already allocated buffer), PyArg_ParseTuple() will use this
location as the buffer and interpret the initial value of *buffer_length as the buffer size. It will then copy the
encoded data into the buffer and NUL-terminate it. If the buffer is not large enough, a ValueError will be
set.
In both cases, *buffer_length is set to the length of the encoded data without the trailing NUL byte.
et# (str, bytes or bytearray) [const char *encoding, char **buffer, Py_ssize_t *buffer_length]
Same as es# except that byte string objects are passed through without recoding them. Instead, the imple-
mentation assumes that the byte string object uses the encoding passed in as parameter.
Changed in version 3.12: u, u#, Z, and Z# are removed because they used a legacy Py_UNICODE* representation.

Numbers
These formats allow representing Python numbers or single characters as C numbers. Formats that require
int, float or complex can also use the corresponding special methods __index__(), __float__() or
__complex__() to convert the Python object to the required type.

For signed integer formats, OverflowError is raised if the value is out of range for the C type. For unsigned integer
formats, no range checking is done — the most significant bits are silently truncated when the receiving field is too
small to receive the value.
b (int) [unsigned char]
Convert a nonnegative Python integer to an unsigned tiny integer, stored in a C unsigned char.
B (int) [unsigned char]
Convert a Python integer to a tiny integer without overflow checking, stored in a C unsigned char.
h (int) [short int]
Convert a Python integer to a C short int.
H (int) [unsigned short int]
Convert a Python integer to a C unsigned short int, without overflow checking.
i (int) [int]
Convert a Python integer to a plain C int.

6.6. Parsing arguments and building values 75

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

I (int) [unsigned int]

Convert a Python integer to a C unsigned int, without overflow checking.
l (int) [long int]
Convert a Python integer to a C long int.
k (int) [unsigned long]
Convert a Python integer to a C unsigned long without overflow checking.
L (int) [long long]
Convert a Python integer to a C long long.
K (int) [unsigned long long]
Convert a Python integer to a C unsigned long long without overflow checking.
n (int) [Py_ssize_t]
Convert a Python integer to a C Py_ssize_t.
c (bytes or bytearray of length 1) [char]
Convert a Python byte, represented as a bytes or bytearray object of length 1, to a C char.
Changed in version 3.3: Allow bytearray objects.
C (str of length 1) [int]
Convert a Python character, represented as a str object of length 1, to a C int.
f (float) [float]
Convert a Python floating-point number to a C float.
d (float) [double]
Convert a Python floating-point number to a C double.
D (complex) [Py_complex]
Convert a Python complex number to a C Py_complex structure.

Other objects
O (object) [PyObject *]
Store a Python object (without any conversion) in a C object pointer. The C program thus receives the actual
object that was passed. A new strong reference to the object is not created (i.e. its reference count is not
increased). The pointer stored is not NULL.
O! (object) [typeobject, PyObject *]
Store a Python object in a C object pointer. This is similar to O, but takes two C arguments: the first is the
address of a Python type object, the second is the address of the C variable (of type PyObject*) into which
the object pointer is stored. If the Python object does not have the required type, TypeError is raised.
O& (object) [converter, address]
Convert a Python object to a C variable through a converter function. This takes two arguments: the first is
a function, the second is the address of a C variable (of arbitrary type), converted to void*. The converter
function in turn is called as follows:

status = converter(object, address);

where object is the Python object to be converted and address is the void* argument that was passed to the
PyArg_Parse* function. The returned status should be 1 for a successful conversion and 0 if the conversion
has failed. When the conversion fails, the converter function should raise an exception and leave the content of
address unmodified. If the converter returns Py_CLEANUP_SUPPORTED, it may get called a second time if
the argument parsing eventually fails, giving the converter a chance to release any memory that it had already
allocated. In this second call, the object parameter will be NULL; address will have the same value as in the
original call.
Examples of converters: PyUnicode_FSConverter() and PyUnicode_FSDecoder().
Changed in version 3.1: Py_CLEANUP_SUPPORTED was added.

76 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

p (bool) [int]
Tests the value passed in for truth (a boolean predicate) and converts the result to its equivalent C true/false
integer value. Sets the int to 1 if the expression was true and 0 if it was false. This accepts any valid Python
value. See truth for more information about how Python tests values for truth.
Added in version 3.3.
(items) (tuple) [matching-items]
The object must be a Python sequence whose length is the number of format units in items. The C arguments
must correspond to the individual format units in items. Format units for sequences may be nested.
A few other characters have a meaning in a format string. These may not occur inside nested parentheses. They are:
|
Indicates that the remaining arguments in the Python argument list are optional. The C variables corresponding
to optional arguments should be initialized to their default value — when an optional argument is not specified,
PyArg_ParseTuple() does not touch the contents of the corresponding C variable(s).

$
PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords() only: Indicates that the remaining arguments in the Python argument
list are keyword-only. Currently, all keyword-only arguments must also be optional arguments, so | must
always be specified before $ in the format string.
Added in version 3.3.
:
The list of format units ends here; the string after the colon is used as the function name in error messages (the
“associated value” of the exception that PyArg_ParseTuple() raises).
;
The list of format units ends here; the string after the semicolon is used as the error message instead of the
default error message. : and ; mutually exclude each other.
Note that any Python object references which are provided to the caller are borrowed references; do not release them
(i.e. do not decrement their reference count)!
Additional arguments passed to these functions must be addresses of variables whose type is determined by the format
string; these are used to store values from the input tuple. There are a few cases, as described in the list of format units
above, where these parameters are used as input values; they should match what is specified for the corresponding
format unit in that case.
For the conversion to succeed, the arg object must match the format and the format must be exhausted. On success,
the PyArg_Parse* functions return true, otherwise they return false and raise an appropriate exception. When the
PyArg_Parse* functions fail due to conversion failure in one of the format units, the variables at the addresses
corresponding to that and the following format units are left untouched.

API Functions
int PyArg_ParseTuple(PyObject *args, const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Parse the parameters of a function that takes only positional parameters into local
variables. Returns true on success; on failure, it returns false and raises the appropriate exception.
int PyArg_VaParse(PyObject *args, const char *format, va_list vargs)
Part of the Stable ABI. Identical to PyArg_ParseTuple(), except that it accepts a va_list rather than a
variable number of arguments.
int PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(PyObject *args, PyObject *kw, const char *format, char *keywords[], ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Parse the parameters of a function that takes both positional and keyword parameters
into local variables. The keywords argument is a NULL-terminated array of keyword parameter names. Empty
names denote positional-only parameters. Returns true on success; on failure, it returns false and raises the
appropriate exception.
Changed in version 3.6: Added support for positional-only parameters.

6.6. Parsing arguments and building values 77

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyArg_VaParseTupleAndKeywords(PyObject *args, PyObject *kw, const char *format, char *keywords[],
va_list vargs)
Part of the Stable ABI. Identical to PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(), except that it accepts a va_list
rather than a variable number of arguments.
int PyArg_ValidateKeywordArguments(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. Ensure that the keys in the keywords argument dictionary are strings. This is only
needed if PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords() is not used, since the latter already does this check.
Added in version 3.2.
int PyArg_Parse(PyObject *args, const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Function used to deconstruct the argument lists of “old-style” functions — these are
functions which use the METH_OLDARGS parameter parsing method, which has been removed in Python 3.
This is not recommended for use in parameter parsing in new code, and most code in the standard interpreter
has been modified to no longer use this for that purpose. It does remain a convenient way to decompose other
tuples, however, and may continue to be used for that purpose.
int PyArg_UnpackTuple(PyObject *args, const char *name, Py_ssize_t min, Py_ssize_t max, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. A simpler form of parameter retrieval which does not use a format string to specify the
types of the arguments. Functions which use this method to retrieve their parameters should be declared as
METH_VARARGS in function or method tables. The tuple containing the actual parameters should be passed as
args; it must actually be a tuple. The length of the tuple must be at least min and no more than max; min and
max may be equal. Additional arguments must be passed to the function, each of which should be a pointer to
a PyObject* variable; these will be filled in with the values from args; they will contain borrowed references.
The variables which correspond to optional parameters not given by args will not be filled in; these should be
initialized by the caller. This function returns true on success and false if args is not a tuple or contains the
wrong number of elements; an exception will be set if there was a failure.
This is an example of the use of this function, taken from the sources for the _weakref helper module for
weak references:

static PyObject *
weakref_ref(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
{
PyObject *object;
PyObject *callback = NULL;
PyObject *result = NULL;

if (PyArg_UnpackTuple(args, "ref", 1, 2, &object, &callback)) {

result = PyWeakref_NewRef(object, callback);
}
return result;
}

The call to PyArg_UnpackTuple() in this example is entirely equivalent to this call to

PyArg_ParseTuple():

PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:ref", &object, &callback)

6.6.2 Building values

PyObject *Py_BuildValue(const char *format, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new value based on a format string similar to
those accepted by the PyArg_Parse* family of functions and a sequence of values. Returns the value or
NULL in the case of an error; an exception will be raised if NULL is returned.
Py_BuildValue() does not always build a tuple. It builds a tuple only if its format string contains two or
more format units. If the format string is empty, it returns None; if it contains exactly one format unit, it returns

78 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

whatever object is described by that format unit. To force it to return a tuple of size 0 or one, parenthesize the
format string.
When memory buffers are passed as parameters to supply data to build objects, as for the s and s# formats,
the required data is copied. Buffers provided by the caller are never referenced by the objects created by
Py_BuildValue(). In other words, if your code invokes malloc() and passes the allocated memory to
Py_BuildValue(), your code is responsible for calling free() for that memory once Py_BuildValue()
returns.
In the following description, the quoted form is the format unit; the entry in (round) parentheses is the Python
object type that the format unit will return; and the entry in [square] brackets is the type of the C value(s) to
be passed.
The characters space, tab, colon and comma are ignored in format strings (but not within format units such as
s#). This can be used to make long format strings a tad more readable.

s (str or None) [const char *]

Convert a null-terminated C string to a Python str object using 'utf-8' encoding. If the C string
pointer is NULL, None is used.
s# (str or None) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
Convert a C string and its length to a Python str object using 'utf-8' encoding. If the C string pointer
is NULL, the length is ignored and None is returned.
y (bytes) [const char *]
This converts a C string to a Python bytes object. If the C string pointer is NULL, None is returned.
y# (bytes) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
This converts a C string and its lengths to a Python object. If the C string pointer is NULL, None is
returned.
z (str or None) [const char *]
Same as s.
z# (str or None) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
Same as s#.
u (str) [const wchar_t *]
Convert a null-terminated wchar_t buffer of Unicode (UTF-16 or UCS-4) data to a Python Unicode
object. If the Unicode buffer pointer is NULL, None is returned.
u# (str) [const wchar_t *, Py_ssize_t]
Convert a Unicode (UTF-16 or UCS-4) data buffer and its length to a Python Unicode object. If the
Unicode buffer pointer is NULL, the length is ignored and None is returned.
U (str or None) [const char *]
Same as s.
U# (str or None) [const char *, Py_ssize_t]
Same as s#.
i (int) [int]
Convert a plain C int to a Python integer object.
b (int) [char]
Convert a plain C char to a Python integer object.
h (int) [short int]
Convert a plain C short int to a Python integer object.
l (int) [long int]
Convert a C long int to a Python integer object.
B (int) [unsigned char]
Convert a C unsigned char to a Python integer object.
H (int) [unsigned short int]
Convert a C unsigned short int to a Python integer object.

6.6. Parsing arguments and building values 79

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

I (int) [unsigned int]

Convert a C unsigned int to a Python integer object.
k (int) [unsigned long]
Convert a C unsigned long to a Python integer object.
L (int) [long long]
Convert a C long long to a Python integer object.
K (int) [unsigned long long]
Convert a C unsigned long long to a Python integer object.
n (int) [Py_ssize_t]
Convert a C Py_ssize_t to a Python integer.
c (bytes of length 1) [char]
Convert a C int representing a byte to a Python bytes object of length 1.
C (str of length 1) [int]
Convert a C int representing a character to Python str object of length 1.
d (float) [double]
Convert a C double to a Python floating-point number.
f (float) [float]
Convert a C float to a Python floating-point number.
D (complex) [Py_complex *]
Convert a C Py_complex structure to a Python complex number.
O (object) [PyObject *]
Pass a Python object untouched but create a new strong reference to it (i.e. its reference count is incre-
mented by one). If the object passed in is a NULL pointer, it is assumed that this was caused because the
call producing the argument found an error and set an exception. Therefore, Py_BuildValue() will
return NULL but won’t raise an exception. If no exception has been raised yet, SystemError is set.
S (object) [PyObject *]
Same as O.
N (object) [PyObject *]
Same as O, except it doesn’t create a new strong reference. Useful when the object is created by a call to
an object constructor in the argument list.
O& (object) [converter, anything]
Convert anything to a Python object through a converter function. The function is called with anything
(which should be compatible with void*) as its argument and should return a “new” Python object, or
NULL if an error occurred.

(items) (tuple) [matching-items]

Convert a sequence of C values to a Python tuple with the same number of items.
[items] (list) [matching-items]
Convert a sequence of C values to a Python list with the same number of items.
{items} (dict) [matching-items]
Convert a sequence of C values to a Python dictionary. Each pair of consecutive C values adds one item
to the dictionary, serving as key and value, respectively.
If there is an error in the format string, the SystemError exception is set and NULL returned.
PyObject *Py_VaBuildValue(const char *format, va_list vargs)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Identical to Py_BuildValue(), except that it accepts a
va_list rather than a variable number of arguments.

80 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

6.7 String conversion and formatting

Functions for number conversion and formatted string output.
int PyOS_snprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, ...)
Part of the Stable ABI. Output not more than size bytes to str according to the format string format and the
extra arguments. See the Unix man page snprintf(3).
int PyOS_vsnprintf(char *str, size_t size, const char *format, va_list va)
Part of the Stable ABI. Output not more than size bytes to str according to the format string format and the
variable argument list va. Unix man page vsnprintf(3).
PyOS_snprintf() and PyOS_vsnprintf() wrap the Standard C library functions snprintf() and
vsnprintf(). Their purpose is to guarantee consistent behavior in corner cases, which the Standard C functions
do not.
The wrappers ensure that str[size-1] is always '\0' upon return. They never write more than size bytes (including
the trailing '\0') into str. Both functions require that str != NULL, size > 0, format != NULL and size <
INT_MAX. Note that this means there is no equivalent to the C99 n = snprintf(NULL, 0, ...) which would
determine the necessary buffer size.
The return value (rv) for these functions should be interpreted as follows:
• When 0 <= rv < size, the output conversion was successful and rv characters were written to str (excluding
the trailing '\0' byte at str[rv]).
• When rv >= size, the output conversion was truncated and a buffer with rv + 1 bytes would have been
needed to succeed. str[size-1] is '\0' in this case.
• When rv < 0, “something bad happened.” str[size-1] is '\0' in this case too, but the rest of str is
undefined. The exact cause of the error depends on the underlying platform.
The following functions provide locale-independent string to number conversions.
unsigned long PyOS_strtoul(const char *str, char **ptr, int base)
Part of the Stable ABI. Convert the initial part of the string in str to an unsigned long value according to
the given base, which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive, or be the special value 0.
Leading white space and case of characters are ignored. If base is zero it looks for a leading 0b, 0o or 0x to
tell which base. If these are absent it defaults to 10. Base must be 0 or between 2 and 36 (inclusive). If ptr
is non-NULL it will contain a pointer to the end of the scan.
If the converted value falls out of range of corresponding return type, range error occurs (errno is set to
ERANGE) and ULONG_MAX is returned. If no conversion can be performed, 0 is returned.

See also the Unix man page strtoul(3).

Added in version 3.2.
long PyOS_strtol(const char *str, char **ptr, int base)
Part of the Stable ABI. Convert the initial part of the string in str to an long value according to the given
base, which must be between 2 and 36 inclusive, or be the special value 0.

Same as PyOS_strtoul(), but return a long value instead and LONG_MAX on overflows.
See also the Unix man page strtol(3).
Added in version 3.2.
double PyOS_string_to_double(const char *s, char **endptr, PyObject *overflow_exception)
Part of the Stable ABI. Convert a string s to a double, raising a Python exception on failure. The set of
accepted strings corresponds to the set of strings accepted by Python’s float() constructor, except that s
must not have leading or trailing whitespace. The conversion is independent of the current locale.
If endptr is NULL, convert the whole string. Raise ValueError and return -1.0 if the string is not a valid
representation of a floating-point number.

6.7. String conversion and formatting 81

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If endptr is not NULL, convert as much of the string as possible and set *endptr to point to the first unconverted
character. If no initial segment of the string is the valid representation of a floating-point number, set *endptr
to point to the beginning of the string, raise ValueError, and return -1.0.
If s represents a value that is too large to store in a float (for example, "1e500" is such a string on many
platforms) then if overflow_exception is NULL return Py_HUGE_VAL (with an appropriate sign) and don’t
set any exception. Otherwise, overflow_exception must point to a Python exception object; raise that
exception and return -1.0. In both cases, set *endptr to point to the first character after the converted value.
If any other error occurs during the conversion (for example an out-of-memory error), set the appropriate
Python exception and return -1.0.
Added in version 3.1.
char *PyOS_double_to_string(double val, char format_code, int precision, int flags, int *ptype)
Part of the Stable ABI. Convert a double val to a string using supplied format_code, precision, and flags.
format_code must be one of 'e', 'E', 'f', 'F', 'g', 'G' or 'r'. For 'r', the supplied precision must be
0 and is ignored. The 'r' format code specifies the standard repr() format.
flags can be zero or more of the values Py_DTSF_SIGN, Py_DTSF_ADD_DOT_0, or Py_DTSF_ALT, or-ed
together:
• Py_DTSF_SIGN means to always precede the returned string with a sign character, even if val is non-
negative.
• Py_DTSF_ADD_DOT_0 means to ensure that the returned string will not look like an integer.
• Py_DTSF_ALT means to apply “alternate” formatting rules. See the documentation for the
PyOS_snprintf() '#' specifier for details.

If ptype is non-NULL, then the value it points to will be set to one of Py_DTST_FINITE, Py_DTST_INFINITE,
or Py_DTST_NAN, signifying that val is a finite number, an infinite number, or not a number, respectively.
The return value is a pointer to buffer with the converted string or NULL if the conversion failed. The caller is
responsible for freeing the returned string by calling PyMem_Free().
Added in version 3.1.
int PyOS_stricmp(const char *s1, const char *s2)
Case insensitive comparison of strings. The function works almost identically to strcmp() except that it
ignores the case.
int PyOS_strnicmp(const char *s1, const char *s2, Py_ssize_t size)
Case insensitive comparison of strings. The function works almost identically to strncmp() except that it
ignores the case.

6.8 PyHash API

See also the PyTypeObject.tp_hash member.
type Py_hash_t
Hash value type: signed integer.
Added in version 3.2.
type Py_uhash_t
Hash value type: unsigned integer.
Added in version 3.2.
type PyHash_FuncDef
Hash function definition used by PyHash_GetFuncDef().

82 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

const char *name

Hash function name (UTF-8 encoded string).
const int hash_bits
Internal size of the hash value in bits.
const int seed_bits
Size of seed input in bits.
Added in version 3.4.
PyHash_FuncDef *PyHash_GetFuncDef(void)
Get the hash function definition.

µ See also

PEP 456 “Secure and interchangeable hash algorithm”.

Added in version 3.4.

6.9 Reflection
PyObject *PyEval_GetBuiltins(void)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a dictionary of the builtins in the current
execution frame, or the interpreter of the thread state if no frame is currently executing.
PyObject *PyEval_GetLocals(void)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a dictionary of the local variables in the
current execution frame, or NULL if no frame is currently executing.
PyObject *PyEval_GetGlobals(void)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a dictionary of the global variables in the
current execution frame, or NULL if no frame is currently executing.
PyFrameObject *PyEval_GetFrame(void)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current thread state’s frame, which is
NULL if no frame is currently executing.

See also PyThreadState_GetFrame().

const char *PyEval_GetFuncName(PyObject *func)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the name of func if it is a function, class or instance object, else the name of
funcs type.
const char *PyEval_GetFuncDesc(PyObject *func)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a description string, depending on the type of func. Return values include
“()” for functions and methods, “ constructor”, “ instance”, and “ object”. Concatenated with the result of
PyEval_GetFuncName(), the result will be a description of func.

6.10 Codec registry and support functions

int PyCodec_Register(PyObject *search_function)
Part of the Stable ABI. Register a new codec search function.
As side effect, this tries to load the encodings package, if not yet done, to make sure that it is always first in
the list of search functions.

6.9. Reflection 83
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyCodec_Unregister(PyObject *search_function)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Unregister a codec search function and clear the registry’s cache.
If the search function is not registered, do nothing. Return 0 on success. Raise an exception and return -1 on
error.
Added in version 3.10.
int PyCodec_KnownEncoding(const char *encoding)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 or 0 depending on whether there is a registered codec for the given encoding.
This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyCodec_Encode(PyObject *object, const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Generic codec based encoding API.
object is passed through the encoder function found for the given encoding using the error handling method
defined by errors. errors may be NULL to use the default method defined for the codec. Raises a LookupError
if no encoder can be found.
PyObject *PyCodec_Decode(PyObject *object, const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Generic codec based decoding API.
object is passed through the decoder function found for the given encoding using the error handling method
defined by errors. errors may be NULL to use the default method defined for the codec. Raises a LookupError
if no encoder can be found.

6.10.1 Codec lookup API

In the following functions, the encoding string is looked up converted to all lower-case characters, which makes
encodings looked up through this mechanism effectively case-insensitive. If no codec is found, a KeyError is set
and NULL returned.
PyObject *PyCodec_Encoder(const char *encoding)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get an encoder function for the given encoding.
PyObject *PyCodec_Decoder(const char *encoding)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get a decoder function for the given encoding.
PyObject *PyCodec_IncrementalEncoder(const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get an IncrementalEncoder object for the given
encoding.
PyObject *PyCodec_IncrementalDecoder(const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get an IncrementalDecoder object for the given
encoding.
PyObject *PyCodec_StreamReader(const char *encoding, PyObject *stream, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get a StreamReader factory function for the given
encoding.
PyObject *PyCodec_StreamWriter(const char *encoding, PyObject *stream, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Get a StreamWriter factory function for the given
encoding.

6.10.2 Registry API for Unicode encoding error handlers

int PyCodec_RegisterError(const char *name, PyObject *error)
Part of the Stable ABI. Register the error handling callback function error under the given name. This callback
function will be called by a codec when it encounters unencodable characters/undecodable bytes and name is
specified as the error parameter in the call to the encode/decode function.
The callback gets a single argument, an instance of UnicodeEncodeError, UnicodeDecodeError or
UnicodeTranslateError that holds information about the problematic sequence of characters or bytes

84 Chapter 6. Utilities
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

and their offset in the original string (see Unicode Exception Objects for functions to extract this information).
The callback must either raise the given exception, or return a two-item tuple containing the replacement for
the problematic sequence, and an integer giving the offset in the original string at which encoding/decoding
should be resumed.
Return 0 on success, -1 on error.
PyObject *PyCodec_LookupError(const char *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Lookup the error handling callback function registered
under name. As a special case NULL can be passed, in which case the error handling callback for “strict” will
be returned.
PyObject *PyCodec_StrictErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: Always NULL. Part of the Stable ABI. Raise exc as an exception.
PyObject *PyCodec_IgnoreErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Ignore the unicode error, skipping the faulty input.
PyObject *PyCodec_ReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Replace the unicode encode error with ? or U+FFFD.
PyObject *PyCodec_XMLCharRefReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Replace the unicode encode error with XML character
references.
PyObject *PyCodec_BackslashReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Replace the unicode encode error with backslash escapes
(\x, \u and \U).
PyObject *PyCodec_NameReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Replace the unicode encode error with
\N{...} escapes.
Added in version 3.5.

6.11 Support for Perf Maps

On supported platforms (as of this writing, only Linux), the runtime can take advantage of perf map files to make
Python functions visible to an external profiling tool (such as perf). A running process may create a file in the /tmp
directory, which contains entries that can map a section of executable code to a name. This interface is described in
the documentation of the Linux Perf tool.
In Python, these helper APIs can be used by libraries and features that rely on generating machine code on the fly.
Note that holding the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) is not required for these APIs.
int PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Init(void)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Open the /tmp/perf-$pid.map file, unless it’s already opened, and create a lock to ensure thread-safe writes
to the file (provided the writes are done through PyUnstable_WritePerfMapEntry()). Normally, there’s
no need to call this explicitly; just use PyUnstable_WritePerfMapEntry() and it will initialize the state
on first call.
Returns 0 on success, -1 on failure to create/open the perf map file, or -2 on failure to create a lock. Check
errno for more information about the cause of a failure.

6.11. Support for Perf Maps 85

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyUnstable_WritePerfMapEntry(const void *code_addr, unsigned int code_size, const char

*entry_name)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Write one single entry to the /tmp/perf-$pid.map file. This function is thread safe. Here is what an
example entry looks like:

# address size name

7f3529fcf759 b py::bar:/run/t.py

Will call PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Init() before writing the entry, if the perf map file is not already
opened. Returns 0 on success, or the same error codes as PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Init() on failure.
void PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Fini(void)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Close the perf map file opened by PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Init(). This is called by the runtime
itself during interpreter shut-down. In general, there shouldn’t be a reason to explicitly call this, except to
handle specific scenarios such as forking.

86 Chapter 6. Utilities
 CHAPTER

SEVEN

ABSTRACT OBJECTS LAYER

The functions in this chapter interact with Python objects regardless of their type, or with wide classes of object types
(e.g. all numerical types, or all sequence types). When used on object types for which they do not apply, they will
raise a Python exception.
It is not possible to use these functions on objects that are not properly initialized, such as a list object that has been
created by PyList_New(), but whose items have not been set to some non-NULL value yet.

7.1 Object Protocol

PyObject *Py_NotImplemented
The NotImplemented singleton, used to signal that an operation is not implemented for the given type com-
bination.
Py_RETURN_NOTIMPLEMENTED
Properly handle returning Py_NotImplemented from within a C function (that is, create a new strong refer-
ence to NotImplemented and return it).
Py_PRINT_RAW
Flag to be used with multiple functions that print the object (like PyObject_Print() and
PyFile_WriteObject()). If passed, these function would use the str() of the object instead of the
repr().

int PyObject_Print(PyObject *o, FILE *fp, int flags)

Print an object o, on file fp. Returns -1 on error. The flags argument is used to enable certain printing options.
The only option currently supported is Py_PRINT_RAW ; if given, the str() of the object is written instead of
the repr().
int PyObject_HasAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *attr_name)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns 1 if o has the attribute attr_name, and 0 otherwise. This is equivalent to the
Python expression hasattr(o, attr_name). This function always succeeds.

® Note

Exceptions that occur when this calls __getattr__() and __getattribute__() methods are silently
ignored. For proper error handling, use PyObject_GetAttr() instead.

int PyObject_HasAttrString(PyObject *o, const char *attr_name)

Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_HasAttr(), but attr_name is specified as a const
char* UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.

® Note

87
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Exceptions that occur when this calls __getattr__() and __getattribute__() methods or
while creating the temporary str object are silently ignored. For proper error handling, use
PyObject_GetAttrString() instead.

PyObject *PyObject_GetAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *attr_name)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Retrieve an attribute named attr_name from object o.
Returns the attribute value on success, or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression
o.attr_name.

PyObject *PyObject_GetAttrString(PyObject *o, const char *attr_name)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_GetAttr(), but
attr_name is specified as a const char* UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
PyObject *PyObject_GenericGetAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Generic attribute getter function that is meant to be put
into a type object’s tp_getattro slot. It looks for a descriptor in the dictionary of classes in the object’s
MRO as well as an attribute in the object’s __dict__ (if present). As outlined in descriptors, data descriptors
take preference over instance attributes, while non-data descriptors don’t. Otherwise, an AttributeError is
raised.
int PyObject_SetAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *attr_name, PyObject *v)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the value of the attribute named attr_name, for object o, to the value v. Raise
an exception and return -1 on failure; return 0 on success. This is the equivalent of the Python statement
o.attr_name = v.

If v is NULL, the attribute is deleted. This behaviour is deprecated in favour of using PyObject_DelAttr(),
but there are currently no plans to remove it.
int PyObject_SetAttrString(PyObject *o, const char *attr_name, PyObject *v)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_SetAttr(), but attr_name is specified as a const
char* UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.

If v is NULL, the attribute is deleted, but this feature is deprecated in favour of using
PyObject_DelAttrString().

The number of different attribute names passed to this function should be kept small, usually by us-
ing a statically allocated string as attr_name. For attribute names that aren’t known at compile time,
prefer calling PyUnicode_FromString() and PyObject_SetAttr() directly. For more details, see
PyUnicode_InternFromString(), which may be used internally to create a key object.

int PyObject_GenericSetAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *name, PyObject *value)

Part of the Stable ABI. Generic attribute setter and deleter function that is meant to be put into a type object’s
tp_setattro slot. It looks for a data descriptor in the dictionary of classes in the object’s MRO, and if found
it takes preference over setting or deleting the attribute in the instance dictionary. Otherwise, the attribute is set
or deleted in the object’s __dict__ (if present). On success, 0 is returned, otherwise an AttributeError
is raised and -1 is returned.
int PyObject_DelAttr(PyObject *o, PyObject *attr_name)
Delete attribute named attr_name, for object o. Returns -1 on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement del o.attr_name.
int PyObject_DelAttrString(PyObject *o, const char *attr_name)
This is the same as PyObject_DelAttr(), but attr_name is specified as a const char* UTF-8 encoded
bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
The number of different attribute names passed to this function should be kept small, usually by us-
ing a statically allocated string as attr_name. For attribute names that aren’t known at compile time,
prefer calling PyUnicode_FromString() and PyObject_DelAttr() directly. For more details, see
PyUnicode_InternFromString(), which may be used internally to create a key object for lookup.

88 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyObject_GenericGetDict(PyObject *o, void *context)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. A generic implementation for the getter
of a __dict__ descriptor. It creates the dictionary if necessary.
This function may also be called to get the __dict__ of the object o. Pass NULL for context when call-
ing it. Since this function may need to allocate memory for the dictionary, it may be more efficient to call
PyObject_GetAttr() when accessing an attribute on the object.

On failure, returns NULL with an exception set.

Added in version 3.3.
int PyObject_GenericSetDict(PyObject *o, PyObject *value, void *context)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. A generic implementation for the setter of a __dict__ descriptor.
This implementation does not allow the dictionary to be deleted.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject **_PyObject_GetDictPtr(PyObject *obj)
Return a pointer to __dict__ of the object obj. If there is no __dict__, return NULL without setting an
exception.
This function may need to allocate memory for the dictionary, so it may be more efficient to call
PyObject_GetAttr() when accessing an attribute on the object.

PyObject *PyObject_RichCompare(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2, int opid)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Compare the values of o1 and o2 using the operation
specified by opid, which must be one of Py_LT , Py_LE, Py_EQ, Py_NE, Py_GT , or Py_GE, corresponding to
<, <=, ==, !=, >, or >= respectively. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 op o2, where op is
the operator corresponding to opid. Returns the value of the comparison on success, or NULL on failure.
int PyObject_RichCompareBool(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2, int opid)
Part of the Stable ABI. Compare the values of o1 and o2 using the operation specified by opid, like
PyObject_RichCompare(), but returns -1 on error, 0 if the result is false, 1 otherwise.

® Note

If o1 and o2 are the same object, PyObject_RichCompareBool() will always return 1 for Py_EQ and 0 for
Py_NE.

PyObject *PyObject_Format(PyObject *obj, PyObject *format_spec)

Part of the Stable ABI. Format obj using format_spec. This is equivalent to the Python expression
format(obj, format_spec).

format_spec may be NULL. In this case the call is equivalent to format(obj). Returns the formatted string
on success, NULL on failure.
PyObject *PyObject_Repr(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Compute a string representation of object o. Returns the
string representation on success, NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression repr(o).
Called by the repr() built-in function.
Changed in version 3.4: This function now includes a debug assertion to help ensure that it does not silently
discard an active exception.
PyObject *PyObject_ASCII(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. As PyObject_Repr(), compute a string representation
of object o, but escape the non-ASCII characters in the string returned by PyObject_Repr() with \x, \u or
\U escapes. This generates a string similar to that returned by PyObject_Repr() in Python 2. Called by the
ascii() built-in function.

7.1. Object Protocol 89

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyObject_Str(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Compute a string representation of object o. Returns
the string representation on success, NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression str(o).
Called by the str() built-in function and, therefore, by the print() function.
Changed in version 3.4: This function now includes a debug assertion to help ensure that it does not silently
discard an active exception.
PyObject *PyObject_Bytes(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Compute a bytes representation of object o. NULL is
returned on failure and a bytes object on success. This is equivalent to the Python expression bytes(o), when
o is not an integer. Unlike bytes(o), a TypeError is raised when o is an integer instead of a zero-initialized
bytes object.
int PyObject_IsSubclass(PyObject *derived, PyObject *cls)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if the class derived is identical to or derived from the class cls, otherwise
return 0. In case of an error, return -1.
If cls is a tuple, the check will be done against every entry in cls. The result will be 1 when at least one of the
checks returns 1, otherwise it will be 0.
If cls has a __subclasscheck__() method, it will be called to determine the subclass status as described
in PEP 3119. Otherwise, derived is a subclass of cls if it is a direct or indirect subclass, i.e. contained in
cls.__mro__.

Normally only class objects, i.e. instances of type or a derived class, are considered classes. However, objects
can override this by having a __bases__ attribute (which must be a tuple of base classes).
int PyObject_IsInstance(PyObject *inst, PyObject *cls)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if inst is an instance of the class cls or a subclass of cls, or 0 if not. On error,
returns -1 and sets an exception.
If cls is a tuple, the check will be done against every entry in cls. The result will be 1 when at least one of the
checks returns 1, otherwise it will be 0.
If cls has a __instancecheck__() method, it will be called to determine the subclass status as described in
PEP 3119. Otherwise, inst is an instance of cls if its class is a subclass of cls.
An instance inst can override what is considered its class by having a __class__ attribute.
An object cls can override if it is considered a class, and what its base classes are, by having a __bases__
attribute (which must be a tuple of base classes).
Py_hash_t PyObject_Hash(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Compute and return the hash value of an object o. On failure, return -1. This is the
equivalent of the Python expression hash(o).
Changed in version 3.2: The return type is now Py_hash_t. This is a signed integer the same size as
Py_ssize_t.

Py_hash_t PyObject_HashNotImplemented(PyObject *o)

Part of the Stable ABI. Set a TypeError indicating that type(o) is not hashable and return -1. This function
receives special treatment when stored in a tp_hash slot, allowing a type to explicitly indicate to the interpreter
that it is not hashable.
int PyObject_IsTrue(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns 1 if the object o is considered to be true, and 0 otherwise. This is equivalent
to the Python expression not not o. On failure, return -1.
int PyObject_Not(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns 0 if the object o is considered to be true, and 1 otherwise. This is equivalent
to the Python expression not o. On failure, return -1.

90 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyObject_Type(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. When o is non-NULL, returns a type object correspond-
ing to the object type of object o. On failure, raises SystemError and returns NULL. This is equivalent to
the Python expression type(o). This function creates a new strong reference to the return value. There’s
really no reason to use this function instead of the Py_TYPE() function, which returns a pointer of type
PyTypeObject*, except when a new strong reference is needed.

int PyObject_TypeCheck(PyObject *o, PyTypeObject *type)

Return non-zero if the object o is of type type or a subtype of type, and 0 otherwise. Both parameters must be
non-NULL.
Py_ssize_t PyObject_Size(PyObject *o)
Py_ssize_t PyObject_Length(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the length of object o. If the object o provides either the sequence and mapping
protocols, the sequence length is returned. On error, -1 is returned. This is the equivalent to the Python
expression len(o).
Py_ssize_t PyObject_LengthHint(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t defaultvalue)
Return an estimated length for the object o. First try to return its actual length, then an estimate using
__length_hint__(), and finally return the default value. On error return -1. This is the equivalent to
the Python expression operator.length_hint(o, defaultvalue).
Added in version 3.4.
PyObject *PyObject_GetItem(PyObject *o, PyObject *key)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return element of o corresponding to the object key or
NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o[key].

int PyObject_SetItem(PyObject *o, PyObject *key, PyObject *v)

Part of the Stable ABI. Map the object key to the value v. Raise an exception and return -1 on failure; return
0 on success. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o[key] = v. This function does not steal a
reference to v.
int PyObject_DelItem(PyObject *o, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Remove the mapping for the object key from the object o. Return -1 on failure. This
is equivalent to the Python statement del o[key].
int PyObject_DelItemString(PyObject *o, const char *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_DelItem(), but key is specified as a const char*
UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
PyObject *PyObject_Dir(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is equivalent to the Python expression dir(o),
returning a (possibly empty) list of strings appropriate for the object argument, or NULL if there was an error.
If the argument is NULL, this is like the Python dir(), returning the names of the current locals; in this case,
if no execution frame is active then NULL is returned but PyErr_Occurred() will return false.
PyObject *PyObject_GetIter(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is equivalent to the Python expression iter(o). It
returns a new iterator for the object argument, or the object itself if the object is already an iterator. Raises
TypeError and returns NULL if the object cannot be iterated.

PyObject *PyObject_SelfIter(PyObject *obj)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is equivalent to the Python __iter__(self):
return self method. It is intended for iterator types, to be used in the PyTypeObject.tp_iter slot.

PyObject *PyObject_GetAIter(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. This is the equivalent to the Python
expression aiter(o). Takes an AsyncIterable object and returns an AsyncIterator for it. This is
typically a new iterator but if the argument is an AsyncIterator, this returns itself. Raises TypeError and
returns NULL if the object cannot be iterated.

7.1. Object Protocol 91

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.10.

void *PyObject_GetTypeData(PyObject *o, PyTypeObject *cls)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Get a pointer to subclass-specific data reserved for cls.
The object o must be an instance of cls, and cls must have been created using negative PyType_Spec.
basicsize. Python does not check this.

On error, set an exception and return NULL.

Added in version 3.12.
Py_ssize_t PyType_GetTypeDataSize(PyTypeObject *cls)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Return the size of the instance memory space reserved for cls, i.e.
the size of the memory PyObject_GetTypeData() returns.
This may be larger than requested using -PyType_Spec.basicsize; it is safe to use this larger size (e.g.
with memset()).
The type cls must have been created using negative PyType_Spec.basicsize. Python does not check this.
On error, set an exception and return a negative value.
Added in version 3.12.
void *PyObject_GetItemData(PyObject *o)
Get a pointer to per-item data for a class with Py_TPFLAGS_ITEMS_AT_END.
On error, set an exception and return NULL. TypeError is raised if o does not have
Py_TPFLAGS_ITEMS_AT_END set.

Added in version 3.12.

7.2 Call Protocol

CPython supports two different calling protocols: tp_call and vectorcall.

7.2.1 The tp_call Protocol

Instances of classes that set tp_call are callable. The signature of the slot is:

PyObject *tp_call(PyObject *callable, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs);

A call is made using a tuple for the positional arguments and a dict for the keyword arguments, similarly to
callable(*args, **kwargs) in Python code. args must be non-NULL (use an empty tuple if there are no
arguments) but kwargs may be NULL if there are no keyword arguments.
This convention is not only used by tp_call: tp_new and tp_init also pass arguments this way.
To call an object, use PyObject_Call() or another call API.

7.2.2 The Vectorcall Protocol

Added in version 3.9.
The vectorcall protocol was introduced in PEP 590 as an additional protocol for making calls more efficient.
As rule of thumb, CPython will prefer the vectorcall for internal calls if the callable supports it. However, this is not
a hard rule. Additionally, some third-party extensions use tp_call directly (rather than using PyObject_Call()).
Therefore, a class supporting vectorcall must also implement tp_call. Moreover, the callable must behave the
same regardless of which protocol is used. The recommended way to achieve this is by setting tp_call to
PyVectorcall_Call(). This bears repeating:

92 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Á Warning

A class supporting vectorcall must also implement tp_call with the same semantics.

Changed in version 3.12: The Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL flag is now removed from a class when the class’s
__call__() method is reassigned. (This internally sets tp_call only, and thus may make it behave differently
than the vectorcall function.) In earlier Python versions, vectorcall should only be used with immutable or static
types.
A class should not implement vectorcall if that would be slower than tp_call. For example, if the callee needs to
convert the arguments to an args tuple and kwargs dict anyway, then there is no point in implementing vectorcall.
Classes can implement the vectorcall protocol by enabling the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL flag and setting
tp_vectorcall_offset to the offset inside the object structure where a vectorcallfunc appears. This is a pointer
to a function with the following signature:
typedef PyObject *(*vectorcallfunc)(PyObject *callable, PyObject *const *args, size_t nargsf, PyObject
*kwnames)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12.
• callable is the object being called.
• args is a C array consisting of the positional arguments followed by the
values of the keyword arguments. This can be NULL if there are no arguments.
• nargsf is the number of positional arguments plus possibly the
PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET flag. To get the actual number of positional arguments from
nargsf, use PyVectorcall_NARGS().
• kwnames is a tuple containing the names of the keyword arguments;
in other words, the keys of the kwargs dict. These names must be strings (instances of str or a subclass)
and they must be unique. If there are no keyword arguments, then kwnames can instead be NULL.
PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. If this flag is set in a vectorcall nargsf argument, the callee is allowed
to temporarily change args[-1]. In other words, args points to argument 1 (not 0) in the allocated vector.
The callee must restore the value of args[-1] before returning.
For PyObject_VectorcallMethod(), this flag means instead that args[0] may be changed.
Whenever they can do so cheaply (without additional allocation), callers are encouraged to use
PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET . Doing so will allow callables such as bound methods to make their
onward calls (which include a prepended self argument) very efficiently.
Added in version 3.8.
To call an object that implements vectorcall, use a call API function as with any other callable.
PyObject_Vectorcall() will usually be most efficient.

® Note

In CPython 3.8, the vectorcall API and related functions were available provisionally under
names with a leading underscore: _PyObject_Vectorcall, _Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL,
_PyObject_VectorcallMethod, _PyVectorcall_Function, _PyObject_CallOneArg,
_PyObject_CallMethodNoArgs, _PyObject_CallMethodOneArg. Additionally,
PyObject_VectorcallDict was available as _PyObject_FastCallDict. The old names are still
defined as aliases of the new, non-underscored names.

7.2. Call Protocol 93

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Recursion Control
When using tp_call, callees do not need to worry about recursion: CPython uses Py_EnterRecursiveCall() and
Py_LeaveRecursiveCall() for calls made using tp_call.

For efficiency, this is not the case for calls done using vectorcall: the callee should use Py_EnterRecursiveCall and
Py_LeaveRecursiveCall if needed.

Vectorcall Support API

Py_ssize_t PyVectorcall_NARGS(size_t nargsf)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Given a vectorcall nargsf argument, return the actual number of
arguments. Currently equivalent to:

(Py_ssize_t)(nargsf & ~PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET)

However, the function PyVectorcall_NARGS should be used to allow for future extensions.
Added in version 3.8.
vectorcallfunc PyVectorcall_Function(PyObject *op)
If op does not support the vectorcall protocol (either because the type does not or because the specific instance
does not), return NULL. Otherwise, return the vectorcall function pointer stored in op. This function never
raises an exception.
This is mostly useful to check whether or not op supports vectorcall, which can be done by checking
PyVectorcall_Function(op) != NULL.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyVectorcall_Call(PyObject *callable, PyObject *tuple, PyObject *dict)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Call callable’s vectorcallfunc with positional and keyword
arguments given in a tuple and dict, respectively.
This is a specialized function, intended to be put in the tp_call slot or be used in an implementation of
tp_call. It does not check the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL flag and it does not fall back to tp_call.

Added in version 3.8.

7.2.3 Object Calling API

Various functions are available for calling a Python object. Each converts its arguments to a convention supported
by the called object – either tp_call or vectorcall. In order to do as little conversion as possible, pick one that best fits
the format of data you have available.
The following table summarizes the available functions; please see individual documentation for details.

Function callable args kwargs

PyObject_Call() PyObject * tuple dict/NULL
PyObject_CallNoArgs() PyObject * — —
PyObject_CallOneArg() PyObject * 1 object —
PyObject_CallObject() PyObject * tuple/NULL —
PyObject_CallFunction() PyObject * format —
PyObject_CallMethod() obj + char* format —
PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs() PyObject * variadic —
PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs() obj + name variadic —
PyObject_CallMethodNoArgs() obj + name — —
PyObject_CallMethodOneArg() obj + name 1 object —
PyObject_Vectorcall() PyObject * vectorcall vectorcall
PyObject_VectorcallDict() PyObject * vectorcall dict/NULL
PyObject_VectorcallMethod() arg + name vectorcall vectorcall

94 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyObject_Call(PyObject *callable, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call a callable Python object callable, with arguments
given by the tuple args, and named arguments given by the dictionary kwargs.
args must not be NULL; use an empty tuple if no arguments are needed. If no named arguments are needed,
kwargs can be NULL.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression: callable(*args, **kwargs).
PyObject *PyObject_CallNoArgs(PyObject *callable)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Call a callable Python object callable
without any arguments. It is the most efficient way to call a callable Python object without any argument.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_CallOneArg(PyObject *callable, PyObject *arg)
Return value: New reference. Call a callable Python object callable with exactly 1 positional argument arg and
no keyword arguments.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_CallObject(PyObject *callable, PyObject *args)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call a callable Python object callable, with arguments
given by the tuple args. If no arguments are needed, then args can be NULL.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression: callable(*args).
PyObject *PyObject_CallFunction(PyObject *callable, const char *format, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call a callable Python object callable, with a variable
number of C arguments. The C arguments are described using a Py_BuildValue() style format string. The
format can be NULL, indicating that no arguments are provided.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression: callable(*args).
Note that if you only pass PyObject* args, PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs() is a faster alternative.
Changed in version 3.4: The type of format was changed from char *.
PyObject *PyObject_CallMethod(PyObject *obj, const char *name, const char *format, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call the method named name of object obj with a variable
number of C arguments. The C arguments are described by a Py_BuildValue() format string that should
produce a tuple.
The format can be NULL, indicating that no arguments are provided.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression: obj.name(arg1, arg2, ...).
Note that if you only pass PyObject* args, PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs() is a faster alternative.
Changed in version 3.4: The types of name and format were changed from char *.
PyObject *PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs(PyObject *callable, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call a callable Python object callable, with a variable
number of PyObject* arguments. The arguments are provided as a variable number of parameters followed
by NULL.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.

7.2. Call Protocol 95

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This is the equivalent of the Python expression: callable(arg1, arg2, ...).

PyObject *PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Call a method of the Python object obj, where the name
of the method is given as a Python string object in name. It is called with a variable number of PyObject*
arguments. The arguments are provided as a variable number of parameters followed by NULL.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
PyObject *PyObject_CallMethodNoArgs(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name)
Call a method of the Python object obj without arguments, where the name of the method is given as a Python
string object in name.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_CallMethodOneArg(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name, PyObject *arg)
Call a method of the Python object obj with a single positional argument arg, where the name of the method
is given as a Python string object in name.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_Vectorcall(PyObject *callable, PyObject *const *args, size_t nargsf, PyObject
*kwnames)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Call a callable Python object callable. The arguments are the same
as for vectorcallfunc. If callable supports vectorcall, this directly calls the vectorcall function stored in
callable.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_VectorcallDict(PyObject *callable, PyObject *const *args, size_t nargsf, PyObject
*kwdict)
Call callable with positional arguments passed exactly as in the vectorcall protocol, but with keyword arguments
passed as a dictionary kwdict. The args array contains only the positional arguments.
Regardless of which protocol is used internally, a conversion of arguments needs to be done. Therefore, this
function should only be used if the caller already has a dictionary ready to use for the keyword arguments, but
not a tuple for the positional arguments.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyObject_VectorcallMethod(PyObject *name, PyObject *const *args, size_t nargsf, PyObject
*kwnames)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Call a method using the vectorcall calling convention. The name
of the method is given as a Python string name. The object whose method is called is args[0], and the args
array starting at args[1] represents the arguments of the call. There must be at least one positional argument.
nargsf is the number of positional arguments including args[0], plus PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET
if the value of args[0] may temporarily be changed. Keyword arguments can be passed just like in
PyObject_Vectorcall().

If the object has the Py_TPFLAGS_METHOD_DESCRIPTOR feature, this will call the unbound method object
with the full args vector as arguments.
Return the result of the call on success, or raise an exception and return NULL on failure.
Added in version 3.9.

96 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

7.2.4 Call Support API

int PyCallable_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Determine if the object o is callable. Return 1 if the object is callable and 0 otherwise.
This function always succeeds.

7.3 Number Protocol

int PyNumber_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns 1 if the object o provides numeric protocols, and false otherwise. This function
always succeeds.
Changed in version 3.8: Returns 1 if o is an index integer.
PyObject *PyNumber_Add(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of adding o1 and o2, or NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 + o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_Subtract(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of subtracting o2 from o1, or NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 - o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_Multiply(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of multiplying o1 and o2, or NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 * o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_MatrixMultiply(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Returns the result of matrix multiplication
on o1 and o2, or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 @ o2.
Added in version 3.5.
PyObject *PyNumber_FloorDivide(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the floor of o1 divided by o2, or NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 // o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_TrueDivide(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a reasonable approximation for the mathematical
value of o1 divided by o2, or NULL on failure. The return value is “approximate” because binary floating-point
numbers are approximate; it is not possible to represent all real numbers in base two. This function can return
a floating-point value when passed two integers. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 / o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_Remainder(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the remainder of dividing o1 by o2, or NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 % o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_Divmod(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. See the built-in function divmod(). Returns NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression divmod(o1, o2).
PyObject *PyNumber_Power(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2, PyObject *o3)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. See the built-in function pow(). Returns NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression pow(o1, o2, o3), where o3 is optional. If o3 is to
be ignored, pass Py_None in its place (passing NULL for o3 would cause an illegal memory access).
PyObject *PyNumber_Negative(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the negation of o on success, or NULL on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression -o.

7.3. Number Protocol 97

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyNumber_Positive(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns o on success, or NULL on failure. This is the
equivalent of the Python expression +o.
PyObject *PyNumber_Absolute(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the absolute value of o, or NULL on failure. This
is the equivalent of the Python expression abs(o).
PyObject *PyNumber_Invert(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the bitwise negation of o on success, or NULL on
failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression ~o.
PyObject *PyNumber_Lshift(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of left shifting o1 by o2 on success, or
NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 << o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_Rshift(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of right shifting o1 by o2 on success,
or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 >> o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_And(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise and” of o1 and o2 on success and
NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 & o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_Xor(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise exclusive or” of o1 by o2 on success,
or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 ^ o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_Or(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise or” of o1 and o2 on success, or NULL
on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 | o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceAdd(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of adding o1 and o2, or NULL on failure.
The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o1 += o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceSubtract(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of subtracting o2 from o1, or NULL on
failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o1
-= o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceMultiply(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of multiplying o1 and o2, or NULL on
failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o1
*= o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceMatrixMultiply(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Returns the result of matrix multiplication
on o1 and o2, or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent
of the Python statement o1 @= o2.
Added in version 3.5.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceFloorDivide(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the mathematical floor of dividing o1 by o2,
or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement o1 //= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceTrueDivide(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a reasonable approximation for the mathematical
value of o1 divided by o2, or NULL on failure. The return value is “approximate” because binary floating-point
numbers are approximate; it is not possible to represent all real numbers in base two. This function can return

98 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

a floating-point value when passed two integers. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is
the equivalent of the Python statement o1 /= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceRemainder(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the remainder of dividing o1 by o2, or NULL on
failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o1
%= o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_InPlacePower(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2, PyObject *o3)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. See the built-in function pow(). Returns NULL on failure.
The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o1 **=
o2 when o3 is Py_None, or an in-place variant of pow(o1, o2, o3) otherwise. If o3 is to be ignored, pass
Py_None in its place (passing NULL for o3 would cause an illegal memory access).

PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceLshift(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of left shifting o1 by o2 on success,
or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement o1 <<= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceRshift(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the result of right shifting o1 by o2 on success,
or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement o1 >>= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceAnd(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise and” of o1 and o2 on success and
NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement o1 &= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceXor(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise exclusive or” of o1 by o2 on success,
or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
statement o1 ^= o2.
PyObject *PyNumber_InPlaceOr(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the “bitwise or” of o1 and o2 on success, or NULL
on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python statement
o1 |= o2.

PyObject *PyNumber_Long(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the o converted to an integer object on success,
or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression int(o).
PyObject *PyNumber_Float(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the o converted to a float object on success, or
NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression float(o).

PyObject *PyNumber_Index(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the o converted to a Python int on success or
NULL with a TypeError exception raised on failure.

Changed in version 3.10: The result always has exact type int. Previously, the result could have been an
instance of a subclass of int.
PyObject *PyNumber_ToBase(PyObject *n, int base)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the integer n converted to base base as a string.
The base argument must be one of 2, 8, 10, or 16. For base 2, 8, or 16, the returned string is prefixed with a base
marker of '0b', '0o', or '0x', respectively. If n is not a Python int, it is converted with PyNumber_Index()
first.

7.3. Number Protocol 99

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_ssize_t PyNumber_AsSsize_t(PyObject *o, PyObject *exc)

Part of the Stable ABI. Returns o converted to a Py_ssize_t value if o can be interpreted as an integer. If
the call fails, an exception is raised and -1 is returned.
If o can be converted to a Python int but the attempt to convert to a Py_ssize_t value would raise an
OverflowError, then the exc argument is the type of exception that will be raised (usually IndexError or
OverflowError). If exc is NULL, then the exception is cleared and the value is clipped to PY_SSIZE_T_MIN
for a negative integer or PY_SSIZE_T_MAX for a positive integer.
int PyIndex_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.8. Returns 1 if o is an index integer (has the nb_index slot of the
tp_as_number structure filled in), and 0 otherwise. This function always succeeds.

7.4 Sequence Protocol

int PySequence_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if the object provides the sequence protocol, and 0 otherwise. Note that it
returns 1 for Python classes with a __getitem__() method, unless they are dict subclasses, since in general
it is impossible to determine what type of keys the class supports. This function always succeeds.
Py_ssize_t PySequence_Size(PyObject *o)
Py_ssize_t PySequence_Length(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the number of objects in sequence o on success, and -1 on failure. This is
equivalent to the Python expression len(o).
PyObject *PySequence_Concat(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the concatenation of o1 and o2 on success, and
NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o1 + o2.

PyObject *PySequence_Repeat(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t count)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the result of repeating sequence object o count
times, or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o * count.
PyObject *PySequence_InPlaceConcat(PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the concatenation of o1 and o2 on success, and
NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o1 supports it. This is the equivalent of the Python
expression o1 += o2.
PyObject *PySequence_InPlaceRepeat(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t count)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the result of repeating sequence object o count
times, or NULL on failure. The operation is done in-place when o supports it. This is the equivalent of the
Python expression o *= count.
PyObject *PySequence_GetItem(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the ith element of o, or NULL on failure. This is
the equivalent of the Python expression o[i].
PyObject *PySequence_GetSlice(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i1, Py_ssize_t i2)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the slice of sequence object o between i1 and i2,
or NULL on failure. This is the equivalent of the Python expression o[i1:i2].
int PySequence_SetItem(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i, PyObject *v)
Part of the Stable ABI. Assign object v to the ith element of o. Raise an exception and return -1 on failure;
return 0 on success. This is the equivalent of the Python statement o[i] = v. This function does not steal a
reference to v.
If v is NULL, the element is deleted, but this feature is deprecated in favour of using PySequence_DelItem().

100 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PySequence_DelItem(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i)

Part of the Stable ABI. Delete the ith element of object o. Returns -1 on failure. This is the equivalent of the
Python statement del o[i].
int PySequence_SetSlice(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i1, Py_ssize_t i2, PyObject *v)
Part of the Stable ABI. Assign the sequence object v to the slice in sequence object o from i1 to i2. This is the
equivalent of the Python statement o[i1:i2] = v.
int PySequence_DelSlice(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i1, Py_ssize_t i2)
Part of the Stable ABI. Delete the slice in sequence object o from i1 to i2. Returns -1 on failure. This is the
equivalent of the Python statement del o[i1:i2].
Py_ssize_t PySequence_Count(PyObject *o, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the number of occurrences of value in o, that is, return the number of
keys for which o[key] == value. On failure, return -1. This is equivalent to the Python expression o.
count(value).
int PySequence_Contains(PyObject *o, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Determine if o contains value. If an item in o is equal to value, return 1, otherwise
return 0. On error, return -1. This is equivalent to the Python expression value in o.
Py_ssize_t PySequence_Index(PyObject *o, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the first index i for which o[i] == value. On error, return -1. This is
equivalent to the Python expression o.index(value).
PyObject *PySequence_List(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a list object with the same contents as the sequence
or iterable o, or NULL on failure. The returned list is guaranteed to be new. This is equivalent to the Python
expression list(o).
PyObject *PySequence_Tuple(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a tuple object with the same contents as the
sequence or iterable o, or NULL on failure. If o is a tuple, a new reference will be returned, otherwise a tuple
will be constructed with the appropriate contents. This is equivalent to the Python expression tuple(o).
PyObject *PySequence_Fast(PyObject *o, const char *m)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the sequence or iterable o as an object usable by the
other PySequence_Fast* family of functions. If the object is not a sequence or iterable, raises TypeError
with m as the message text. Returns NULL on failure.
The PySequence_Fast* functions are thus named because they assume o is a PyTupleObject or a
PyListObject and access the data fields of o directly.

As a CPython implementation detail, if o is already a sequence or list, it will be returned.

Py_ssize_t PySequence_Fast_GET_SIZE(PyObject *o)
Returns the length of o, assuming that o was returned by PySequence_Fast() and that o is not NULL. The
size can also be retrieved by calling PySequence_Size() on o, but PySequence_Fast_GET_SIZE() is
faster because it can assume o is a list or tuple.
PyObject *PySequence_Fast_GET_ITEM(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the ith element of o, assuming that o was returned by
PySequence_Fast(), o is not NULL, and that i is within bounds.

PyObject **PySequence_Fast_ITEMS(PyObject *o)

Return the underlying array of PyObject pointers. Assumes that o was returned by PySequence_Fast() and
o is not NULL.
Note, if a list gets resized, the reallocation may relocate the items array. So, only use the underlying array
pointer in contexts where the sequence cannot change.

7.4. Sequence Protocol 101

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PySequence_ITEM(PyObject *o, Py_ssize_t i)

Return value: New reference. Return the ith element of o or NULL on failure. Faster form of
PySequence_GetItem() but without checking that PySequence_Check() on o is true and without ad-
justment for negative indices.

7.5 Mapping Protocol

See also PyObject_GetItem(), PyObject_SetItem() and PyObject_DelItem().
int PyMapping_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if the object provides the mapping protocol or supports slicing, and 0 otherwise.
Note that it returns 1 for Python classes with a __getitem__() method, since in general it is impossible to
determine what type of keys the class supports. This function always succeeds.
Py_ssize_t PyMapping_Size(PyObject *o)
Py_ssize_t PyMapping_Length(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the number of keys in object o on success, and -1 on failure. This is equivalent
to the Python expression len(o).
PyObject *PyMapping_GetItemString(PyObject *o, const char *key)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_GetItem(), but key is
specified as a const char* UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
int PyMapping_SetItemString(PyObject *o, const char *key, PyObject *v)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyObject_SetItem(), but key is specified as a const char*
UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
int PyMapping_DelItem(PyObject *o, PyObject *key)
This is an alias of PyObject_DelItem().
int PyMapping_DelItemString(PyObject *o, const char *key)
This is the same as PyObject_DelItem(), but key is specified as a const char* UTF-8 encoded bytes
string, rather than a PyObject*.
int PyMapping_HasKey(PyObject *o, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if the mapping object has the key key and 0 otherwise. This is equivalent to
the Python expression key in o. This function always succeeds.

® Note

Exceptions which occur when this calls __getitem__() method are silently ignored. For proper error
handling, use PyObject_GetItem() instead.

int PyMapping_HasKeyString(PyObject *o, const char *key)

Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyMapping_HasKey(), but key is specified as a const char*
UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.

® Note

Exceptions that occur when this calls __getitem__() method or while creating the temporary str object
are silently ignored. For proper error handling, use PyMapping_GetItemString() instead.

PyObject *PyMapping_Keys(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. On success, return a list of the keys in object o. On
failure, return NULL.
Changed in version 3.7: Previously, the function returned a list or a tuple.

102 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyMapping_Values(PyObject *o)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. On success, return a list of the values in object o. On
failure, return NULL.
Changed in version 3.7: Previously, the function returned a list or a tuple.
PyObject *PyMapping_Items(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. On success, return a list of the items in object o, where
each item is a tuple containing a key-value pair. On failure, return NULL.
Changed in version 3.7: Previously, the function returned a list or a tuple.

7.6 Iterator Protocol

There are two functions specifically for working with iterators.
int PyIter_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.8. Return non-zero if the object o can be safely passed to
PyIter_Next(), and 0 otherwise. This function always succeeds.
int PyAIter_Check(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Return non-zero if the object o provides the AsyncIterator
protocol, and 0 otherwise. This function always succeeds.
Added in version 3.10.
PyObject *PyIter_Next(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the next value from the iterator o. The object must
be an iterator according to PyIter_Check() (it is up to the caller to check this). If there are no remaining
values, returns NULL with no exception set. If an error occurs while retrieving the item, returns NULL and
passes along the exception.
To write a loop which iterates over an iterator, the C code should look something like this:

PyObject *iterator = PyObject_GetIter(obj);

PyObject *item;

if (iterator == NULL) {
/* propagate error */
}

while ((item = PyIter_Next(iterator))) {

/* do something with item */
...
/* release reference when done */
Py_DECREF(item);
}

Py_DECREF(iterator);

if (PyErr_Occurred()) {
/* propagate error */
}
else {
/* continue doing useful work */
}

type PySendResult
The enum value used to represent different results of PyIter_Send().
Added in version 3.10.

7.6. Iterator Protocol 103

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PySendResult PyIter_Send(PyObject *iter, PyObject *arg, PyObject **presult)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Sends the arg value into the iterator iter. Returns:
• PYGEN_RETURN if iterator returns. Return value is returned via presult.
• PYGEN_NEXT if iterator yields. Yielded value is returned via presult.
• PYGEN_ERROR if iterator has raised and exception. presult is set to NULL.
Added in version 3.10.

7.7 Buffer Protocol

Certain objects available in Python wrap access to an underlying memory array or buffer. Such objects include the
built-in bytes and bytearray, and some extension types like array.array. Third-party libraries may define
their own types for special purposes, such as image processing or numeric analysis.
While each of these types have their own semantics, they share the common characteristic of being backed by a
possibly large memory buffer. It is then desirable, in some situations, to access that buffer directly and without
intermediate copying.
Python provides such a facility at the C level in the form of the buffer protocol. This protocol has two sides:
• on the producer side, a type can export a “buffer interface” which allows objects of that type to expose infor-
mation about their underlying buffer. This interface is described in the section Buffer Object Structures;
• on the consumer side, several means are available to obtain a pointer to the raw underlying data of an object
(for example a method parameter).
Simple objects such as bytes and bytearray expose their underlying buffer in byte-oriented form. Other forms
are possible; for example, the elements exposed by an array.array can be multi-byte values.
An example consumer of the buffer interface is the write() method of file objects: any object that can export a
series of bytes through the buffer interface can be written to a file. While write() only needs read-only access to the
internal contents of the object passed to it, other methods such as readinto() need write access to the contents of
their argument. The buffer interface allows objects to selectively allow or reject exporting of read-write and read-only
buffers.
There are two ways for a consumer of the buffer interface to acquire a buffer over a target object:
• call PyObject_GetBuffer() with the right parameters;
• call PyArg_ParseTuple() (or one of its siblings) with one of the y*, w* or s* format codes.
In both cases, PyBuffer_Release() must be called when the buffer isn’t needed anymore. Failure to do so could
lead to various issues such as resource leaks.

7.7.1 Buffer structure

Buffer structures (or simply “buffers”) are useful as a way to expose the binary data from another object to the Python
programmer. They can also be used as a zero-copy slicing mechanism. Using their ability to reference a block of
memory, it is possible to expose any data to the Python programmer quite easily. The memory could be a large,
constant array in a C extension, it could be a raw block of memory for manipulation before passing to an operating
system library, or it could be used to pass around structured data in its native, in-memory format.
Contrary to most data types exposed by the Python interpreter, buffers are not PyObject pointers but rather simple
C structures. This allows them to be created and copied very simply. When a generic wrapper around a buffer is
needed, a memoryview object can be created.
For short instructions how to write an exporting object, see Buffer Object Structures. For obtaining a buffer, see
PyObject_GetBuffer().
type Py_buffer
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members) since version 3.11.

104 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void *buf
A pointer to the start of the logical structure described by the buffer fields. This can be any location
within the underlying physical memory block of the exporter. For example, with negative strides the
value may point to the end of the memory block.
For contiguous arrays, the value points to the beginning of the memory block.
PyObject *obj
A new reference to the exporting object. The reference is owned by the consumer and automatically
released (i.e. reference count decremented) and set to NULL by PyBuffer_Release(). The field is the
equivalent of the return value of any standard C-API function.
As a special case, for temporary buffers that are wrapped by PyMemoryView_FromBuffer() or
PyBuffer_FillInfo() this field is NULL. In general, exporting objects MUST NOT use this scheme.
Py_ssize_t len
product(shape) * itemsize. For contiguous arrays, this is the length of the underlying memory
block. For non-contiguous arrays, it is the length that the logical structure would have if it were copied
to a contiguous representation.
Accessing ((char *)buf)[0] up to ((char *)buf)[len-1] is only valid if the buffer has been
obtained by a request that guarantees contiguity. In most cases such a request will be PyBUF_SIMPLE
or PyBUF_WRITABLE.
int readonly
An indicator of whether the buffer is read-only. This field is controlled by the PyBUF_WRITABLE flag.
Py_ssize_t itemsize
Item size in bytes of a single element. Same as the value of struct.calcsize() called on non-NULL
format values.

Important exception: If a consumer requests a buffer without the PyBUF_FORMAT flag, format will be
set to NULL, but itemsize still has the value for the original format.
If shape is present, the equality product(shape) * itemsize == len still holds and the consumer
can use itemsize to navigate the buffer.
If shape is NULL as a result of a PyBUF_SIMPLE or a PyBUF_WRITABLE request, the consumer must
disregard itemsize and assume itemsize == 1.
char *format
A NULL terminated string in struct module style syntax describing the contents of a single item. If
this is NULL, "B" (unsigned bytes) is assumed.
This field is controlled by the PyBUF_FORMAT flag.
int ndim
The number of dimensions the memory represents as an n-dimensional array. If it is 0, buf points to a
single item representing a scalar. In this case, shape, strides and suboffsets MUST be NULL. The
maximum number of dimensions is given by PyBUF_MAX_NDIM .
Py_ssize_t *shape
An array of Py_ssize_t of length ndim indicating the shape of the memory as an n-dimensional array.
Note that shape[0] * ... * shape[ndim-1] * itemsize MUST be equal to len.
Shape values are restricted to shape[n] >= 0. The case shape[n] == 0 requires special attention.
See complex arrays for further information.
The shape array is read-only for the consumer.
Py_ssize_t *strides
An array of Py_ssize_t of length ndim giving the number of bytes to skip to get to a new element in
each dimension.

7.7. Buffer Protocol 105

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Stride values can be any integer. For regular arrays, strides are usually positive, but a consumer MUST
be able to handle the case strides[n] <= 0. See complex arrays for further information.
The strides array is read-only for the consumer.
Py_ssize_t *suboffsets
An array of Py_ssize_t of length ndim. If suboffsets[n] >= 0, the values stored along the nth
dimension are pointers and the suboffset value dictates how many bytes to add to each pointer after de-
referencing. A suboffset value that is negative indicates that no de-referencing should occur (striding in
a contiguous memory block).
If all suboffsets are negative (i.e. no de-referencing is needed), then this field must be NULL (the default
value).
This type of array representation is used by the Python Imaging Library (PIL). See complex arrays for
further information how to access elements of such an array.
The suboffsets array is read-only for the consumer.
void *internal
This is for use internally by the exporting object. For example, this might be re-cast as an integer by the
exporter and used to store flags about whether or not the shape, strides, and suboffsets arrays must be
freed when the buffer is released. The consumer MUST NOT alter this value.
Constants:
PyBUF_MAX_NDIM
The maximum number of dimensions the memory represents. Exporters MUST respect this limit, consumers
of multi-dimensional buffers SHOULD be able to handle up to PyBUF_MAX_NDIM dimensions. Currently set
to 64.

7.7.2 Buffer request types

Buffers are usually obtained by sending a buffer request to an exporting object via PyObject_GetBuffer(). Since
the complexity of the logical structure of the memory can vary drastically, the consumer uses the flags argument to
specify the exact buffer type it can handle.
All Py_buffer fields are unambiguously defined by the request type.

request-independent fields
The following fields are not influenced by flags and must always be filled in with the correct values: obj, buf , len,
itemsize, ndim.

readonly, format
PyBUF_WRITABLE
Controls the readonly field. If set, the exporter MUST provide a writable buffer or else report
failure. Otherwise, the exporter MAY provide either a read-only or writable buffer, but the choice
MUST be consistent for all consumers. For example, PyBUF_SIMPLE | PyBUF_WRITABLE can
be used to request a simple writable buffer.
PyBUF_FORMAT
Controls the format field. If set, this field MUST be filled in correctly. Otherwise, this field
MUST be NULL.
PyBUF_WRITABLE can be |’d to any of the flags in the next section. Since PyBUF_SIMPLE is defined as 0,
PyBUF_WRITABLE can be used as a stand-alone flag to request a simple writable buffer.
PyBUF_FORMAT must be |’d to any of the flags except PyBUF_SIMPLE, because the latter already implies format B
(unsigned bytes). PyBUF_FORMAT cannot be used on its own.

106 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

shape, strides, suboffsets

The flags that control the logical structure of the memory are listed in decreasing order of complexity. Note that each
flag contains all bits of the flags below it.

Request shape strides suboffsets

yes yes if needed
PyBUF_INDIRECT

yes yes NULL

PyBUF_STRIDES

yes NULL NULL

PyBUF_ND

NULL NULL NULL

PyBUF_SIMPLE

contiguity requests
C or Fortran contiguity can be explicitly requested, with and without stride information. Without stride information,
the buffer must be C-contiguous.

Request shape strides suboffsets contig

yes yes NULL C
PyBUF_C_CONTIGUOUS

yes yes NULL F

PyBUF_F_CONTIGUOUS

yes yes NULL C or F

PyBUF_ANY_CONTIGUOUS

PyBUF_ND yes NULL NULL C

compound requests
All possible requests are fully defined by some combination of the flags in the previous section. For convenience, the
buffer protocol provides frequently used combinations as single flags.
In the following table U stands for undefined contiguity. The consumer would have to call
PyBuffer_IsContiguous() to determine contiguity.

7.7. Buffer Protocol 107

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Request shape strides suboffsets contig readonly format

yes yes if needed U 0 yes
PyBUF_FULL

yes yes if needed U 1 or 0 yes

PyBUF_FULL_RO

yes yes NULL U 0 yes

PyBUF_RECORDS

yes yes NULL U 1 or 0 yes

PyBUF_RECORDS_RO

yes yes NULL U 0 NULL

PyBUF_STRIDED

yes yes NULL U 1 or 0 NULL

PyBUF_STRIDED_RO

yes NULL NULL C 0 NULL

PyBUF_CONTIG

yes NULL NULL C 1 or 0 NULL

PyBUF_CONTIG_RO

7.7.3 Complex arrays

NumPy-style: shape and strides
The logical structure of NumPy-style arrays is defined by itemsize, ndim, shape and strides.
If ndim == 0, the memory location pointed to by buf is interpreted as a scalar of size itemsize. In that case,
both shape and strides are NULL.
If strides is NULL, the array is interpreted as a standard n-dimensional C-array. Otherwise, the consumer must
access an n-dimensional array as follows:
ptr = (char *)buf + indices[0] * strides[0] + ... + indices[n-1] * strides[n-1];
item = *((typeof(item) *)ptr);

As noted above, buf can point to any location within the actual memory block. An exporter can check the validity
of a buffer with this function:
def verify_structure(memlen, itemsize, ndim, shape, strides, offset):
"""Verify that the parameters represent a valid array within
the bounds of the allocated memory:
char *mem: start of the physical memory block
memlen: length of the physical memory block
offset: (char *)buf - mem
"""
if offset % itemsize:
return False
if offset < 0 or offset+itemsize > memlen:
return False
if any(v % itemsize for v in strides):
return False

(continues on next page)

108 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

if ndim <= 0:
return ndim == 0 and not shape and not strides
if 0 in shape:
return True

imin = sum(strides[j]*(shape[j]-1) for j in range(ndim)

if strides[j] <= 0)
imax = sum(strides[j]*(shape[j]-1) for j in range(ndim)
if strides[j] > 0)

return 0 <= offset+imin and offset+imax+itemsize <= memlen

PIL-style: shape, strides and suboffsets

In addition to the regular items, PIL-style arrays can contain pointers that must be followed in order to get to the
next element in a dimension. For example, the regular three-dimensional C-array char v[2][2][3] can also be
viewed as an array of 2 pointers to 2 two-dimensional arrays: char (*v[2])[2][3]. In suboffsets representation,
those two pointers can be embedded at the start of buf , pointing to two char x[2][3] arrays that can be located
anywhere in memory.
Here is a function that returns a pointer to the element in an N-D array pointed to by an N-dimensional index when
there are both non-NULL strides and suboffsets:

void *get_item_pointer(int ndim, void *buf, Py_ssize_t *strides,

Py_ssize_t *suboffsets, Py_ssize_t *indices) {
char *pointer = (char*)buf;
int i;
for (i = 0; i < ndim; i++) {
pointer += strides[i] * indices[i];
if (suboffsets[i] >=0 ) {
pointer = *((char**)pointer) + suboffsets[i];
}
}
return (void*)pointer;
}

7.7.4 Buffer-related functions

int PyObject_CheckBuffer(PyObject *obj)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Return 1 if obj supports the buffer interface otherwise 0. When 1 is
returned, it doesn’t guarantee that PyObject_GetBuffer() will succeed. This function always succeeds.
int PyObject_GetBuffer(PyObject *exporter, Py_buffer *view, int flags)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Send a request to exporter to fill in view as specified by flags. If the
exporter cannot provide a buffer of the exact type, it MUST raise BufferError, set view->obj to NULL
and return -1.
On success, fill in view, set view->obj to a new reference to exporter and return 0. In the case of chained
buffer providers that redirect requests to a single object, view->obj MAY refer to this object instead of
exporter (See Buffer Object Structures).
Successful calls to PyObject_GetBuffer() must be paired with calls to PyBuffer_Release(), similar
to malloc() and free(). Thus, after the consumer is done with the buffer, PyBuffer_Release() must
be called exactly once.
void PyBuffer_Release(Py_buffer *view)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Release the buffer view and release the strong reference (i.e. decrement

7.7. Buffer Protocol 109

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

the reference count) to the view’s supporting object, view->obj. This function MUST be called when the
buffer is no longer being used, otherwise reference leaks may occur.
It is an error to call this function on a buffer that was not obtained via PyObject_GetBuffer().
Py_ssize_t PyBuffer_SizeFromFormat(const char *format)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Return the implied itemsize from format. On error, raise an
exception and return -1.
Added in version 3.9.
int PyBuffer_IsContiguous(const Py_buffer *view, char order)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Return 1 if the memory defined by the view is C-style (order is
'C') or Fortran-style (order is 'F') contiguous or either one (order is 'A'). Return 0 otherwise. This function
always succeeds.
void *PyBuffer_GetPointer(const Py_buffer *view, const Py_ssize_t *indices)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Get the memory area pointed to by the indices inside the given view.
indices must point to an array of view->ndim indices.
int PyBuffer_FromContiguous(const Py_buffer *view, const void *buf, Py_ssize_t len, char fort)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Copy contiguous len bytes from buf to view. fort can be 'C' or 'F'
(for C-style or Fortran-style ordering). 0 is returned on success, -1 on error.
int PyBuffer_ToContiguous(void *buf, const Py_buffer *src, Py_ssize_t len, char order)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Copy len bytes from src to its contiguous representation in buf. order
can be 'C' or 'F' or 'A' (for C-style or Fortran-style ordering or either one). 0 is returned on success, -1
on error.
This function fails if len != src->len.
int PyObject_CopyData(PyObject *dest, PyObject *src)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Copy data from src to dest buffer. Can convert between C-style and
or Fortran-style buffers.
0 is returned on success, -1 on error.

void PyBuffer_FillContiguousStrides(int ndims, Py_ssize_t *shape, Py_ssize_t *strides, int itemsize, char
order)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Fill the strides array with byte-strides of a contiguous (C-style if order
is 'C' or Fortran-style if order is 'F') array of the given shape with the given number of bytes per element.
int PyBuffer_FillInfo(Py_buffer *view, PyObject *exporter, void *buf, Py_ssize_t len, int readonly, int flags)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Handle buffer requests for an exporter that wants to expose buf of
size len with writability set according to readonly. buf is interpreted as a sequence of unsigned bytes.
The flags argument indicates the request type. This function always fills in view as specified by flags, unless
buf has been designated as read-only and PyBUF_WRITABLE is set in flags.
On success, set view->obj to a new reference to exporter and return 0. Otherwise, raise BufferError, set
view->obj to NULL and return -1;

If this function is used as part of a getbufferproc, exporter MUST be set to the exporting object and flags must
be passed unmodified. Otherwise, exporter MUST be NULL.

7.8 Old Buffer Protocol

Deprecated since version 3.0.
These functions were part of the “old buffer protocol” API in Python 2. In Python 3, this protocol doesn’t exist
anymore but the functions are still exposed to ease porting 2.x code. They act as a compatibility wrapper around
the new buffer protocol, but they don’t give you control over the lifetime of the resources acquired when a buffer is
exported.

110 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Therefore, it is recommended that you call PyObject_GetBuffer() (or the y* or w* format codes with the
PyArg_ParseTuple() family of functions) to get a buffer view over an object, and PyBuffer_Release() when
the buffer view can be released.
int PyObject_AsCharBuffer(PyObject *obj, const char **buffer, Py_ssize_t *buffer_len)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns a pointer to a read-only memory location usable as character-based input. The
obj argument must support the single-segment character buffer interface. On success, returns 0, sets buffer to
the memory location and buffer_len to the buffer length. Returns -1 and sets a TypeError on error.
int PyObject_AsReadBuffer(PyObject *obj, const void **buffer, Py_ssize_t *buffer_len)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns a pointer to a read-only memory location containing arbitrary data. The obj
argument must support the single-segment readable buffer interface. On success, returns 0, sets buffer to the
memory location and buffer_len to the buffer length. Returns -1 and sets a TypeError on error.
int PyObject_CheckReadBuffer(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns 1 if o supports the single-segment readable buffer interface. Otherwise returns
0. This function always succeeds.

Note that this function tries to get and release a buffer, and exceptions which occur while calling corresponding
functions will get suppressed. To get error reporting use PyObject_GetBuffer() instead.
int PyObject_AsWriteBuffer(PyObject *obj, void **buffer, Py_ssize_t *buffer_len)
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns a pointer to a writable memory location. The obj argument must support
the single-segment, character buffer interface. On success, returns 0, sets buffer to the memory location and
buffer_len to the buffer length. Returns -1 and sets a TypeError on error.

7.8. Old Buffer Protocol 111

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

112 Chapter 7. Abstract Objects Layer

 CHAPTER

EIGHT

CONCRETE OBJECTS LAYER

The functions in this chapter are specific to certain Python object types. Passing them an object of the wrong type is
not a good idea; if you receive an object from a Python program and you are not sure that it has the right type, you
must perform a type check first; for example, to check that an object is a dictionary, use PyDict_Check(). The
chapter is structured like the “family tree” of Python object types.

Á Warning

While the functions described in this chapter carefully check the type of the objects which are passed in, many
of them do not check for NULL being passed instead of a valid object. Allowing NULL to be passed in can cause
memory access violations and immediate termination of the interpreter.

8.1 Fundamental Objects

This section describes Python type objects and the singleton object None.

8.1.1 Type Objects

type PyTypeObject
Part of the Limited API (as an opaque struct). The C structure of the objects used to describe built-in types.
PyTypeObject PyType_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the type object for type objects; it is the same object as type in the Python
layer.
int PyType_Check(PyObject *o)
Return non-zero if the object o is a type object, including instances of types derived from the standard type
object. Return 0 in all other cases. This function always succeeds.
int PyType_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return non-zero if the object o is a type object, but not a subtype of the standard type object. Return 0 in all
other cases. This function always succeeds.
unsigned int PyType_ClearCache()
Part of the Stable ABI. Clear the internal lookup cache. Return the current version tag.
unsigned long PyType_GetFlags(PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the tp_flags member of type. This function is primarily meant for use with
Py_LIMITED_API; the individual flag bits are guaranteed to be stable across Python releases, but access to
tp_flags itself is not part of the limited API.

Added in version 3.2.

Changed in version 3.4: The return type is now unsigned long rather than long.

113
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyType_GetDict(PyTypeObject *type)

Return the type object’s internal namespace, which is otherwise only exposed via a read-only proxy (cls.
__dict__). This is a replacement for accessing tp_dict directly. The returned dictionary must be treated
as read-only.
This function is meant for specific embedding and language-binding cases, where direct access to the dict is
necessary and indirect access (e.g. via the proxy or PyObject_GetAttr()) isn’t adequate.
Extension modules should continue to use tp_dict, directly or indirectly, when setting up their own types.
Added in version 3.12.
void PyType_Modified(PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI. Invalidate the internal lookup cache for the type and all of its subtypes. This function
must be called after any manual modification of the attributes or base classes of the type.
int PyType_AddWatcher(PyType_WatchCallback callback)
Register callback as a type watcher. Return a non-negative integer ID which must be passed to future calls to
PyType_Watch(). In case of error (e.g. no more watcher IDs available), return -1 and set an exception.

Added in version 3.12.

int PyType_ClearWatcher(int watcher_id)
Clear watcher identified by watcher_id (previously returned from PyType_AddWatcher()). Return 0 on
success, -1 on error (e.g. if watcher_id was never registered.)
An extension should never call PyType_ClearWatcher with a watcher_id that was not returned to it by a
previous call to PyType_AddWatcher().
Added in version 3.12.
int PyType_Watch(int watcher_id, PyObject *type)
Mark type as watched. The callback granted watcher_id by PyType_AddWatcher() will be called whenever
PyType_Modified() reports a change to type. (The callback may be called only once for a series of con-
secutive modifications to type, if _PyType_Lookup() is not called on type between the modifications; this is
an implementation detail and subject to change.)
An extension should never call PyType_Watch with a watcher_id that was not returned to it by a previous call
to PyType_AddWatcher().
Added in version 3.12.
typedef int (*PyType_WatchCallback)(PyObject *type)
Type of a type-watcher callback function.
The callback must not modify type or cause PyType_Modified() to be called on type or any type in its MRO;
violating this rule could cause infinite recursion.
Added in version 3.12.
int PyType_HasFeature(PyTypeObject *o, int feature)
Return non-zero if the type object o sets the feature feature. Type features are denoted by single bit flags.
int PyType_IS_GC(PyTypeObject *o)
Return true if the type object includes support for the cycle detector; this tests the type flag
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC .

int PyType_IsSubtype(PyTypeObject *a, PyTypeObject *b)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return true if a is a subtype of b.
This function only checks for actual subtypes, which means that __subclasscheck__() is not called on b.
Call PyObject_IsSubclass() to do the same check that issubclass() would do.

114 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyType_GenericAlloc(PyTypeObject *type, Py_ssize_t nitems)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Generic handler for the tp_alloc slot of a type object.
Use Python’s default memory allocation mechanism to allocate a new instance and initialize all its contents to
NULL.

PyObject *PyType_GenericNew(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Generic handler for the tp_new slot of a type object.
Create a new instance using the type’s tp_alloc slot.
int PyType_Ready(PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI. Finalize a type object. This should be called on all type objects to finish their initial-
ization. This function is responsible for adding inherited slots from a type’s base class. Return 0 on success,
or return -1 and sets an exception on error.

® Note

If some of the base classes implements the GC protocol and the provided type does not include the
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC in its flags, then the GC protocol will be automatically implemented from its
parents. On the contrary, if the type being created does include Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC in its flags then
it must implement the GC protocol itself by at least implementing the tp_traverse handle.

PyObject *PyType_GetName(PyTypeObject *type)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Return the type’s name. Equivalent to
getting the type’s __name__ attribute.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyType_GetQualName(PyTypeObject *type)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Return the type’s qualified name.
Equivalent to getting the type’s __qualname__ attribute.
Added in version 3.11.
void *PyType_GetSlot(PyTypeObject *type, int slot)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.4. Return the function pointer stored in the given slot. If the result is
NULL, this indicates that either the slot is NULL, or that the function was called with invalid parameters. Callers
will typically cast the result pointer into the appropriate function type.
See PyType_Slot.slot for possible values of the slot argument.
Added in version 3.4.
Changed in version 3.10: PyType_GetSlot() can now accept all types. Previously, it was limited to heap
types.
PyObject *PyType_GetModule(PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Return the module object associated with the given type when the
type was created using PyType_FromModuleAndSpec().
If no module is associated with the given type, sets TypeError and returns NULL.
This function is usually used to get the module in which a method is defined. Note that in such a method,
PyType_GetModule(Py_TYPE(self)) may not return the intended result. Py_TYPE(self) may be a
subclass of the intended class, and subclasses are not necessarily defined in the same module as their superclass.
See PyCMethod to get the class that defines the method. See PyType_GetModuleByDef() for cases when
PyCMethod cannot be used.
Added in version 3.9.
void *PyType_GetModuleState(PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Return the state of the module object associated with the given type.
This is a shortcut for calling PyModule_GetState() on the result of PyType_GetModule().

8.1. Fundamental Objects 115

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If no module is associated with the given type, sets TypeError and returns NULL.
If the type has an associated module but its state is NULL, returns NULL without setting an exception.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyType_GetModuleByDef(PyTypeObject *type, struct PyModuleDef *def)
Find the first superclass whose module was created from the given PyModuleDef def, and return that module.
If no module is found, raises a TypeError and returns NULL.
This function is intended to be used together with PyModule_GetState() to get module state from slot
methods (such as tp_init or nb_add) and other places where a method’s defining class cannot be passed
using the PyCMethod calling convention.
Added in version 3.11.
int PyUnstable_Type_AssignVersionTag(PyTypeObject *type)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Attempt to assign a version tag to the given type.

Returns 1 if the type already had a valid version tag or a new one was assigned, or 0 if a new tag could not be
assigned.
Added in version 3.12.

Creating Heap-Allocated Types

The following functions and structs are used to create heap types.
PyObject *PyType_FromMetaclass(PyTypeObject *metaclass, PyObject *module, PyType_Spec *spec, PyObject
*bases)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12. Create and return a heap type from the spec (see
Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE).
The metaclass metaclass is used to construct the resulting type object. When metaclass is NULL, the metaclass
is derived from bases (or Py_tp_base[s] slots if bases is NULL, see below).
Metaclasses that override tp_new are not supported, except if tp_new is NULL. (For backwards compatibility,
other PyType_From* functions allow such metaclasses. They ignore tp_new, which may result in incomplete
initialization. This is deprecated and in Python 3.14+ such metaclasses will not be supported.)
The bases argument can be used to specify base classes; it can either be only one class or a tuple of classes. If
bases is NULL, the Py_tp_bases slot is used instead. If that also is NULL, the Py_tp_base slot is used instead. If
that also is NULL, the new type derives from object.
The module argument can be used to record the module in which the new class is defined. It must be a
module object or NULL. If not NULL, the module is associated with the new type and can later be retrieved
with PyType_GetModule(). The associated module is not inherited by subclasses; it must be specified for
each class individually.
This function calls PyType_Ready() on the new type.
Note that this function does not fully match the behavior of calling type() or using the class statement.
With user-provided base types or metaclasses, prefer calling type (or the metaclass) over PyType_From*
functions. Specifically:
• __new__() is not called on the new class (and it must be set to type.__new__).
• __init__() is not called on the new class.
• __init_subclass__() is not called on any bases.

116 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• __set_name__() is not called on new descriptors.

Added in version 3.12.
PyObject *PyType_FromModuleAndSpec(PyObject *module, PyType_Spec *spec, PyObject *bases)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Equivalent to
PyType_FromMetaclass(NULL, module, spec, bases).

Added in version 3.9.

Changed in version 3.10: The function now accepts a single class as the bases argument and NULL as the
tp_doc slot.

Changed in version 3.12: The function now finds and uses a metaclass corresponding to the provided base
classes. Previously, only type instances were returned.
The tp_new of the metaclass is ignored. which may result in incomplete initialization. Creating classes whose
metaclass overrides tp_new is deprecated and in Python 3.14+ it will be no longer allowed.
PyObject *PyType_FromSpecWithBases(PyType_Spec *spec, PyObject *bases)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.3. Equivalent to
PyType_FromMetaclass(NULL, NULL, spec, bases).
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.12: The function now finds and uses a metaclass corresponding to the provided base
classes. Previously, only type instances were returned.
The tp_new of the metaclass is ignored. which may result in incomplete initialization. Creating classes whose
metaclass overrides tp_new is deprecated and in Python 3.14+ it will be no longer allowed.
PyObject *PyType_FromSpec(PyType_Spec *spec)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Equivalent to PyType_FromMetaclass(NULL, NULL,
spec, NULL).

Changed in version 3.12: The function now finds and uses a metaclass corresponding to the base classes
provided in Py_tp_base[s] slots. Previously, only type instances were returned.
The tp_new of the metaclass is ignored. which may result in incomplete initialization. Creating classes whose
metaclass overrides tp_new is deprecated and in Python 3.14+ it will be no longer allowed.
type PyType_Spec
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Structure defining a type’s behavior.
const char *name
Name of the type, used to set PyTypeObject.tp_name.
int basicsize
If positive, specifies the size of the instance in bytes. It is used to set PyTypeObject.tp_basicsize.
If zero, specifies that tp_basicsize should be inherited.
If negative, the absolute value specifies how much space instances of the class need in addition to the
superclass. Use PyObject_GetTypeData() to get a pointer to subclass-specific memory reserved
this way. For negative basicsize, Python will insert padding when needed to meet tp_basicsize’s
alignment requirements.
Changed in version 3.12: Previously, this field could not be negative.
int itemsize
Size of one element of a variable-size type, in bytes. Used to set PyTypeObject.tp_itemsize. See
tp_itemsize documentation for caveats.

If zero, tp_itemsize is inherited. Extending arbitrary variable-sized classes is dangerous, since some
types use a fixed offset for variable-sized memory, which can then overlap fixed-sized memory used by a
subclass. To help prevent mistakes, inheriting itemsize is only possible in the following situations:

8.1. Fundamental Objects 117

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• The base is not variable-sized (its tp_itemsize).

• The requested PyType_Spec.basicsize is positive, suggesting that the memory layout of the
base class is known.
• The requested PyType_Spec.basicsize is zero, suggesting that the subclass does not access the
instance’s memory directly.
• With the Py_TPFLAGS_ITEMS_AT_END flag.
unsigned int flags
Type flags, used to set PyTypeObject.tp_flags.
If the Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE flag is not set, PyType_FromSpecWithBases() sets it automatically.
PyType_Slot *slots
Array of PyType_Slot structures. Terminated by the special slot value {0, NULL}.
Each slot ID should be specified at most once.
type PyType_Slot
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Structure defining optional functionality of a type, containing
a slot ID and a value pointer.
int slot
A slot ID.
Slot IDs are named like the field names of the structures PyTypeObject, PyNumberMethods,
PySequenceMethods, PyMappingMethods and PyAsyncMethods with an added Py_ prefix. For
example, use:
• Py_tp_dealloc to set PyTypeObject.tp_dealloc
• Py_nb_add to set PyNumberMethods.nb_add
• Py_sq_length to set PySequenceMethods.sq_length
The following “offset” fields cannot be set using PyType_Slot:
• tp_weaklistoffset (use Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF instead if possible)
• tp_dictoffset (use Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT instead if possible)
• tp_vectorcall_offset (use "__vectorcalloffset__" in PyMemberDef)
If it is not possible to switch to a MANAGED flag (for example, for vectorcall or to support Python older
than 3.12), specify the offset in Py_tp_members. See PyMemberDef documentation for details.
The following fields cannot be set at all when creating a heap type:
• tp_vectorcall (use tp_new and/or tp_init)
• Internal fields: tp_dict, tp_mro, tp_cache, tp_subclasses, and tp_weaklist.
Setting Py_tp_bases or Py_tp_base may be problematic on some platforms. To avoid issues, use the
bases argument of PyType_FromSpecWithBases() instead.
Changed in version 3.9: Slots in PyBufferProcs may be set in the unlimited API.
Changed in version 3.11: bf_getbuffer and bf_releasebuffer are now available under the limited
API.
void *pfunc
The desired value of the slot. In most cases, this is a pointer to a function.
Slots other than Py_tp_doc may not be NULL.

118 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

8.1.2 The None Object

Note that the PyTypeObject for None is not directly exposed in the Python/C API. Since None is a singleton,
testing for object identity (using == in C) is sufficient. There is no PyNone_Check() function for the same reason.
PyObject *Py_None
The Python None object, denoting lack of value. This object has no methods and is immortal.
Changed in version 3.12: Py_None is immortal.
Py_RETURN_NONE
Return Py_None from a function.

8.2 Numeric Objects

8.2.1 Integer Objects
All integers are implemented as “long” integer objects of arbitrary size.
On error, most PyLong_As* APIs return (return type)-1 which cannot be distinguished from a number. Use
PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.

type PyLongObject
Part of the Limited API (as an opaque struct). This subtype of PyObject represents a Python integer object.
PyTypeObject PyLong_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python integer type. This is the same
object as int in the Python layer.
int PyLong_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyLongObject or a subtype of PyLongObject. This function always suc-
ceeds.
int PyLong_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyLongObject, but not a subtype of PyLongObject. This function always
succeeds.
PyObject *PyLong_FromLong(long v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from v, or NULL on
failure.
The current implementation keeps an array of integer objects for all integers between -5 and 256. When you
create an int in that range you actually just get back a reference to the existing object.
PyObject *PyLong_FromUnsignedLong(unsigned long v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from a C unsigned
long, or NULL on failure.

PyObject *PyLong_FromSsize_t(Py_ssize_t v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from a C
Py_ssize_t, or NULL on failure.

PyObject *PyLong_FromSize_t(size_t v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from a C size_t,
or NULL on failure.
PyObject *PyLong_FromLongLong(long long v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from a C long
long, or NULL on failure.

PyObject *PyLong_FromUnsignedLongLong(unsigned long long v)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from a C unsigned
long long, or NULL on failure.

8.2. Numeric Objects 119

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyLong_FromDouble(double v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject object from the integer
part of v, or NULL on failure.
PyObject *PyLong_FromString(const char *str, char **pend, int base)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyLongObject based on the string value
in str, which is interpreted according to the radix in base, or NULL on failure. If pend is non-NULL, *pend will
point to the end of str on success or to the first character that could not be processed on error. If base is 0,
str is interpreted using the integers definition; in this case, leading zeros in a non-zero decimal number raises
a ValueError. If base is not 0, it must be between 2 and 36, inclusive. Leading and trailing whitespace
and single underscores after a base specifier and between digits are ignored. If there are no digits or str is not
NULL-terminated following the digits and trailing whitespace, ValueError will be raised.

µ See also

Python methods int.to_bytes() and int.from_bytes() to convert a PyLongObject to/from an

array of bytes in base 256. You can call those from C using PyObject_CallMethod().

PyObject *PyLong_FromUnicodeObject(PyObject *u, int base)

Return value: New reference. Convert a sequence of Unicode digits in the string u to a Python integer value.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyLong_FromVoidPtr(void *p)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Python integer from the pointer p. The pointer
value can be retrieved from the resulting value using PyLong_AsVoidPtr().
long PyLong_AsLong(PyObject *obj)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of PyLongObject,
first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.
Raise OverflowError if the value of obj is out of range for a long.
Returns -1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().
long PyLong_AS_LONG(PyObject *obj)
A soft deprecated alias. Exactly equivalent to the preferred PyLong_AsLong. In particular, it can fail
with OverflowError or another exception.
Deprecated since version 3.14: The function is soft deprecated.
long PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow(PyObject *obj, int *overflow)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of PyLongObject,
first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.
If the value of obj is greater than LONG_MAX or less than LONG_MIN, set *overflow to 1 or -1, respectively,
and return -1; otherwise, set *overflow to 0. If any other exception occurs set *overflow to 0 and return -1 as
usual.
Returns -1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().
long long PyLong_AsLongLong(PyObject *obj)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C long long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of
PyLongObject, first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.
Raise OverflowError if the value of obj is out of range for a long long.

120 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Returns -1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.

Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().
long long PyLong_AsLongLongAndOverflow(PyObject *obj, int *overflow)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C long long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of
PyLongObject, first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.

If the value of obj is greater than LLONG_MAX or less than LLONG_MIN, set *overflow to 1 or -1, respectively,
and return -1; otherwise, set *overflow to 0. If any other exception occurs set *overflow to 0 and return -1 as
usual.
Returns -1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
Added in version 3.2.
Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().
Py_ssize_t PyLong_AsSsize_t(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C Py_ssize_t representation of pylong. pylong must be an instance of
PyLongObject.

Raise OverflowError if the value of pylong is out of range for a Py_ssize_t.

Returns -1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
unsigned long PyLong_AsUnsignedLong(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C unsigned long representation of pylong. pylong must be an instance of
PyLongObject.

Raise OverflowError if the value of pylong is out of range for a unsigned long.
Returns (unsigned long)-1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
size_t PyLong_AsSize_t(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C size_t representation of pylong. pylong must be an instance of
PyLongObject.

Raise OverflowError if the value of pylong is out of range for a size_t.

Returns (size_t)-1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
unsigned long long PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C unsigned long long representation of pylong. pylong must be an
instance of PyLongObject.
Raise OverflowError if the value of pylong is out of range for an unsigned long long.
Returns (unsigned long long)-1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
Changed in version 3.1: A negative pylong now raises OverflowError, not TypeError.
unsigned long PyLong_AsUnsignedLongMask(PyObject *obj)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C unsigned long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of
PyLongObject, first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.

If the value of obj is out of range for an unsigned long, return the reduction of that value modulo
ULONG_MAX + 1.

Returns (unsigned long)-1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.

Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().

8.2. Numeric Objects 121

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

unsigned long long PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLongMask(PyObject *obj)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C unsigned long long representation of obj. If obj is not an instance of
PyLongObject, first call its __index__() method (if present) to convert it to a PyLongObject.

If the value of obj is out of range for an unsigned long long, return the reduction of that value modulo
ULLONG_MAX + 1.
Returns (unsigned long long)-1 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.
Changed in version 3.10: This function will no longer use __int__().
double PyLong_AsDouble(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C double representation of pylong. pylong must be an instance of
PyLongObject.

Raise OverflowError if the value of pylong is out of range for a double.

Returns -1.0 on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
void *PyLong_AsVoidPtr(PyObject *pylong)
Part of the Stable ABI. Convert a Python integer pylong to a C void pointer. If pylong cannot be converted,
an OverflowError will be raised. This is only assured to produce a usable void pointer for values created
with PyLong_FromVoidPtr().
Returns NULL on error. Use PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
PyObject *PyLong_GetInfo(void)
Part of the Stable ABI. On success, return a read only named tuple, that holds information about Python’s
internal representation of integers. See sys.int_info for description of individual fields.
On failure, return NULL with an exception set.
Added in version 3.1.
int PyUnstable_Long_IsCompact(const PyLongObject *op)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return 1 if op is compact, 0 otherwise.

This function makes it possible for performance-critical code to implement a “fast path” for small integers. For
compact values use PyUnstable_Long_CompactValue(); for others fall back to a PyLong_As* function
or calling int.to_bytes().
The speedup is expected to be negligible for most users.
Exactly what values are considered compact is an implementation detail and is subject to change.
Added in version 3.12.
Py_ssize_t PyUnstable_Long_CompactValue(const PyLongObject *op)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

If op is compact, as determined by PyUnstable_Long_IsCompact(), return its value.

Otherwise, the return value is undefined.
Added in version 3.12.

122 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

8.2.2 Boolean Objects

Booleans in Python are implemented as a subclass of integers. There are only two booleans, Py_False and Py_True.
As such, the normal creation and deletion functions don’t apply to booleans. The following macros are available,
however.
PyTypeObject PyBool_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python boolean type; it is the same
object as bool in the Python layer.
int PyBool_Check(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is of type PyBool_Type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *Py_False
The Python False object. This object has no methods and is immortal.
Changed in version 3.12: Py_False is immortal.
PyObject *Py_True
The Python True object. This object has no methods and is immortal.
Changed in version 3.12: Py_True is immortal.
Py_RETURN_FALSE
Return Py_False from a function.
Py_RETURN_TRUE
Return Py_True from a function.
PyObject *PyBool_FromLong(long v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return Py_True or Py_False, depending on the truth
value of v.

8.2.3 Floating-Point Objects

type PyFloatObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python floating-point object.
PyTypeObject PyFloat_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python floating-point type. This is the
same object as float in the Python layer.
int PyFloat_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyFloatObject or a subtype of PyFloatObject. This function always
succeeds.
int PyFloat_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyFloatObject, but not a subtype of PyFloatObject. This function always
succeeds.
PyObject *PyFloat_FromString(PyObject *str)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a PyFloatObject object based on the string
value in str, or NULL on failure.
PyObject *PyFloat_FromDouble(double v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a PyFloatObject object from v, or NULL on
failure.
double PyFloat_AsDouble(PyObject *pyfloat)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a C double representation of the contents of pyfloat. If pyfloat is not a Python
floating-point object but has a __float__() method, this method will first be called to convert pyfloat into
a float. If __float__() is not defined then it falls back to __index__(). This method returns -1.0 upon
failure, so one should call PyErr_Occurred() to check for errors.

8.2. Numeric Objects 123

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.

double PyFloat_AS_DOUBLE(PyObject *pyfloat)
Return a C double representation of the contents of pyfloat, but without error checking.
PyObject *PyFloat_GetInfo(void)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a structseq instance which contains information
about the precision, minimum and maximum values of a float. It’s a thin wrapper around the header file
float.h.
double PyFloat_GetMax()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the maximum representable finite float DBL_MAX as C double.
double PyFloat_GetMin()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the minimum normalized positive float DBL_MIN as C double.

Pack and Unpack functions

The pack and unpack functions provide an efficient platform-independent way to store floating-point values as byte
strings. The Pack routines produce a bytes string from a C double, and the Unpack routines produce a C double
from such a bytes string. The suffix (2, 4 or 8) specifies the number of bytes in the bytes string.
On platforms that appear to use IEEE 754 formats these functions work by copying bits. On other platforms, the
2-byte format is identical to the IEEE 754 binary16 half-precision format, the 4-byte format (32-bit) is identical to
the IEEE 754 binary32 single precision format, and the 8-byte format to the IEEE 754 binary64 double precision
format, although the packing of INFs and NaNs (if such things exist on the platform) isn’t handled correctly, and
attempting to unpack a bytes string containing an IEEE INF or NaN will raise an exception.
On non-IEEE platforms with more precision, or larger dynamic range, than IEEE 754 supports, not all values can be
packed; on non-IEEE platforms with less precision, or smaller dynamic range, not all values can be unpacked. What
happens in such cases is partly accidental (alas).
Added in version 3.11.

Pack functions

The pack routines write 2, 4 or 8 bytes, starting at p. le is an int argument, non-zero if you want the bytes string in
little-endian format (exponent last, at p+1, p+3, or p+6 p+7), zero if you want big-endian format (exponent first, at
p). The PY_BIG_ENDIAN constant can be used to use the native endian: it is equal to 1 on big endian processor, or
0 on little endian processor.
Return value: 0 if all is OK, -1 if error (and an exception is set, most likely OverflowError).
There are two problems on non-IEEE platforms:
• What this does is undefined if x is a NaN or infinity.
• -0.0 and +0.0 produce the same bytes string.
int PyFloat_Pack2(double x, unsigned char *p, int le)
Pack a C double as the IEEE 754 binary16 half-precision format.
int PyFloat_Pack4(double x, unsigned char *p, int le)
Pack a C double as the IEEE 754 binary32 single precision format.
int PyFloat_Pack8(double x, unsigned char *p, int le)
Pack a C double as the IEEE 754 binary64 double precision format.

Unpack functions

The unpack routines read 2, 4 or 8 bytes, starting at p. le is an int argument, non-zero if the bytes string is in
little-endian format (exponent last, at p+1, p+3 or p+6 and p+7), zero if big-endian (exponent first, at p). The
PY_BIG_ENDIAN constant can be used to use the native endian: it is equal to 1 on big endian processor, or 0 on little
endian processor.

124 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Return value: The unpacked double. On error, this is -1.0 and PyErr_Occurred() is true (and an exception is
set, most likely OverflowError).
Note that on a non-IEEE platform this will refuse to unpack a bytes string that represents a NaN or infinity.
double PyFloat_Unpack2(const unsigned char *p, int le)
Unpack the IEEE 754 binary16 half-precision format as a C double.
double PyFloat_Unpack4(const unsigned char *p, int le)
Unpack the IEEE 754 binary32 single precision format as a C double.
double PyFloat_Unpack8(const unsigned char *p, int le)
Unpack the IEEE 754 binary64 double precision format as a C double.

8.2.4 Complex Number Objects

Python’s complex number objects are implemented as two distinct types when viewed from the C API: one is the
Python object exposed to Python programs, and the other is a C structure which represents the actual complex number
value. The API provides functions for working with both.

Complex Numbers as C Structures

Note that the functions which accept these structures as parameters and return them as results do so by value rather
than dereferencing them through pointers. This is consistent throughout the API.
type Py_complex
The C structure which corresponds to the value portion of a Python complex number object. Most of the
functions for dealing with complex number objects use structures of this type as input or output values, as
appropriate.
double real
double imag

The structure is defined as:

typedef struct {
double real;
double imag;
} Py_complex;

Py_complex _Py_c_sum(Py_complex left, Py_complex right)

Return the sum of two complex numbers, using the C Py_complex representation.
Py_complex _Py_c_diff(Py_complex left, Py_complex right)
Return the difference between two complex numbers, using the C Py_complex representation.
Py_complex _Py_c_neg(Py_complex num)
Return the negation of the complex number num, using the C Py_complex representation.
Py_complex _Py_c_prod(Py_complex left, Py_complex right)
Return the product of two complex numbers, using the C Py_complex representation.
Py_complex _Py_c_quot(Py_complex dividend, Py_complex divisor)
Return the quotient of two complex numbers, using the C Py_complex representation.
If divisor is null, this method returns zero and sets errno to EDOM.
Py_complex _Py_c_pow(Py_complex num, Py_complex exp)
Return the exponentiation of num by exp, using the C Py_complex representation.
If num is null and exp is not a positive real number, this method returns zero and sets errno to EDOM.

8.2. Numeric Objects 125

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Complex Numbers as Python Objects

type PyComplexObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python complex number object.
PyTypeObject PyComplex_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python complex number type. It is the
same object as complex in the Python layer.
int PyComplex_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyComplexObject or a subtype of PyComplexObject. This function always
succeeds.
int PyComplex_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyComplexObject, but not a subtype of PyComplexObject. This function
always succeeds.
PyObject *PyComplex_FromCComplex(Py_complex v)
Return value: New reference. Create a new Python complex number object from a C Py_complex value.
Return NULL with an exception set on error.
PyObject *PyComplex_FromDoubles(double real, double imag)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new PyComplexObject object from real and
imag. Return NULL with an exception set on error.
double PyComplex_RealAsDouble(PyObject *op)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the real part of op as a C double.
Upon failure, this method returns -1.0 with an exception set, so one should call PyErr_Occurred() to
check for errors.
double PyComplex_ImagAsDouble(PyObject *op)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the imaginary part of op as a C double.
Py_complex PyComplex_AsCComplex(PyObject *op)
Return the Py_complex value of the complex number op.
If op is not a Python complex number object but has a __complex__() method, this method will first be
called to convert op to a Python complex number object. If __complex__() is not defined then it falls back
to __float__(). If __float__() is not defined then it falls back to __index__().
Upon failure, this method returns Py_complex with real set to -1.0 and with an exception set, so one should
call PyErr_Occurred() to check for errors.
Changed in version 3.8: Use __index__() if available.

8.3 Sequence Objects

Generic operations on sequence objects were discussed in the previous chapter; this section deals with the specific
kinds of sequence objects that are intrinsic to the Python language.

8.3.1 Bytes Objects

These functions raise TypeError when expecting a bytes parameter and called with a non-bytes parameter.
type PyBytesObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python bytes object.
PyTypeObject PyBytes_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python bytes type; it is the same object
as bytes in the Python layer.

126 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyBytes_Check(PyObject *o)

Return true if the object o is a bytes object or an instance of a subtype of the bytes type. This function always
succeeds.
int PyBytes_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return true if the object o is a bytes object, but not an instance of a subtype of the bytes type. This function
always succeeds.
PyObject *PyBytes_FromString(const char *v)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new bytes object with a copy of the string v as
value on success, and NULL on failure. The parameter v must not be NULL; it will not be checked.
PyObject *PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(const char *v, Py_ssize_t len)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new bytes object with a copy of the string v
as value and length len on success, and NULL on failure. If v is NULL, the contents of the bytes object are
uninitialized.
PyObject *PyBytes_FromFormat(const char *format, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Take a C printf()-style format string and a variable
number of arguments, calculate the size of the resulting Python bytes object and return a bytes object with the
values formatted into it. The variable arguments must be C types and must correspond exactly to the format
characters in the format string. The following format characters are allowed:

Format Characters Type Comment

%% n/a The literal % character.
%c int A single byte, represented as a C int.
%d int Equivalent to printf("%d").1
%u unsigned int Equivalent to printf("%u").1
%ld long Equivalent to printf("%ld").1
%lu unsigned long Equivalent to printf("%lu").1
%zd Py_ssize_t Equivalent to printf("%zd").1
%zu size_t Equivalent to printf("%zu").1
%i int Equivalent to printf("%i").1
%x int Equivalent to printf("%x").1
%s const char* A null-terminated C character array.
%p const void* The hex representation of a C pointer. Mostly equivalent to
printf("%p") except that it is guaranteed to start with the
literal 0x regardless of what the platform’s printf yields.

An unrecognized format character causes all the rest of the format string to be copied as-is to the result object,
and any extra arguments discarded.
PyObject *PyBytes_FromFormatV(const char *format, va_list vargs)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Identical to PyBytes_FromFormat() except that it
takes exactly two arguments.
PyObject *PyBytes_FromObject(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the bytes representation of object o that implements
the buffer protocol.
Py_ssize_t PyBytes_Size(PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the length of the bytes in bytes object o.
Py_ssize_t PyBytes_GET_SIZE(PyObject *o)
Similar to PyBytes_Size(), but without error checking.

1 For integer specifiers (d, u, ld, lu, zd, zu, i, x): the 0-conversion flag has effect even when a precision is given.

8.3. Sequence Objects 127

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

char *PyBytes_AsString(PyObject *o)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return a pointer to the contents of o. The pointer refers to the internal buffer of o,
which consists of len(o) + 1 bytes. The last byte in the buffer is always null, regardless of whether there
are any other null bytes. The data must not be modified in any way, unless the object was just created using
PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, size). It must not be deallocated. If o is not a bytes object at all,
PyBytes_AsString() returns NULL and raises TypeError.

char *PyBytes_AS_STRING(PyObject *string)

Similar to PyBytes_AsString(), but without error checking.
int PyBytes_AsStringAndSize(PyObject *obj, char **buffer, Py_ssize_t *length)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the null-terminated contents of the object obj through the output variables buffer
and length. Returns 0 on success.
If length is NULL, the bytes object may not contain embedded null bytes; if it does, the function returns -1 and
a ValueError is raised.
The buffer refers to an internal buffer of obj, which includes an additional null byte at the end (not
counted in length). The data must not be modified in any way, unless the object was just created using
PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, size). It must not be deallocated. If obj is not a bytes object
at all, PyBytes_AsStringAndSize() returns -1 and raises TypeError.
Changed in version 3.5: Previously, TypeError was raised when embedded null bytes were encountered in
the bytes object.
void PyBytes_Concat(PyObject **bytes, PyObject *newpart)
Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new bytes object in *bytes containing the contents of newpart appended to
bytes; the caller will own the new reference. The reference to the old value of bytes will be stolen. If the new
object cannot be created, the old reference to bytes will still be discarded and the value of *bytes will be set to
NULL; the appropriate exception will be set.

void PyBytes_ConcatAndDel(PyObject **bytes, PyObject *newpart)

Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new bytes object in *bytes containing the contents of newpart appended to
bytes. This version releases the strong reference to newpart (i.e. decrements its reference count).
int _PyBytes_Resize(PyObject **bytes, Py_ssize_t newsize)
A way to resize a bytes object even though it is “immutable”. Only use this to build up a brand new bytes
object; don’t use this if the bytes may already be known in other parts of the code. It is an error to call this
function if the refcount on the input bytes object is not one. Pass the address of an existing bytes object as an
lvalue (it may be written into), and the new size desired. On success, *bytes holds the resized bytes object and
0 is returned; the address in *bytes may differ from its input value. If the reallocation fails, the original bytes
object at *bytes is deallocated, *bytes is set to NULL, MemoryError is set, and -1 is returned.

8.3.2 Byte Array Objects

type PyByteArrayObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python bytearray object.
PyTypeObject PyByteArray_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python bytearray type; it is the same
object as bytearray in the Python layer.

Type check macros

int PyByteArray_Check(PyObject *o)
Return true if the object o is a bytearray object or an instance of a subtype of the bytearray type. This function
always succeeds.
int PyByteArray_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return true if the object o is a bytearray object, but not an instance of a subtype of the bytearray type. This
function always succeeds.

128 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Direct API functions

PyObject *PyByteArray_FromObject(PyObject *o)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new bytearray object from any object, o, that
implements the buffer protocol.
On failure, return NULL with an exception set.
PyObject *PyByteArray_FromStringAndSize(const char *string, Py_ssize_t len)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new bytearray object from string and its length,
len.
On failure, return NULL with an exception set.
PyObject *PyByteArray_Concat(PyObject *a, PyObject *b)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Concat bytearrays a and b and return a new bytearray
with the result.
On failure, return NULL with an exception set.
Py_ssize_t PyByteArray_Size(PyObject *bytearray)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the size of bytearray after checking for a NULL pointer.
char *PyByteArray_AsString(PyObject *bytearray)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the contents of bytearray as a char array after checking for a NULL pointer. The
returned array always has an extra null byte appended.
int PyByteArray_Resize(PyObject *bytearray, Py_ssize_t len)
Part of the Stable ABI. Resize the internal buffer of bytearray to len.

Macros
These macros trade safety for speed and they don’t check pointers.
char *PyByteArray_AS_STRING(PyObject *bytearray)
Similar to PyByteArray_AsString(), but without error checking.
Py_ssize_t PyByteArray_GET_SIZE(PyObject *bytearray)
Similar to PyByteArray_Size(), but without error checking.

8.3.3 Unicode Objects and Codecs

Unicode Objects
Since the implementation of PEP 393 in Python 3.3, Unicode objects internally use a variety of representations, in
order to allow handling the complete range of Unicode characters while staying memory efficient. There are special
cases for strings where all code points are below 128, 256, or 65536; otherwise, code points must be below 1114112
(which is the full Unicode range).
UTF-8 representation is created on demand and cached in the Unicode object.

® Note

The Py_UNICODE representation has been removed since Python 3.12 with deprecated APIs. See PEP 623 for
more information.

Unicode Type

These are the basic Unicode object types used for the Unicode implementation in Python:
type Py_UCS4
type Py_UCS2

8.3. Sequence Objects 129

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

type Py_UCS1
Part of the Stable ABI. These types are typedefs for unsigned integer types wide enough to contain characters
of 32 bits, 16 bits and 8 bits, respectively. When dealing with single Unicode characters, use Py_UCS4.
Added in version 3.3.
type Py_UNICODE
This is a typedef of wchar_t, which is a 16-bit type or 32-bit type depending on the platform.
Changed in version 3.3: In previous versions, this was a 16-bit type or a 32-bit type depending on whether you
selected a “narrow” or “wide” Unicode version of Python at build time.
type PyASCIIObject
type PyCompactUnicodeObject
type PyUnicodeObject
These subtypes of PyObject represent a Python Unicode object. In almost all cases, they shouldn’t be used
directly, since all API functions that deal with Unicode objects take and return PyObject pointers.
Added in version 3.3.
PyTypeObject PyUnicode_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python Unicode type. It is exposed to
Python code as str.
The following APIs are C macros and static inlined functions for fast checks and access to internal read-only data of
Unicode objects:
int PyUnicode_Check(PyObject *obj)
Return true if the object obj is a Unicode object or an instance of a Unicode subtype. This function always
succeeds.
int PyUnicode_CheckExact(PyObject *obj)
Return true if the object obj is a Unicode object, but not an instance of a subtype. This function always
succeeds.
int PyUnicode_READY(PyObject *unicode)
Returns 0. This API is kept only for backward compatibility.
Added in version 3.3.
Deprecated since version 3.10: This API does nothing since Python 3.12.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_GET_LENGTH(PyObject *unicode)
Return the length of the Unicode string, in code points. unicode has to be a Unicode object in the “canonical”
representation (not checked).
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS1 *PyUnicode_1BYTE_DATA(PyObject *unicode)
Py_UCS2 *PyUnicode_2BYTE_DATA(PyObject *unicode)
Py_UCS4 *PyUnicode_4BYTE_DATA(PyObject *unicode)
Return a pointer to the canonical representation cast to UCS1, UCS2 or UCS4 integer types for direct char-
acter access. No checks are performed if the canonical representation has the correct character size; use
PyUnicode_KIND() to select the right function.

Added in version 3.3.

PyUnicode_1BYTE_KIND
PyUnicode_2BYTE_KIND
PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND
Return values of the PyUnicode_KIND() macro.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.12: PyUnicode_WCHAR_KIND has been removed.

130 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyUnicode_KIND(PyObject *unicode)

Return one of the PyUnicode kind constants (see above) that indicate how many bytes per character this
Unicode object uses to store its data. unicode has to be a Unicode object in the “canonical” representation (not
checked).
Added in version 3.3.
void *PyUnicode_DATA(PyObject *unicode)
Return a void pointer to the raw Unicode buffer. unicode has to be a Unicode object in the “canonical” repre-
sentation (not checked).
Added in version 3.3.
void PyUnicode_WRITE(int kind, void *data, Py_ssize_t index, Py_UCS4 value)
Write into a canonical representation data (as obtained with PyUnicode_DATA()). This function performs
no sanity checks, and is intended for usage in loops. The caller should cache the kind value and data pointer
as obtained from other calls. index is the index in the string (starts at 0) and value is the new code point value
which should be written to that location.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 PyUnicode_READ(int kind, void *data, Py_ssize_t index)
Read a code point from a canonical representation data (as obtained with PyUnicode_DATA()). No checks
or ready calls are performed.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 PyUnicode_READ_CHAR(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t index)
Read a character from a Unicode object unicode, which must be in the “canonical” representation. This is less
efficient than PyUnicode_READ() if you do multiple consecutive reads.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 PyUnicode_MAX_CHAR_VALUE(PyObject *unicode)
Return the maximum code point that is suitable for creating another string based on unicode, which must be
in the “canonical” representation. This is always an approximation but more efficient than iterating over the
string.
Added in version 3.3.
int PyUnicode_IsIdentifier(PyObject *unicode)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if the string is a valid identifier according to the language definition, section
identifiers. Return 0 otherwise.
Changed in version 3.9: The function does not call Py_FatalError() anymore if the string is not ready.

Unicode Character Properties

Unicode provides many different character properties. The most often needed ones are available through these macros
which are mapped to C functions depending on the Python configuration.
int Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a whitespace character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISLOWER(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a lowercase character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISUPPER(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is an uppercase character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISTITLE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a titlecase character.

8.3. Sequence Objects 131

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int Py_UNICODE_ISLINEBREAK(Py_UCS4 ch)

Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a linebreak character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a decimal character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISDIGIT(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a digit character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISNUMERIC(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a numeric character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISALPHA(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is an alphabetic character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISALNUM(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is an alphanumeric character.
int Py_UNICODE_ISPRINTABLE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return 1 or 0 depending on whether ch is a printable character, in the sense of str.isprintable().
These APIs can be used for fast direct character conversions:
Py_UCS4 Py_UNICODE_TOLOWER(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to lower case.
Deprecated since version 3.3: This function uses simple case mappings.
Py_UCS4 Py_UNICODE_TOUPPER(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to upper case.
Deprecated since version 3.3: This function uses simple case mappings.
Py_UCS4 Py_UNICODE_TOTITLE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to title case.
Deprecated since version 3.3: This function uses simple case mappings.
int Py_UNICODE_TODECIMAL(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to a decimal positive integer. Return -1 if this is not possible. This function
does not raise exceptions.
int Py_UNICODE_TODIGIT(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to a single digit integer. Return -1 if this is not possible. This function does
not raise exceptions.
double Py_UNICODE_TONUMERIC(Py_UCS4 ch)
Return the character ch converted to a double. Return -1.0 if this is not possible. This function does not raise
exceptions.
These APIs can be used to work with surrogates:
int Py_UNICODE_IS_SURROGATE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Check if ch is a surrogate (0xD800 <= ch <= 0xDFFF).
int Py_UNICODE_IS_HIGH_SURROGATE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Check if ch is a high surrogate (0xD800 <= ch <= 0xDBFF).
int Py_UNICODE_IS_LOW_SURROGATE(Py_UCS4 ch)
Check if ch is a low surrogate (0xDC00 <= ch <= 0xDFFF).
Py_UCS4 Py_UNICODE_JOIN_SURROGATES(Py_UCS4 high, Py_UCS4 low)
Join two surrogate characters and return a single Py_UCS4 value. high and low are respectively the leading and
trailing surrogates in a surrogate pair. high must be in the range [0xD800; 0xDBFF] and low must be in the
range [0xDC00; 0xDFFF].

132 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Creating and accessing Unicode strings

To create Unicode objects and access their basic sequence properties, use these APIs:
PyObject *PyUnicode_New(Py_ssize_t size, Py_UCS4 maxchar)
Return value: New reference. Create a new Unicode object. maxchar should be the true maximum code point
to be placed in the string. As an approximation, it can be rounded up to the nearest value in the sequence 127,
255, 65535, 1114111.
This is the recommended way to allocate a new Unicode object. Objects created using this function are not
resizable.
On error, set an exception and return NULL.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromKindAndData(int kind, const void *buffer, Py_ssize_t size)
Return value: New reference. Create a new Unicode object with the given kind (possible values are
PyUnicode_1BYTE_KIND etc., as returned by PyUnicode_KIND()). The buffer must point to an array
of size units of 1, 2 or 4 bytes per character, as given by the kind.
If necessary, the input buffer is copied and transformed into the canonical representation. For example, if the
buffer is a UCS4 string (PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND) and it consists only of codepoints in the UCS1 range, it
will be transformed into UCS1 (PyUnicode_1BYTE_KIND).
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object from the char buffer str. The
bytes will be interpreted as being UTF-8 encoded. The buffer is copied into the new object. The return value
might be a shared object, i.e. modification of the data is not allowed.
This function raises SystemError when:
• size < 0,
• str is NULL and size > 0
Changed in version 3.12: str == NULL with size > 0 is not allowed anymore.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromString(const char *str)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object from a UTF-8 encoded null-
terminated char buffer str.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromFormat(const char *format, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Take a C printf()-style format string and a variable
number of arguments, calculate the size of the resulting Python Unicode string and return a string with the
values formatted into it. The variable arguments must be C types and must correspond exactly to the format
characters in the format ASCII-encoded string.
A conversion specifier contains two or more characters and has the following components, which must occur
in this order:
1. The '%' character, which marks the start of the specifier.
2. Conversion flags (optional), which affect the result of some conversion types.
3. Minimum field width (optional). If specified as an '*' (asterisk), the actual width is given in the next
argument, which must be of type int, and the object to convert comes after the minimum field width
and optional precision.
4. Precision (optional), given as a '.' (dot) followed by the precision. If specified as '*' (an asterisk),
the actual precision is given in the next argument, which must be of type int, and the value to convert
comes after the precision.
5. Length modifier (optional).
6. Conversion type.

8.3. Sequence Objects 133

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The conversion flag characters are:

Flag Meaning
0 The conversion will be zero padded for numeric values.
- The converted value is left adjusted (overrides the 0 flag if both are given).

The length modifiers for following integer conversions (d, i, o, u, x, or X) specify the type of the argument
(int by default):

Modifier Types
l long or unsigned long
ll long long or unsigned long long
j intmax_t or uintmax_t
z size_t or ssize_t
t ptrdiff_t

The length modifier l for following conversions s or V specify that the type of the argument is const
wchar_t*.

The conversion specifiers are:

Con- Type Comment

version
Speci-
fier
% n/a The literal % character.
d, i Specified by the The decimal representation of a signed C integer.
length modifier
u Specified by the The decimal representation of an unsigned C integer.
length modifier
o Specified by the The octal representation of an unsigned C integer.
length modifier
x Specified by the The hexadecimal representation of an unsigned C integer (lowercase).
length modifier
X Specified by the The hexadecimal representation of an unsigned C integer (uppercase).
length modifier
c int A single character.
s const char* or A null-terminated C character array.
const wchar_t*
p const void* The hex representation of a C pointer. Mostly equivalent to
printf("%p") except that it is guaranteed to start with the literal 0x
regardless of what the platform’s printf yields.
A PyObject* The result of calling ascii().
U PyObject* A Unicode object.
V PyObject*, A Unicode object (which may be NULL) and a null-terminated C char-
const char* or acter array as a second parameter (which will be used, if the first pa-
const wchar_t* rameter is NULL).
S PyObject* The result of calling PyObject_Str().
R PyObject* The result of calling PyObject_Repr().

® Note

The width formatter unit is number of characters rather than bytes. The precision formatter unit is number

134 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

of bytes or wchar_t items (if the length modifier l is used) for "%s" and "%V" (if the PyObject*
argument is NULL), and a number of characters for "%A", "%U", "%S", "%R" and "%V" (if the PyObject*
argument is not NULL).

® Note

Unlike to C printf() the 0 flag has effect even when a precision is given for integer conversions (d, i, u,
o, x, or X).

Changed in version 3.2: Support for "%lld" and "%llu" added.

Changed in version 3.3: Support for "%li", "%lli" and "%zi" added.
Changed in version 3.4: Support width and precision formatter for "%s", "%A", "%U", "%V", "%S", "%R"
added.
Changed in version 3.12: Support for conversion specifiers o and X. Support for length modifiers j and t.
Length modifiers are now applied to all integer conversions. Length modifier l is now applied to conversion
specifiers s and V. Support for variable width and precision *. Support for flag -.
An unrecognized format character now sets a SystemError. In previous versions it caused all the rest of the
format string to be copied as-is to the result string, and any extra arguments discarded.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromFormatV(const char *format, va_list vargs)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Identical to PyUnicode_FromFormat() except that it
takes exactly two arguments.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromObject(PyObject *obj)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Copy an instance of a Unicode subtype to a new true
Unicode object if necessary. If obj is already a true Unicode object (not a subtype), return a new strong reference
to the object.
Objects other than Unicode or its subtypes will cause a TypeError.
PyObject *PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(PyObject *obj, const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Decode an encoded object obj to a Unicode object.
bytes, bytearray and other bytes-like objects are decoded according to the given encoding and using the
error handling defined by errors. Both can be NULL to have the interface use the default values (see Built-in
Codecs for details).
All other objects, including Unicode objects, cause a TypeError to be set.
The API returns NULL if there was an error. The caller is responsible for decref’ing the returned objects.
const char *PyUnicode_GetDefaultEncoding(void)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the name of the default string encoding, "utf-8". See sys.
getdefaultencoding().

The returned string does not need to be freed, and is valid until interpreter shutdown.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_GetLength(PyObject *unicode)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the length of the Unicode object, in code points.
On error, set an exception and return -1.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_CopyCharacters(PyObject *to, Py_ssize_t to_start, PyObject *from, Py_ssize_t
from_start, Py_ssize_t how_many)
Copy characters from one Unicode object into another. This function performs character conversion when
necessary and falls back to memcpy() if possible. Returns -1 and sets an exception on error, otherwise returns
the number of copied characters.

8.3. Sequence Objects 135

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.3.

Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_Fill(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t length, Py_UCS4 fill_char)
Fill a string with a character: write fill_char into unicode[start:start+length].
Fail if fill_char is bigger than the string maximum character, or if the string has more than 1 reference.
Return the number of written character, or return -1 and raise an exception on error.
Added in version 3.3.
int PyUnicode_WriteChar(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t index, Py_UCS4 character)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Write a character to a string. The string must have been created
through PyUnicode_New(). Since Unicode strings are supposed to be immutable, the string must not be
shared, or have been hashed yet.
This function checks that unicode is a Unicode object, that the index is not out of bounds, and that the object
can be modified safely (i.e. that it its reference count is one).
Return 0 on success, -1 on error with an exception set.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 PyUnicode_ReadChar(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t index)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Read a character from a string. This function checks that unicode is a
Unicode object and the index is not out of bounds, in contrast to PyUnicode_READ_CHAR(), which performs
no error checking.
Return character on success, -1 on error with an exception set.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Substring(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a substring of unicode, from
character index start (included) to character index end (excluded). Negative indices are not supported. On
error, set an exception and return NULL.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 *PyUnicode_AsUCS4(PyObject *unicode, Py_UCS4 *buffer, Py_ssize_t buflen, int copy_null)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Copy the string unicode into a UCS4 buffer, including a null character,
if copy_null is set. Returns NULL and sets an exception on error (in particular, a SystemError if buflen is
smaller than the length of unicode). buffer is returned on success.
Added in version 3.3.
Py_UCS4 *PyUnicode_AsUCS4Copy(PyObject *unicode)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Copy the string unicode into a new UCS4 buffer that is allocated using
PyMem_Malloc(). If this fails, NULL is returned with a MemoryError set. The returned buffer always has
an extra null code point appended.
Added in version 3.3.

Locale Encoding

The current locale encoding can be used to decode text from the operating system.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize(const char *str, Py_ssize_t length, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Decode a string from UTF-8 on Android
and VxWorks, or from the current locale encoding on other platforms. The supported error handlers are
"strict" and "surrogateescape" (PEP 383). The decoder uses "strict" error handler if errors is
NULL. str must end with a null character but cannot contain embedded null characters.
Use PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize() to decode a string from the filesystem encoding and error
handler.

136 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This function ignores the Python UTF-8 Mode.

µ See also

The Py_DecodeLocale() function.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.7: The function now also uses the current locale encoding for the surrogateescape
error handler, except on Android. Previously, Py_DecodeLocale() was used for the surrogateescape,
and the current locale encoding was used for strict.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeLocale(const char *str, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Similar to
PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize(), but compute the string length using strlen().

Added in version 3.3.

PyObject *PyUnicode_EncodeLocale(PyObject *unicode, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Encode a Unicode object to UTF-8
on Android and VxWorks, or to the current locale encoding on other platforms. The supported error handlers
are "strict" and "surrogateescape" (PEP 383). The encoder uses "strict" error handler if errors
is NULL. Return a bytes object. unicode cannot contain embedded null characters.
Use PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault() to encode a string to the filesystem encoding and error handler.
This function ignores the Python UTF-8 Mode.

µ See also

The Py_EncodeLocale() function.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.7: The function now also uses the current locale encoding for the surrogateescape
error handler, except on Android. Previously, Py_EncodeLocale() was used for the surrogateescape,
and the current locale encoding was used for strict.

File System Encoding

Functions encoding to and decoding from the filesystem encoding and error handler (PEP 383 and PEP 529).
To encode file names to bytes during argument parsing, the "O&" converter should be used, passing
PyUnicode_FSConverter() as the conversion function:

int PyUnicode_FSConverter(PyObject *obj, void *result)

Part of the Stable ABI. PyArg_Parse* converter: encode str objects – obtained directly or through the os.
PathLike interface – to bytes using PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault(); bytes objects are output as-is.
result must be an address of a C variable of type PyObject* (or PyBytesObject*). On success, set the
variable to a new strong reference to a bytes object which must be released when it is no longer used and return
a non-zero value (Py_CLEANUP_SUPPORTED). Embedded null bytes are not allowed in the result. On failure,
return 0 with an exception set.
If obj is NULL, the function releases a strong reference stored in the variable referred by result and returns 1.
Added in version 3.1.
Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a path-like object.
To decode file names to str during argument parsing, the "O&" converter should be used, passing
PyUnicode_FSDecoder() as the conversion function:

8.3. Sequence Objects 137

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyUnicode_FSDecoder(PyObject *obj, void *result)

Part of the Stable ABI. PyArg_Parse* converter: decode bytes objects – obtained either directly or indirectly
through the os.PathLike interface – to str using PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize(); str ob-
jects are output as-is. result must be an address of a C variable of type PyObject* (or PyUnicodeObject*).
On success, set the variable to a new strong reference to a Unicode object which must be released when it is
no longer used and return a non-zero value (Py_CLEANUP_SUPPORTED). Embedded null characters are not
allowed in the result. On failure, return 0 with an exception set.
If obj is NULL, release the strong reference to the object referred to by result and return 1.
Added in version 3.2.
Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a path-like object.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Decode a string from the filesystem encoding and error
handler.
If you need to decode a string from the current locale encoding, use PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize().

µ See also

The Py_DecodeLocale() function.

Changed in version 3.6: The filesystem error handler is now used.

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefault(const char *str)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Decode a null-terminated string from the filesystem
encoding and error handler.
If the string length is known, use PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize().
Changed in version 3.6: The filesystem error handler is now used.
PyObject *PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object to the filesystem encoding and
error handler, and return bytes. Note that the resulting bytes object can contain null bytes.
If you need to encode a string to the current locale encoding, use PyUnicode_EncodeLocale().

µ See also

The Py_EncodeLocale() function.

Added in version 3.2.

Changed in version 3.6: The filesystem error handler is now used.

wchar_t Support

wchar_t support for platforms which support it:

PyObject *PyUnicode_FromWideChar(const wchar_t *wstr, Py_ssize_t size)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object from the wchar_t buffer wstr of
the given size. Passing -1 as the size indicates that the function must itself compute the length, using wcslen().
Return NULL on failure.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_AsWideChar(PyObject *unicode, wchar_t *wstr, Py_ssize_t size)
Part of the Stable ABI. Copy the Unicode object contents into the wchar_t buffer wstr. At most size wchar_t
characters are copied (excluding a possibly trailing null termination character). Return the number of wchar_t
characters copied or -1 in case of an error.

138 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

When wstr is NULL, instead return the size that would be required to store all of unicode including a terminating
null.
Note that the resulting wchar_t* string may or may not be null-terminated. It is the responsibility of the caller
to make sure that the wchar_t* string is null-terminated in case this is required by the application. Also, note
that the wchar_t* string might contain null characters, which would cause the string to be truncated when
used with most C functions.
wchar_t *PyUnicode_AsWideCharString(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t *size)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Convert the Unicode object to a wide character string. The output
string always ends with a null character. If size is not NULL, write the number of wide characters (excluding
the trailing null termination character) into *size. Note that the resulting wchar_t string might contain null
characters, which would cause the string to be truncated when used with most C functions. If size is NULL and
the wchar_t* string contains null characters a ValueError is raised.
Returns a buffer allocated by PyMem_New (use PyMem_Free() to free it) on success. On error, returns NULL
and *size is undefined. Raises a MemoryError if memory allocation is failed.
Added in version 3.2.
Changed in version 3.7: Raises a ValueError if size is NULL and the wchar_t* string contains null characters.

Built-in Codecs
Python provides a set of built-in codecs which are written in C for speed. All of these codecs are directly usable via
the following functions.
Many of the following APIs take two arguments encoding and errors, and they have the same semantics as the ones
of the built-in str() string object constructor.
Setting encoding to NULL causes the default encoding to be used which is UTF-8. The file system calls should
use PyUnicode_FSConverter() for encoding file names. This uses the filesystem encoding and error handler
internally.
Error handling is set by errors which may also be set to NULL meaning to use the default handling defined for the
codec. Default error handling for all built-in codecs is “strict” (ValueError is raised).
The codecs all use a similar interface. Only deviations from the following generic ones are documented for simplicity.

Generic Codecs

These are the generic codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_Decode(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
encoded string str. encoding and errors have the same meaning as the parameters of the same name in the
str() built-in function. The codec to be used is looked up using the Python codec registry. Return NULL if
an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsEncodedString(PyObject *unicode, const char *encoding, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object and return the result as Python
bytes object. encoding and errors have the same meaning as the parameters of the same name in the Unicode
encode() method. The codec to be used is looked up using the Python codec registry. Return NULL if an
exception was raised by the codec.

UTF-8 Codecs

These are the UTF-8 codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
UTF-8 encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.

8.3. Sequence Objects 139

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8Stateful(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, Py_ssize_t
*consumed)
Return value:New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. If consumed is NULL, behave like
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(). If consumed is not NULL, trailing incomplete UTF-8 byte sequences will not
be treated as an error. Those bytes will not be decoded and the number of bytes that have been decoded will
be stored in consumed.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using UTF-8 and return the
result as Python bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
const char *PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(PyObject *unicode, Py_ssize_t *size)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Return a pointer to the UTF-8 encoding of the Unicode object, and
store the size of the encoded representation (in bytes) in size. The size argument can be NULL; in this case no
size will be stored. The returned buffer always has an extra null byte appended (not included in size), regardless
of whether there are any other null code points.
In the case of an error, NULL is returned with an exception set and no size is stored.
This caches the UTF-8 representation of the string in the Unicode object, and subsequent calls will return a
pointer to the same buffer. The caller is not responsible for deallocating the buffer. The buffer is deallocated
and pointers to it become invalid when the Unicode object is garbage collected.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.7: The return type is now const char * rather of char *.
Changed in version 3.10: This function is a part of the limited API.
const char *PyUnicode_AsUTF8(PyObject *unicode)
As PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(), but does not store the size.

Á Warning

This function does not have any special behavior for null characters embedded within unicode. As a re-
sult, strings containing null characters will remain in the returned string, which some C functions might
interpret as the end of the string, leading to truncation. If truncation is an issue, it is recommended to use
PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize() instead.

Added in version 3.3.

Changed in version 3.7: The return type is now const char * rather of char *.

UTF-32 Codecs

These are the UTF-32 codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, int *byteorder)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Decode size bytes from a UTF-32 encoded buffer string
and return the corresponding Unicode object. errors (if non-NULL) defines the error handling. It defaults to
“strict”.
If byteorder is non-NULL, the decoder starts decoding using the given byte order:

*byteorder == -1: little endian

*byteorder == 0: native order
*byteorder == 1: big endian

If *byteorder is zero, and the first four bytes of the input data are a byte order mark (BOM), the decoder
switches to this byte order and the BOM is not copied into the resulting Unicode string. If *byteorder is -1
or 1, any byte order mark is copied to the output.

140 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

After completion, *byteorder is set to the current byte order at the end of input data.
If byteorder is NULL, the codec starts in native order mode.
Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32Stateful(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, int
*byteorder, Py_ssize_t *consumed)
Return value:New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. If consumed is NULL, behave like
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32(). If consumed is not NULL, PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32Stateful() will not
treat trailing incomplete UTF-32 byte sequences (such as a number of bytes not divisible by four) as an error.
Those bytes will not be decoded and the number of bytes that have been decoded will be stored in consumed.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsUTF32String(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a Python byte string using the UTF-32 encoding
in native byte order. The string always starts with a BOM mark. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an
exception was raised by the codec.

UTF-16 Codecs

These are the UTF-16 codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, int *byteorder)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Decode size bytes from a UTF-16 encoded buffer string
and return the corresponding Unicode object. errors (if non-NULL) defines the error handling. It defaults to
“strict”.
If byteorder is non-NULL, the decoder starts decoding using the given byte order:

*byteorder == -1: little endian

*byteorder == 0: native order
*byteorder == 1: big endian

If *byteorder is zero, and the first two bytes of the input data are a byte order mark (BOM), the decoder
switches to this byte order and the BOM is not copied into the resulting Unicode string. If *byteorder is
-1 or 1, any byte order mark is copied to the output (where it will result in either a \ufeff or a \ufffe
character).
After completion, *byteorder is set to the current byte order at the end of input data.
If byteorder is NULL, the codec starts in native order mode.
Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16Stateful(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, int
*byteorder, Py_ssize_t *consumed)
Return value:New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. If consumed is NULL, behave like
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16(). If consumed is not NULL, PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16Stateful() will not
treat trailing incomplete UTF-16 byte sequences (such as an odd number of bytes or a split surrogate pair) as
an error. Those bytes will not be decoded and the number of bytes that have been decoded will be stored in
consumed.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsUTF16String(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a Python byte string using the UTF-16 encoding
in native byte order. The string always starts with a BOM mark. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an
exception was raised by the codec.

UTF-7 Codecs

These are the UTF-7 codec APIs:

8.3. Sequence Objects 141

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
UTF-7 encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7Stateful(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, Py_ssize_t
*consumed)
Return value:New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. If consumed is NULL, behave like
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7(). If consumed is not NULL, trailing incomplete UTF-7 base-64 sections will
not be treated as an error. Those bytes will not be decoded and the number of bytes that have been decoded
will be stored in consumed.

Unicode-Escape Codecs

These are the “Unicode Escape” codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
Unicode-Escape encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsUnicodeEscapeString(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using Unicode-Escape and
return the result as a bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the
codec.

Raw-Unicode-Escape Codecs

These are the “Raw Unicode Escape” codec APIs:

PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeRawUnicodeEscape(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
Raw-Unicode-Escape encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsRawUnicodeEscapeString(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using Raw-Unicode-Escape
and return the result as a bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by
the codec.

Latin-1 Codecs

These are the Latin-1 codec APIs: Latin-1 corresponds to the first 256 Unicode ordinals and only these are accepted
by the codecs during encoding.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
Latin-1 encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsLatin1String(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using Latin-1 and return the
result as Python bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.

ASCII Codecs

These are the ASCII codec APIs. Only 7-bit ASCII data is accepted. All other codes generate errors.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeASCII(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
ASCII encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsASCIIString(PyObject *unicode)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using ASCII and return the
result as Python bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.

142 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Character Map Codecs

This codec is special in that it can be used to implement many different codecs (and this is in fact what was done to
obtain most of the standard codecs included in the encodings package). The codec uses mappings to encode and
decode characters. The mapping objects provided must support the __getitem__() mapping interface; dictionaries
and sequences work well.
These are the mapping codec APIs:
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeCharmap(const char *str, Py_ssize_t length, PyObject *mapping, const char
*errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Unicode object by decoding size bytes of the
encoded string str using the given mapping object. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
If mapping is NULL, Latin-1 decoding will be applied. Else mapping must map bytes ordinals (integers in the
range from 0 to 255) to Unicode strings, integers (which are then interpreted as Unicode ordinals) or None.
Unmapped data bytes – ones which cause a LookupError, as well as ones which get mapped to None, 0xFFFE
or '\ufffe', are treated as undefined mappings and cause an error.
PyObject *PyUnicode_AsCharmapString(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *mapping)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Encode a Unicode object using the given mapping object
and return the result as a bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an exception was raised by
the codec.
The mapping object must map Unicode ordinal integers to bytes objects, integers in the range from 0 to 255
or None. Unmapped character ordinals (ones which cause a LookupError) as well as mapped to None are
treated as “undefined mapping” and cause an error.
The following codec API is special in that maps Unicode to Unicode.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Translate(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *table, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Translate a string by applying a character mapping table
to it and return the resulting Unicode object. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
The mapping table must map Unicode ordinal integers to Unicode ordinal integers or None (causing deletion
of the character).
Mapping tables need only provide the __getitem__() interface; dictionaries and sequences work well. Un-
mapped character ordinals (ones which cause a LookupError) are left untouched and are copied as-is.
errors has the usual meaning for codecs. It may be NULL which indicates to use the default error handling.

MBCS codecs for Windows

These are the MBCS codec APIs. They are currently only available on Windows and use the Win32 MBCS converters
to implement the conversions. Note that MBCS (or DBCS) is a class of encodings, not just one. The target encoding
is defined by the user settings on the machine running the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeMBCS(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Create a Unicode object
by decoding size bytes of the MBCS encoded string str. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeMBCSStateful(const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char *errors, Py_ssize_t
*consumed)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. If consumed is NULL, behave
like PyUnicode_DecodeMBCS(). If consumed is not NULL, PyUnicode_DecodeMBCSStateful() will
not decode trailing lead byte and the number of bytes that have been decoded will be stored in consumed.
PyObject *PyUnicode_DecodeCodePageStateful(int code_page, const char *str, Py_ssize_t size, const char
*errors, Py_ssize_t *consumed)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Similar to
PyUnicode_DecodeMBCSStateful(), except uses the code page specified by code_page.

8.3. Sequence Objects 143

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyUnicode_AsMBCSString(PyObject *unicode)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Encode a Unicode object
using MBCS and return the result as Python bytes object. Error handling is “strict”. Return NULL if an
exception was raised by the codec.
PyObject *PyUnicode_EncodeCodePage(int code_page, PyObject *unicode, const char *errors)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI on Windows since version 3.7. Encode the Unicode object
using the specified code page and return a Python bytes object. Return NULL if an exception was raised by the
codec. Use CP_ACP code page to get the MBCS encoder.
Added in version 3.3.

Methods & Slots

Methods and Slot Functions

The following APIs are capable of handling Unicode objects and strings on input (we refer to them as strings in the
descriptions) and return Unicode objects or integers as appropriate.
They all return NULL or -1 if an exception occurs.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Concat(PyObject *left, PyObject *right)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Concat two strings giving a new Unicode string.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Split(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *sep, Py_ssize_t maxsplit)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Split a string giving a list of Unicode strings. If sep is
NULL, splitting will be done at all whitespace substrings. Otherwise, splits occur at the given separator. At
most maxsplit splits will be done. If negative, no limit is set. Separators are not included in the resulting list.
On error, return NULL with an exception set.
Equivalent to str.split().
PyObject *PyUnicode_RSplit(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *sep, Py_ssize_t maxsplit)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyUnicode_Split(), but splitting will be
done beginning at the end of the string.
On error, return NULL with an exception set.
Equivalent to str.rsplit().
PyObject *PyUnicode_Splitlines(PyObject *unicode, int keepends)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Split a Unicode string at line breaks, returning a list of
Unicode strings. CRLF is considered to be one line break. If keepends is 0, the Line break characters are not
included in the resulting strings.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Partition(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *sep)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Split a Unicode string at the first occurrence of sep, and
return a 3-tuple containing the part before the separator, the separator itself, and the part after the separator.
If the separator is not found, return a 3-tuple containing the string itself, followed by two empty strings.
sep must not be empty.
On error, return NULL with an exception set.
Equivalent to str.partition().
PyObject *PyUnicode_RPartition(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *sep)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyUnicode_Partition(), but split a Uni-
code string at the last occurrence of sep. If the separator is not found, return a 3-tuple containing two empty
strings, followed by the string itself.
sep must not be empty.
On error, return NULL with an exception set.
Equivalent to str.rpartition().

144 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyUnicode_Join(PyObject *separator, PyObject *seq)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Join a sequence of strings using the given separator and
return the resulting Unicode string.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_Tailmatch(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *substr, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end, int
direction)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if substr matches unicode[start:end] at the given tail end (direction ==
-1 means to do a prefix match, direction == 1 a suffix match), 0 otherwise. Return -1 if an error occurred.

Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_Find(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *substr, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end, int direction)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the first position of substr in unicode[start:end] using the given direction
(direction == 1 means to do a forward search, direction == -1 a backward search). The return value is the index
of the first match; a value of -1 indicates that no match was found, and -2 indicates that an error occurred and
an exception has been set.
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_FindChar(PyObject *unicode, Py_UCS4 ch, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end, int
direction)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the first position of the character ch in unicode[start:end]
using the given direction (direction == 1 means to do a forward search, direction == -1 a backward search). The
return value is the index of the first match; a value of -1 indicates that no match was found, and -2 indicates
that an error occurred and an exception has been set.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.7: start and end are now adjusted to behave like unicode[start:end].
Py_ssize_t PyUnicode_Count(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *substr, Py_ssize_t start, Py_ssize_t end)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of substr in
unicode[start:end]. Return -1 if an error occurred.

PyObject *PyUnicode_Replace(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *substr, PyObject *replstr, Py_ssize_t maxcount)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Replace at most maxcount occurrences of substr in unicode
with replstr and return the resulting Unicode object. maxcount == -1 means replace all occurrences.
int PyUnicode_Compare(PyObject *left, PyObject *right)
Part of the Stable ABI. Compare two strings and return -1, 0, 1 for less than, equal, and greater than, respec-
tively.
This function returns -1 upon failure, so one should call PyErr_Occurred() to check for errors.
int PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString(PyObject *unicode, const char *string)
Part of the Stable ABI. Compare a Unicode object, unicode, with string and return -1, 0, 1 for less than, equal,
and greater than, respectively. It is best to pass only ASCII-encoded strings, but the function interprets the
input string as ISO-8859-1 if it contains non-ASCII characters.
This function does not raise exceptions.
PyObject *PyUnicode_RichCompare(PyObject *left, PyObject *right, int op)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Rich compare two Unicode strings and return one of the
following:
• NULL in case an exception was raised
• Py_True or Py_False for successful comparisons
• Py_NotImplemented in case the type combination is unknown
Possible values for op are Py_GT , Py_GE, Py_EQ, Py_NE, Py_LT , and Py_LE.
PyObject *PyUnicode_Format(PyObject *format, PyObject *args)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new string object from format and args; this is
analogous to format % args.

8.3. Sequence Objects 145

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyUnicode_Contains(PyObject *unicode, PyObject *substr)

Part of the Stable ABI. Check whether substr is contained in unicode and return true or false accordingly.
substr has to coerce to a one element Unicode string. -1 is returned if there was an error.
void PyUnicode_InternInPlace(PyObject **p_unicode)
Part of the Stable ABI. Intern the argument *p_unicode in place. The argument must be the address of a
pointer variable pointing to a Python Unicode string object. If there is an existing interned string that is the
same as *p_unicode, it sets *p_unicode to it (releasing the reference to the old string object and creating
a new strong reference to the interned string object), otherwise it leaves *p_unicode alone and interns it.
(Clarification: even though there is a lot of talk about references, think of this function as reference-neutral.
You must own the object you pass in; after the call you no longer own the passed-in reference, but you newly
own the result.)
This function never raises an exception. On error, it leaves its argument unchanged without interning it.
Instances of subclasses of str may not be interned, that is, PyUnicode_CheckExact(*p_unicode) must
be true. If it is not, then – as with any other error – the argument is left unchanged.
Note that interned strings are not “immortal”. You must keep a reference to the result to benefit from interning.
PyObject *PyUnicode_InternFromString(const char *str)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. A combination of PyUnicode_FromString() and
PyUnicode_InternInPlace(), meant for statically allocated strings.

Return a new (“owned”) reference to either a new Unicode string object that has been interned, or an earlier
interned string object with the same value.
Python may keep a reference to the result, or prevent it from being garbage-collected promptly. For in-
terning an unbounded number of different strings, such as ones coming from user input, prefer calling
PyUnicode_FromString() and PyUnicode_InternInPlace() directly.

8.3.4 Tuple Objects

type PyTupleObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python tuple object.
PyTypeObject PyTuple_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python tuple type; it is the same object
as tuple in the Python layer.
int PyTuple_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a tuple object or an instance of a subtype of the tuple type. This function always succeeds.
int PyTuple_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a tuple object, but not an instance of a subtype of the tuple type. This function always
succeeds.
PyObject *PyTuple_New(Py_ssize_t len)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new tuple object of size len, or NULL with an
exception set on failure.
PyObject *PyTuple_Pack(Py_ssize_t n, ...)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new tuple object of size n, or NULL with an
exception set on failure. The tuple values are initialized to the subsequent n C arguments pointing to Python
objects. PyTuple_Pack(2, a, b) is equivalent to Py_BuildValue("(OO)", a, b).
Py_ssize_t PyTuple_Size(PyObject *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Take a pointer to a tuple object, and return the size of that tuple. On error, return -1
and with an exception set.

146 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_ssize_t PyTuple_GET_SIZE(PyObject *p)

Like PyTuple_Size(), but without error checking.
PyObject *PyTuple_GetItem(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object at position pos in the tuple pointed
to by p. If pos is negative or out of bounds, return NULL and set an IndexError exception.
The returned reference is borrowed from the tuple p (that is: it is only valid as long as you hold a reference to
p). To get a strong reference, use Py_NewRef(PyTuple_GetItem(...)) or PySequence_GetItem().
PyObject *PyTuple_GET_ITEM(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Like PyTuple_GetItem(), but does no checking of its arguments.
PyObject *PyTuple_GetSlice(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t low, Py_ssize_t high)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the slice of the tuple pointed to by p between low
and high, or NULL with an exception set on failure.
This is the equivalent of the Python expression p[low:high]. Indexing from the end of the tuple is not
supported.
int PyTuple_SetItem(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos, PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Insert a reference to object o at position pos of the tuple pointed to by p. Return 0 on
success. If pos is out of bounds, return -1 and set an IndexError exception.

® Note

This function “steals” a reference to o and discards a reference to an item already in the tuple at the affected
position.

void PyTuple_SET_ITEM(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos, PyObject *o)

Like PyTuple_SetItem(), but does no error checking, and should only be used to fill in brand new tuples.

® Note

This function “steals” a reference to o, and, unlike PyTuple_SetItem(), does not discard a reference to
any item that is being replaced; any reference in the tuple at position pos will be leaked.

int _PyTuple_Resize(PyObject **p, Py_ssize_t newsize)

Can be used to resize a tuple. newsize will be the new length of the tuple. Because tuples are supposed to be
immutable, this should only be used if there is only one reference to the object. Do not use this if the tuple
may already be known to some other part of the code. The tuple will always grow or shrink at the end. Think
of this as destroying the old tuple and creating a new one, only more efficiently. Returns 0 on success. Client
code should never assume that the resulting value of *p will be the same as before calling this function. If the
object referenced by *p is replaced, the original *p is destroyed. On failure, returns -1 and sets *p to NULL,
and raises MemoryError or SystemError.

8.3.5 Struct Sequence Objects

Struct sequence objects are the C equivalent of namedtuple() objects, i.e. a sequence whose items can also be
accessed through attributes. To create a struct sequence, you first have to create a specific struct sequence type.
PyTypeObject *PyStructSequence_NewType(PyStructSequence_Desc *desc)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new struct sequence type from the data in desc,
described below. Instances of the resulting type can be created with PyStructSequence_New().
Return NULL with an exception set on failure.

8.3. Sequence Objects 147

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyStructSequence_InitType(PyTypeObject *type, PyStructSequence_Desc *desc)

Initializes a struct sequence type type from desc in place.
int PyStructSequence_InitType2(PyTypeObject *type, PyStructSequence_Desc *desc)
Like PyStructSequence_InitType(), but returns 0 on success and -1 with an exception set on failure.
Added in version 3.4.
type PyStructSequence_Desc
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Contains the meta information of a struct sequence type to
create.
const char *name
Fully qualified name of the type; null-terminated UTF-8 encoded. The name must contain the module
name.
const char *doc
Pointer to docstring for the type or NULL to omit.
PyStructSequence_Field *fields
Pointer to NULL-terminated array with field names of the new type.
int n_in_sequence
Number of fields visible to the Python side (if used as tuple).
type PyStructSequence_Field
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Describes a field of a struct sequence. As a struct se-
quence is modeled as a tuple, all fields are typed as PyObject*. The index in the fields array of the
PyStructSequence_Desc determines which field of the struct sequence is described.

const char *name

Name for the field or NULL to end the list of named fields, set to PyStructSequence_UnnamedField
to leave unnamed.
const char *doc
Field docstring or NULL to omit.
const char *const PyStructSequence_UnnamedField
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Special value for a field name to leave it unnamed.
Changed in version 3.9: The type was changed from char *.
PyObject *PyStructSequence_New(PyTypeObject *type)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Creates an instance of type, which must have been created
with PyStructSequence_NewType().
Return NULL with an exception set on failure.
PyObject *PyStructSequence_GetItem(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object at position pos in the struct
sequence pointed to by p. No bounds checking is performed.
PyObject *PyStructSequence_GET_ITEM(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Macro equivalent of PyStructSequence_GetItem().
void PyStructSequence_SetItem(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t pos, PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Sets the field at index pos of the struct sequence p to value o. Like
PyTuple_SET_ITEM(), this should only be used to fill in brand new instances.

® Note

This function “steals” a reference to o.

148 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t *pos, PyObject *o)

Similar to PyStructSequence_SetItem(), but implemented as a static inlined function.

® Note

This function “steals” a reference to o.

8.3.6 List Objects

type PyListObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python list object.
PyTypeObject PyList_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python list type. This is the same
object as list in the Python layer.
int PyList_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a list object or an instance of a subtype of the list type. This function always succeeds.
int PyList_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a list object, but not an instance of a subtype of the list type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyList_New(Py_ssize_t len)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new list of length len on success, or NULL on
failure.

® Note

If len is greater than zero, the returned list object’s items are set to NULL. Thus you cannot use abstract API
functions such as PySequence_SetItem() or expose the object to Python code before setting all items
to a real object with PyList_SetItem().

Py_ssize_t PyList_Size(PyObject *list)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return the length of the list object in list; this is equivalent to len(list) on a list
object.
Py_ssize_t PyList_GET_SIZE(PyObject *list)
Similar to PyList_Size(), but without error checking.
PyObject *PyList_GetItem(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t index)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object at position index in the list pointed
to by list. The position must be non-negative; indexing from the end of the list is not supported. If index is out
of bounds (<0 or >=len(list)), return NULL and set an IndexError exception.
PyObject *PyList_GET_ITEM(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t i)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Similar to PyList_GetItem(), but without error checking.
int PyList_SetItem(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t index, PyObject *item)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the item at index index in list to item. Return 0 on success. If index is out of bounds,
return -1 and set an IndexError exception.

® Note

This function “steals” a reference to item and discards a reference to an item already in the list at the affected
position.

8.3. Sequence Objects 149

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyList_SET_ITEM(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t i, PyObject *o)

Macro form of PyList_SetItem() without error checking. This is normally only used to fill in new lists
where there is no previous content.

® Note

This macro “steals” a reference to item, and, unlike PyList_SetItem(), does not discard a reference to
any item that is being replaced; any reference in list at position i will be leaked.

int PyList_Insert(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t index, PyObject *item)

Part of the Stable ABI. Insert the item item into list list in front of index index. Return 0 if successful; return
-1 and set an exception if unsuccessful. Analogous to list.insert(index, item).
int PyList_Append(PyObject *list, PyObject *item)
Part of the Stable ABI. Append the object item at the end of list list. Return 0 if successful; return -1 and set
an exception if unsuccessful. Analogous to list.append(item).
PyObject *PyList_GetSlice(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t low, Py_ssize_t high)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a list of the objects in list containing the objects
between low and high. Return NULL and set an exception if unsuccessful. Analogous to list[low:high].
Indexing from the end of the list is not supported.
int PyList_SetSlice(PyObject *list, Py_ssize_t low, Py_ssize_t high, PyObject *itemlist)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the slice of list between low and high to the contents of itemlist. Analogous to
list[low:high] = itemlist. The itemlist may be NULL, indicating the assignment of an empty list (slice
deletion). Return 0 on success, -1 on failure. Indexing from the end of the list is not supported.
int PyList_Sort(PyObject *list)
Part of the Stable ABI. Sort the items of list in place. Return 0 on success, -1 on failure. This is equivalent to
list.sort().

int PyList_Reverse(PyObject *list)

Part of the Stable ABI. Reverse the items of list in place. Return 0 on success, -1 on failure. This is the
equivalent of list.reverse().
PyObject *PyList_AsTuple(PyObject *list)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new tuple object containing the contents of list;
equivalent to tuple(list).

8.4 Container Objects

8.4.1 Dictionary Objects
type PyDictObject
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python dictionary object.
PyTypeObject PyDict_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python dictionary type. This is the
same object as dict in the Python layer.
int PyDict_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a dict object or an instance of a subtype of the dict type. This function always succeeds.
int PyDict_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a dict object, but not an instance of a subtype of the dict type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyDict_New()
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new empty dictionary, or NULL on failure.

150 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyDictProxy_New(PyObject *mapping)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a types.MappingProxyType object for a
mapping which enforces read-only behavior. This is normally used to create a view to prevent modification of
the dictionary for non-dynamic class types.
void PyDict_Clear(PyObject *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Empty an existing dictionary of all key-value pairs.
int PyDict_Contains(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Determine if dictionary p contains key. If an item in p is matches key, return 1,
otherwise return 0. On error, return -1. This is equivalent to the Python expression key in p.
PyObject *PyDict_Copy(PyObject *p)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new dictionary that contains the same key-value
pairs as p.
int PyDict_SetItem(PyObject *p, PyObject *key, PyObject *val)
Part of the Stable ABI. Insert val into the dictionary p with a key of key. key must be hashable; if it isn’t,
TypeError will be raised. Return 0 on success or -1 on failure. This function does not steal a reference to
val.
int PyDict_SetItemString(PyObject *p, const char *key, PyObject *val)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyDict_SetItem(), but key is specified as a const char*
UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
int PyDict_DelItem(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Remove the entry in dictionary p with key key. key must be hashable; if it isn’t,
TypeError is raised. If key is not in the dictionary, KeyError is raised. Return 0 on success or -1 on
failure.
int PyDict_DelItemString(PyObject *p, const char *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyDict_DelItem(), but key is specified as a const char*
UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.
PyObject *PyDict_GetItem(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the object from dictionary p which has a key
key. Return NULL if the key key is not present, but without setting an exception.

® Note

Exceptions that occur while this calls __hash__() and __eq__() methods are silently ignored. Prefer
the PyDict_GetItemWithError() function instead.

Changed in version 3.10: Calling this API without GIL held had been allowed for historical reason. It is no
longer allowed.
PyObject *PyDict_GetItemWithError(PyObject *p, PyObject *key)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Variant of PyDict_GetItem() that does not
suppress exceptions. Return NULL with an exception set if an exception occurred. Return NULL without an
exception set if the key wasn’t present.
PyObject *PyDict_GetItemString(PyObject *p, const char *key)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyDict_GetItem(), but key
is specified as a const char* UTF-8 encoded bytes string, rather than a PyObject*.

® Note

8.4. Container Objects 151

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Exceptions that occur while this calls __hash__() and __eq__() methods or while creating the tem-
porary str object are silently ignored. Prefer using the PyDict_GetItemWithError() function with
your own PyUnicode_FromString() key instead.

PyObject *PyDict_SetDefault(PyObject *p, PyObject *key, PyObject *defaultobj)

Return value: Borrowed reference. This is the same as the Python-level dict.setdefault(). If present, it
returns the value corresponding to key from the dictionary p. If the key is not in the dict, it is inserted with
value defaultobj and defaultobj is returned. This function evaluates the hash function of key only once, instead
of evaluating it independently for the lookup and the insertion.
Added in version 3.4.
PyObject *PyDict_Items(PyObject *p)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a PyListObject containing all the items from
the dictionary.
PyObject *PyDict_Keys(PyObject *p)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a PyListObject containing all the keys from
the dictionary.
PyObject *PyDict_Values(PyObject *p)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a PyListObject containing all the values from
the dictionary p.
Py_ssize_t PyDict_Size(PyObject *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the number of items in the dictionary. This is equivalent to len(p) on a
dictionary.
int PyDict_Next(PyObject *p, Py_ssize_t *ppos, PyObject **pkey, PyObject **pvalue)
Part of the Stable ABI. Iterate over all key-value pairs in the dictionary p. The Py_ssize_t referred to by
ppos must be initialized to 0 prior to the first call to this function to start the iteration; the function returns true
for each pair in the dictionary, and false once all pairs have been reported. The parameters pkey and pvalue
should either point to PyObject* variables that will be filled in with each key and value, respectively, or may
be NULL. Any references returned through them are borrowed. ppos should not be altered during iteration. Its
value represents offsets within the internal dictionary structure, and since the structure is sparse, the offsets are
not consecutive.
For example:

PyObject *key, *value;

Py_ssize_t pos = 0;

while (PyDict_Next(self->dict, &pos, &key, &value)) {

/* do something interesting with the values... */
...
}

The dictionary p should not be mutated during iteration. It is safe to modify the values of the keys as you
iterate over the dictionary, but only so long as the set of keys does not change. For example:

PyObject *key, *value;

Py_ssize_t pos = 0;

while (PyDict_Next(self->dict, &pos, &key, &value)) {

long i = PyLong_AsLong(value);
if (i == -1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {
return -1;
}
PyObject *o = PyLong_FromLong(i + 1);
(continues on next page)

152 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

if (o == NULL)
return -1;
if (PyDict_SetItem(self->dict, key, o) < 0) {
Py_DECREF(o);
return -1;
}
Py_DECREF(o);
}

int PyDict_Merge(PyObject *a, PyObject *b, int override)

Part of the Stable ABI. Iterate over mapping object b adding key-value pairs to dictionary a. b may be a
dictionary, or any object supporting PyMapping_Keys() and PyObject_GetItem(). If override is true,
existing pairs in a will be replaced if a matching key is found in b, otherwise pairs will only be added if there
is not a matching key in a. Return 0 on success or -1 if an exception was raised.
int PyDict_Update(PyObject *a, PyObject *b)
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the same as PyDict_Merge(a, b, 1) in C, and is similar to a.update(b)
in Python except that PyDict_Update() doesn’t fall back to the iterating over a sequence of key value pairs
if the second argument has no “keys” attribute. Return 0 on success or -1 if an exception was raised.
int PyDict_MergeFromSeq2(PyObject *a, PyObject *seq2, int override)
Part of the Stable ABI. Update or merge into dictionary a, from the key-value pairs in seq2. seq2 must be an
iterable object producing iterable objects of length 2, viewed as key-value pairs. In case of duplicate keys, the
last wins if override is true, else the first wins. Return 0 on success or -1 if an exception was raised. Equivalent
Python (except for the return value):

def PyDict_MergeFromSeq2(a, seq2, override):

for key, value in seq2:
if override or key not in a:
a[key] = value

int PyDict_AddWatcher(PyDict_WatchCallback callback)

Register callback as a dictionary watcher. Return a non-negative integer id which must be passed to future calls
to PyDict_Watch(). In case of error (e.g. no more watcher IDs available), return -1 and set an exception.
Added in version 3.12.
int PyDict_ClearWatcher(int watcher_id)
Clear watcher identified by watcher_id previously returned from PyDict_AddWatcher(). Return 0 on suc-
cess, -1 on error (e.g. if the given watcher_id was never registered.)
Added in version 3.12.
int PyDict_Watch(int watcher_id, PyObject *dict)
Mark dictionary dict as watched. The callback granted watcher_id by PyDict_AddWatcher() will be called
when dict is modified or deallocated. Return 0 on success or -1 on error.
Added in version 3.12.
int PyDict_Unwatch(int watcher_id, PyObject *dict)
Mark dictionary dict as no longer watched. The callback granted watcher_id by PyDict_AddWatcher() will
no longer be called when dict is modified or deallocated. The dict must previously have been watched by this
watcher. Return 0 on success or -1 on error.
Added in version 3.12.
type PyDict_WatchEvent
Enumeration of possible dictionary watcher events: PyDict_EVENT_ADDED, PyDict_EVENT_MODIFIED,
PyDict_EVENT_DELETED, PyDict_EVENT_CLONED, PyDict_EVENT_CLEARED, or
PyDict_EVENT_DEALLOCATED.

8.4. Container Objects 153

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.12.

typedef int (*PyDict_WatchCallback)(PyDict_WatchEvent event, PyObject *dict, PyObject *key, PyObject
*new_value)
Type of a dict watcher callback function.
If event is PyDict_EVENT_CLEARED or PyDict_EVENT_DEALLOCATED, both key and new_value will be
NULL. If event is PyDict_EVENT_ADDED or PyDict_EVENT_MODIFIED, new_value will be the new value
for key. If event is PyDict_EVENT_DELETED, key is being deleted from the dictionary and new_value will be
NULL.

PyDict_EVENT_CLONED occurs when dict was previously empty and another dict is merged into it. To main-
tain efficiency of this operation, per-key PyDict_EVENT_ADDED events are not issued in this case; instead a
single PyDict_EVENT_CLONED is issued, and key will be the source dictionary.
The callback may inspect but must not modify dict; doing so could have unpredictable effects, including infinite
recursion. Do not trigger Python code execution in the callback, as it could modify the dict as a side effect.
If event is PyDict_EVENT_DEALLOCATED, taking a new reference in the callback to the about-to-be-destroyed
dictionary will resurrect it and prevent it from being freed at this time. When the resurrected object is destroyed
later, any watcher callbacks active at that time will be called again.
Callbacks occur before the notified modification to dict takes place, so the prior state of dict can be inspected.
If the callback sets an exception, it must return -1; this exception will be printed as an unraisable exception
using PyErr_WriteUnraisable(). Otherwise it should return 0.
There may already be a pending exception set on entry to the callback. In this case, the callback should return 0
with the same exception still set. This means the callback may not call any other API that can set an exception
unless it saves and clears the exception state first, and restores it before returning.
Added in version 3.12.

8.4.2 Set Objects

This section details the public API for set and frozenset objects. Any functionality not listed be-
low is best accessed using either the abstract object protocol (including PyObject_CallMethod(),
PyObject_RichCompareBool(), PyObject_Hash(), PyObject_Repr(), PyObject_IsTrue(),
PyObject_Print(), and PyObject_GetIter()) or the abstract number protocol (including PyNumber_And(),
PyNumber_Subtract(), PyNumber_Or(), PyNumber_Xor(), PyNumber_InPlaceAnd(),
PyNumber_InPlaceSubtract(), PyNumber_InPlaceOr(), and PyNumber_InPlaceXor()).

type PySetObject
This subtype of PyObject is used to hold the internal data for both set and frozenset objects. It is like
a PyDictObject in that it is a fixed size for small sets (much like tuple storage) and will point to a separate,
variable sized block of memory for medium and large sized sets (much like list storage). None of the fields of
this structure should be considered public and all are subject to change. All access should be done through the
documented API rather than by manipulating the values in the structure.
PyTypeObject PySet_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This is an instance of PyTypeObject representing the Python set type.
PyTypeObject PyFrozenSet_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This is an instance of PyTypeObject representing the Python frozenset type.
The following type check macros work on pointers to any Python object. Likewise, the constructor functions work
with any iterable Python object.
int PySet_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a set object or an instance of a subtype. This function always succeeds.
int PyFrozenSet_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a frozenset object or an instance of a subtype. This function always succeeds.

154 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyAnySet_Check(PyObject *p)

Return true if p is a set object, a frozenset object, or an instance of a subtype. This function always
succeeds.
int PySet_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a set object but not an instance of a subtype. This function always succeeds.
Added in version 3.10.
int PyAnySet_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a set object or a frozenset object but not an instance of a subtype. This function always
succeeds.
int PyFrozenSet_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a frozenset object but not an instance of a subtype. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PySet_New(PyObject *iterable)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new set containing objects returned by the
iterable. The iterable may be NULL to create a new empty set. Return the new set on success or NULL on
failure. Raise TypeError if iterable is not actually iterable. The constructor is also useful for copying a set
(c=set(s)).
PyObject *PyFrozenSet_New(PyObject *iterable)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new frozenset containing objects returned
by the iterable. The iterable may be NULL to create a new empty frozenset. Return the new set on success or
NULL on failure. Raise TypeError if iterable is not actually iterable.
The following functions and macros are available for instances of set or frozenset or instances of their subtypes.
Py_ssize_t PySet_Size(PyObject *anyset)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the length of a set or frozenset object. Equivalent to len(anyset). Raises
a SystemError if anyset is not a set, frozenset, or an instance of a subtype.
Py_ssize_t PySet_GET_SIZE(PyObject *anyset)
Macro form of PySet_Size() without error checking.
int PySet_Contains(PyObject *anyset, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if found, 0 if not found, and -1 if an error is encountered. Unlike the
Python __contains__() method, this function does not automatically convert unhashable sets into tempo-
rary frozensets. Raise a TypeError if the key is unhashable. Raise SystemError if anyset is not a set,
frozenset, or an instance of a subtype.
int PySet_Add(PyObject *set, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Add key to a set instance. Also works with frozenset instances (like
PyTuple_SetItem() it can be used to fill in the values of brand new frozensets before they are exposed
to other code). Return 0 on success or -1 on failure. Raise a TypeError if the key is unhashable. Raise
a MemoryError if there is no room to grow. Raise a SystemError if set is not an instance of set or its
subtype.
The following functions are available for instances of set or its subtypes but not for instances of frozenset or its
subtypes.
int PySet_Discard(PyObject *set, PyObject *key)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return 1 if found and removed, 0 if not found (no action taken), and -1 if an error is
encountered. Does not raise KeyError for missing keys. Raise a TypeError if the key is unhashable. Unlike
the Python discard() method, this function does not automatically convert unhashable sets into temporary
frozensets. Raise SystemError if set is not an instance of set or its subtype.
PyObject *PySet_Pop(PyObject *set)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new reference to an arbitrary object in the set,
and removes the object from the set. Return NULL on failure. Raise KeyError if the set is empty. Raise a
SystemError if set is not an instance of set or its subtype.

8.4. Container Objects 155

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PySet_Clear(PyObject *set)

Part of the Stable ABI. Empty an existing set of all elements. Return 0 on success. Return -1 and raise
SystemError if set is not an instance of set or its subtype.

8.5 Function Objects

8.5.1 Function Objects
There are a few functions specific to Python functions.
type PyFunctionObject
The C structure used for functions.
PyTypeObject PyFunction_Type
This is an instance of PyTypeObject and represents the Python function type. It is exposed to Python pro-
grammers as types.FunctionType.
int PyFunction_Check(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is a function object (has type PyFunction_Type). The parameter must not be NULL. This
function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyFunction_New(PyObject *code, PyObject *globals)
Return value: New reference. Return a new function object associated with the code object code. globals must
be a dictionary with the global variables accessible to the function.
The function’s docstring and name are retrieved from the code object. __module__ is retrieved from globals.
The argument defaults, annotations and closure are set to NULL. __qualname__ is set to the same value as
the code object’s co_qualname field.
PyObject *PyFunction_NewWithQualName(PyObject *code, PyObject *globals, PyObject *qualname)
Return value: New reference. As PyFunction_New(), but also allows setting the function object’s
__qualname__ attribute. qualname should be a unicode object or NULL; if NULL, the __qualname__ at-
tribute is set to the same value as the code object’s co_qualname field.
Added in version 3.3.
PyObject *PyFunction_GetCode(PyObject *op)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the code object associated with the function object op.
PyObject *PyFunction_GetGlobals(PyObject *op)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the globals dictionary associated with the function object op.
PyObject *PyFunction_GetModule(PyObject *op)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return a borrowed reference to the __module__ attribute of the function
object op. It can be NULL.
This is normally a string containing the module name, but can be set to any other object by Python code.
PyObject *PyFunction_GetDefaults(PyObject *op)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the argument default values of the function object op. This can be
a tuple of arguments or NULL.
int PyFunction_SetDefaults(PyObject *op, PyObject *defaults)
Set the argument default values for the function object op. defaults must be Py_None or a tuple.
Raises SystemError and returns -1 on failure.
void PyFunction_SetVectorcall(PyFunctionObject *func, vectorcallfunc vectorcall)
Set the vectorcall field of a given function object func.
Warning: extensions using this API must preserve the behavior of the unaltered (default) vectorcall function!
Added in version 3.12.

156 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyFunction_GetClosure(PyObject *op)

Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the closure associated with the function object op. This can be NULL
or a tuple of cell objects.
int PyFunction_SetClosure(PyObject *op, PyObject *closure)
Set the closure associated with the function object op. closure must be Py_None or a tuple of cell objects.
Raises SystemError and returns -1 on failure.
PyObject *PyFunction_GetAnnotations(PyObject *op)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the annotations of the function object op. This can be a mutable
dictionary or NULL.
int PyFunction_SetAnnotations(PyObject *op, PyObject *annotations)
Set the annotations for the function object op. annotations must be a dictionary or Py_None.
Raises SystemError and returns -1 on failure.
int PyFunction_AddWatcher(PyFunction_WatchCallback callback)
Register callback as a function watcher for the current interpreter. Return an ID which may be passed to
PyFunction_ClearWatcher(). In case of error (e.g. no more watcher IDs available), return -1 and set an
exception.
Added in version 3.12.
int PyFunction_ClearWatcher(int watcher_id)
Clear watcher identified by watcher_id previously returned from PyFunction_AddWatcher() for the cur-
rent interpreter. Return 0 on success, or -1 and set an exception on error (e.g. if the given watcher_id was
never registered.)
Added in version 3.12.
type PyFunction_WatchEvent

Enumeration of possible function watcher events:

• PyFunction_EVENT_CREATE
• PyFunction_EVENT_DESTROY
• PyFunction_EVENT_MODIFY_CODE
• PyFunction_EVENT_MODIFY_DEFAULTS
• PyFunction_EVENT_MODIFY_KWDEFAULTS
Added in version 3.12.
typedef int (*PyFunction_WatchCallback)(PyFunction_WatchEvent event, PyFunctionObject *func, PyObject
*new_value)
Type of a function watcher callback function.
If event is PyFunction_EVENT_CREATE or PyFunction_EVENT_DESTROY then new_value will be NULL.
Otherwise, new_value will hold a borrowed reference to the new value that is about to be stored in func for the
attribute that is being modified.
The callback may inspect but must not modify func; doing so could have unpredictable effects, including infinite
recursion.
If event is PyFunction_EVENT_CREATE, then the callback is invoked after func has been fully initialized.
Otherwise, the callback is invoked before the modification to func takes place, so the prior state of func can be
inspected. The runtime is permitted to optimize away the creation of function objects when possible. In such
cases no event will be emitted. Although this creates the possibility of an observable difference of runtime
behavior depending on optimization decisions, it does not change the semantics of the Python code being
executed.

8.5. Function Objects 157

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If event is PyFunction_EVENT_DESTROY, Taking a reference in the callback to the about-to-be-destroyed

function will resurrect it, preventing it from being freed at this time. When the resurrected object is destroyed
later, any watcher callbacks active at that time will be called again.
If the callback sets an exception, it must return -1; this exception will be printed as an unraisable exception
using PyErr_WriteUnraisable(). Otherwise it should return 0.
There may already be a pending exception set on entry to the callback. In this case, the callback should return 0
with the same exception still set. This means the callback may not call any other API that can set an exception
unless it saves and clears the exception state first, and restores it before returning.
Added in version 3.12.

8.5.2 Instance Method Objects

An instance method is a wrapper for a PyCFunction and the new way to bind a PyCFunction to a class object. It
replaces the former call PyMethod_New(func, NULL, class).
PyTypeObject PyInstanceMethod_Type
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python instance method type. It is not exposed to Python
programs.
int PyInstanceMethod_Check(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is an instance method object (has type PyInstanceMethod_Type). The parameter must not
be NULL. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyInstanceMethod_New(PyObject *func)
Return value: New reference. Return a new instance method object, with func being any callable object. func
is the function that will be called when the instance method is called.
PyObject *PyInstanceMethod_Function(PyObject *im)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the function object associated with the instance method im.
PyObject *PyInstanceMethod_GET_FUNCTION(PyObject *im)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Macro version of PyInstanceMethod_Function() which avoids error
checking.

8.5.3 Method Objects

Methods are bound function objects. Methods are always bound to an instance of a user-defined class. Unbound
methods (methods bound to a class object) are no longer available.
PyTypeObject PyMethod_Type
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python method type. This is exposed to Python programs as
types.MethodType.

int PyMethod_Check(PyObject *o)

Return true if o is a method object (has type PyMethod_Type). The parameter must not be NULL. This
function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyMethod_New(PyObject *func, PyObject *self)
Return value: New reference. Return a new method object, with func being any callable object and self the
instance the method should be bound. func is the function that will be called when the method is called. self
must not be NULL.
PyObject *PyMethod_Function(PyObject *meth)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the function object associated with the method meth.
PyObject *PyMethod_GET_FUNCTION(PyObject *meth)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Macro version of PyMethod_Function() which avoids error checking.

158 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyMethod_Self(PyObject *meth)

Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the instance associated with the method meth.
PyObject *PyMethod_GET_SELF(PyObject *meth)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Macro version of PyMethod_Self() which avoids error checking.

8.5.4 Cell Objects

“Cell” objects are used to implement variables referenced by multiple scopes. For each such variable, a cell object is
created to store the value; the local variables of each stack frame that references the value contains a reference to the
cells from outer scopes which also use that variable. When the value is accessed, the value contained in the cell is used
instead of the cell object itself. This de-referencing of the cell object requires support from the generated byte-code;
these are not automatically de-referenced when accessed. Cell objects are not likely to be useful elsewhere.
type PyCellObject
The C structure used for cell objects.
PyTypeObject PyCell_Type
The type object corresponding to cell objects.
int PyCell_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is a cell object; ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyCell_New(PyObject *ob)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new cell object containing the value ob. The parameter may
be NULL.
PyObject *PyCell_Get(PyObject *cell)
Return value: New reference. Return the contents of the cell cell, which can be NULL. If cell is not a cell object,
returns NULL with an exception set.
PyObject *PyCell_GET(PyObject *cell)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Return the contents of the cell cell, but without checking that cell is non-
NULL and a cell object.

int PyCell_Set(PyObject *cell, PyObject *value)

Set the contents of the cell object cell to value. This releases the reference to any current content of the cell.
value may be NULL. cell must be non-NULL.
On success, return 0. If cell is not a cell object, set an exception and return -1.
void PyCell_SET(PyObject *cell, PyObject *value)
Sets the value of the cell object cell to value. No reference counts are adjusted, and no checks are made for
safety; cell must be non-NULL and must be a cell object.

8.5.5 Code Objects

Code objects are a low-level detail of the CPython implementation. Each one represents a chunk of executable code
that hasn’t yet been bound into a function.
type PyCodeObject
The C structure of the objects used to describe code objects. The fields of this type are subject to change at
any time.
PyTypeObject PyCode_Type
This is an instance of PyTypeObject representing the Python code object.
int PyCode_Check(PyObject *co)
Return true if co is a code object. This function always succeeds.
Py_ssize_t PyCode_GetNumFree(PyCodeObject *co)
Return the number of free variables in a code object.

8.5. Function Objects 159

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyCode_GetFirstFree(PyCodeObject *co)

Return the position of the first free variable in a code object.
PyCodeObject *PyUnstable_Code_New(int argcount, int kwonlyargcount, int nlocals, int stacksize, int flags,
PyObject *code, PyObject *consts, PyObject *names, PyObject
*varnames, PyObject *freevars, PyObject *cellvars, PyObject *filename,
PyObject *name, PyObject *qualname, int firstlineno, PyObject
*linetable, PyObject *exceptiontable)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return a new code object. If you need a dummy code object to create a frame, use PyCode_NewEmpty()
instead.
Since the definition of the bytecode changes often, calling PyUnstable_Code_New() directly can bind you
to a precise Python version.
The many arguments of this function are inter-dependent in complex ways, meaning that subtle changes to
values are likely to result in incorrect execution or VM crashes. Use this function only with extreme care.
Changed in version 3.11: Added qualname and exceptiontable parameters.
Changed in version 3.12: Renamed from PyCode_New as part of Unstable C API. The old name is deprecated,
but will remain available until the signature changes again.
PyCodeObject *PyUnstable_Code_NewWithPosOnlyArgs(int argcount, int posonlyargcount, int
kwonlyargcount, int nlocals, int stacksize, int flags,
PyObject *code, PyObject *consts, PyObject
*names, PyObject *varnames, PyObject *freevars,
PyObject *cellvars, PyObject *filename, PyObject
*name, PyObject *qualname, int firstlineno,
PyObject *linetable, PyObject *exceptiontable)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Similar to PyUnstable_Code_New(), but with an extra “posonlyargcount” for positional-only arguments.

The same caveats that apply to PyUnstable_Code_New also apply to this function.
Added in version 3.8: as PyCode_NewWithPosOnlyArgs
Changed in version 3.11: Added qualname and exceptiontable parameters.
Changed in version 3.12: Renamed to PyUnstable_Code_NewWithPosOnlyArgs. The old name is dep-
recated, but will remain available until the signature changes again.
PyCodeObject *PyCode_NewEmpty(const char *filename, const char *funcname, int firstlineno)
Return value: New reference. Return a new empty code object with the specified filename, function name, and
first line number. The resulting code object will raise an Exception if executed.
int PyCode_Addr2Line(PyCodeObject *co, int byte_offset)
Return the line number of the instruction that occurs on or before byte_offset and ends after it. If you just
need the line number of a frame, use PyFrame_GetLineNumber() instead.
For efficiently iterating over the line numbers in a code object, use the API described in PEP 626.

160 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyCode_Addr2Location(PyObject *co, int byte_offset, int *start_line, int *start_column, int *end_line, int
*end_column)
Sets the passed int pointers to the source code line and column numbers for the instruction at byte_offset.
Sets the value to 0 when information is not available for any particular element.
Returns 1 if the function succeeds and 0 otherwise.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyCode_GetCode(PyCodeObject *co)
Equivalent to the Python code getattr(co, 'co_code'). Returns a strong reference to a
PyBytesObject representing the bytecode in a code object. On error, NULL is returned and an exception is
raised.
This PyBytesObject may be created on-demand by the interpreter and does not necessarily represent the
bytecode actually executed by CPython. The primary use case for this function is debuggers and profilers.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyCode_GetVarnames(PyCodeObject *co)
Equivalent to the Python code getattr(co, 'co_varnames'). Returns a new reference to a
PyTupleObject containing the names of the local variables. On error, NULL is returned and an exception is
raised.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyCode_GetCellvars(PyCodeObject *co)
Equivalent to the Python code getattr(co, 'co_cellvars'). Returns a new reference to a
PyTupleObject containing the names of the local variables that are referenced by nested functions. On
error, NULL is returned and an exception is raised.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyCode_GetFreevars(PyCodeObject *co)
Equivalent to the Python code getattr(co, 'co_freevars'). Returns a new reference to a
PyTupleObject containing the names of the free variables. On error, NULL is returned and an exception
is raised.
Added in version 3.11.
int PyCode_AddWatcher(PyCode_WatchCallback callback)
Register callback as a code object watcher for the current interpreter. Return an ID which may be passed
to PyCode_ClearWatcher(). In case of error (e.g. no more watcher IDs available), return -1 and set an
exception.
Added in version 3.12.
int PyCode_ClearWatcher(int watcher_id)
Clear watcher identified by watcher_id previously returned from PyCode_AddWatcher() for the current
interpreter. Return 0 on success, or -1 and set an exception on error (e.g. if the given watcher_id was never
registered.)
Added in version 3.12.
type PyCodeEvent
Enumeration of possible code object watcher events: - PY_CODE_EVENT_CREATE -
PY_CODE_EVENT_DESTROY

Added in version 3.12.

typedef int (*PyCode_WatchCallback)(PyCodeEvent event, PyCodeObject *co)
Type of a code object watcher callback function.
If event is PY_CODE_EVENT_CREATE, then the callback is invoked after co has been fully initialized. Other-
wise, the callback is invoked before the destruction of co takes place, so the prior state of co can be inspected.

8.5. Function Objects 161

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If event is PY_CODE_EVENT_DESTROY, taking a reference in the callback to the about-to-be-destroyed code

object will resurrect it and prevent it from being freed at this time. When the resurrected object is destroyed
later, any watcher callbacks active at that time will be called again.
Users of this API should not rely on internal runtime implementation details. Such details may include, but
are not limited to, the exact order and timing of creation and destruction of code objects. While changes in
these details may result in differences observable by watchers (including whether a callback is invoked or not),
it does not change the semantics of the Python code being executed.
If the callback sets an exception, it must return -1; this exception will be printed as an unraisable exception
using PyErr_WriteUnraisable(). Otherwise it should return 0.
There may already be a pending exception set on entry to the callback. In this case, the callback should return 0
with the same exception still set. This means the callback may not call any other API that can set an exception
unless it saves and clears the exception state first, and restores it before returning.
Added in version 3.12.

8.5.6 Extra information

To support low-level extensions to frame evaluation, such as external just-in-time compilers, it is possible to attach
arbitrary extra data to code objects.
These functions are part of the unstable C API tier: this functionality is a CPython implementation detail, and the
API may change without deprecation warnings.
Py_ssize_t PyUnstable_Eval_RequestCodeExtraIndex(freefunc free)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return a new an opaque index value used to adding data to code objects.
You generally call this function once (per interpreter) and use the result with PyCode_GetExtra and
PyCode_SetExtra to manipulate data on individual code objects.
If free is not NULL: when a code object is deallocated, free will be called on non-NULL data stored under the
new index. Use Py_DecRef() when storing PyObject.
Added in version 3.6: as _PyEval_RequestCodeExtraIndex
Changed in version 3.12: Renamed to PyUnstable_Eval_RequestCodeExtraIndex. The old private
name is deprecated, but will be available until the API changes.
int PyUnstable_Code_GetExtra(PyObject *code, Py_ssize_t index, void **extra)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Set extra to the extra data stored under the given index. Return 0 on success. Set an exception and return -1
on failure.
If no data was set under the index, set extra to NULL and return 0 without setting an exception.
Added in version 3.6: as _PyCode_GetExtra
Changed in version 3.12: Renamed to PyUnstable_Code_GetExtra. The old private name is deprecated,
but will be available until the API changes.

162 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyUnstable_Code_SetExtra(PyObject *code, Py_ssize_t index, void *extra)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Set the extra data stored under the given index to extra. Return 0 on success. Set an exception and return -1
on failure.
Added in version 3.6: as _PyCode_SetExtra
Changed in version 3.12: Renamed to PyUnstable_Code_SetExtra. The old private name is deprecated,
but will be available until the API changes.

8.6 Other Objects

8.6.1 File Objects
These APIs are a minimal emulation of the Python 2 C API for built-in file objects, which used to rely on the
buffered I/O (FILE*) support from the C standard library. In Python 3, files and streams use the new io module,
which defines several layers over the low-level unbuffered I/O of the operating system. The functions described below
are convenience C wrappers over these new APIs, and meant mostly for internal error reporting in the interpreter;
third-party code is advised to access the io APIs instead.
PyObject *PyFile_FromFd(int fd, const char *name, const char *mode, int buffering, const char *encoding, const
char *errors, const char *newline, int closefd)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a Python file object from the file descriptor of an
already opened file fd. The arguments name, encoding, errors and newline can be NULL to use the defaults;
buffering can be -1 to use the default. name is ignored and kept for backward compatibility. Return NULL
on failure. For a more comprehensive description of the arguments, please refer to the io.open() function
documentation.

Á Warning

Since Python streams have their own buffering layer, mixing them with OS-level file descriptors can pro-
duce various issues (such as unexpected ordering of data).

Changed in version 3.2: Ignore name attribute.

int PyObject_AsFileDescriptor(PyObject *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the file descriptor associated with p as an int. If the object is an integer, its
value is returned. If not, the object’s fileno() method is called if it exists; the method must return an integer,
which is returned as the file descriptor value. Sets an exception and returns -1 on failure.
PyObject *PyFile_GetLine(PyObject *p, int n)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Equivalent to p.readline([n]), this function reads
one line from the object p. p may be a file object or any object with a readline() method. If n is 0, exactly
one line is read, regardless of the length of the line. If n is greater than 0, no more than n bytes will be read
from the file; a partial line can be returned. In both cases, an empty string is returned if the end of the file is
reached immediately. If n is less than 0, however, one line is read regardless of length, but EOFError is raised
if the end of the file is reached immediately.
int PyFile_SetOpenCodeHook(Py_OpenCodeHookFunction handler)
Overrides the normal behavior of io.open_code() to pass its parameter through the provided handler.
The handler is a function of type:

8.6. Other Objects 163

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

typedef PyObject *(*Py_OpenCodeHookFunction)(PyObject*, void*)

Equivalent of PyObject *(*)(PyObject *path, void *userData), where path is guaranteed
to be PyUnicodeObject.
The userData pointer is passed into the hook function. Since hook functions may be called from different
runtimes, this pointer should not refer directly to Python state.
As this hook is intentionally used during import, avoid importing new modules during its execution unless they
are known to be frozen or available in sys.modules.
Once a hook has been set, it cannot be removed or replaced, and later calls to PyFile_SetOpenCodeHook()
will fail. On failure, the function returns -1 and sets an exception if the interpreter has been initialized.
This function is safe to call before Py_Initialize().
Raises an auditing event setopencodehook with no arguments.
Added in version 3.8.
int PyFile_WriteObject(PyObject *obj, PyObject *p, int flags)
Part of the Stable ABI. Write object obj to file object p. The only supported flag for flags is Py_PRINT_RAW ;
if given, the str() of the object is written instead of the repr(). Return 0 on success or -1 on failure; the
appropriate exception will be set.
int PyFile_WriteString(const char *s, PyObject *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Write string s to file object p. Return 0 on success or -1 on failure; the appropriate
exception will be set.

8.6.2 Module Objects

PyTypeObject PyModule_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python module type. This is exposed
to Python programs as types.ModuleType.
int PyModule_Check(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a module object, or a subtype of a module object. This function always succeeds.
int PyModule_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if p is a module object, but not a subtype of PyModule_Type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyModule_NewObject(PyObject *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a new module object with
module.__name__ set to name. The module’s __name__, __doc__, __package__ and __loader__
attributes are filled in (all but __name__ are set to None). The caller is responsible for setting a __file__
attribute.
Return NULL with an exception set on error.
Added in version 3.3.
Changed in version 3.4: __package__ and __loader__ are now set to None.
PyObject *PyModule_New(const char *name)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyModule_NewObject(), but the name is a
UTF-8 encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
PyObject *PyModule_GetDict(PyObject *module)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the dictionary object that implements mod-
ule’s namespace; this object is the same as the __dict__ attribute of the module object. If module is not a
module object (or a subtype of a module object), SystemError is raised and NULL is returned.
It is recommended extensions use other PyModule_* and PyObject_* functions rather than directly manip-
ulate a module’s __dict__.

164 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyModule_GetNameObject(PyObject *module)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return module’s __name__ value. If
the module does not provide one, or if it is not a string, SystemError is raised and NULL is returned.
Added in version 3.3.
const char *PyModule_GetName(PyObject *module)
Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyModule_GetNameObject() but return the name encoded to 'utf-8'.
void *PyModule_GetState(PyObject *module)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the “state” of the module, that is, a pointer to the block of memory allocated at
module creation time, or NULL. See PyModuleDef.m_size.
PyModuleDef *PyModule_GetDef(PyObject *module)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return a pointer to the PyModuleDef struct from which the module was created, or
NULL if the module wasn’t created from a definition.

PyObject *PyModule_GetFilenameObject(PyObject *module)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the name of the file from which module was
loaded using module’s __file__ attribute. If this is not defined, or if it is not a string, raise SystemError
and return NULL; otherwise return a reference to a Unicode object.
Added in version 3.2.
const char *PyModule_GetFilename(PyObject *module)
Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyModule_GetFilenameObject() but return the filename encoded to
‘utf-8’.
Deprecated since version 3.2: PyModule_GetFilename() raises UnicodeEncodeError on unencodable
filenames, use PyModule_GetFilenameObject() instead.

Initializing C modules
Modules objects are usually created from extension modules (shared libraries which export an initialization function),
or compiled-in modules (where the initialization function is added using PyImport_AppendInittab()). See
building or extending-with-embedding for details.
The initialization function can either pass a module definition instance to PyModule_Create(), and return the
resulting module object, or request “multi-phase initialization” by returning the definition struct itself.
type PyModuleDef
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). The module definition struct, which holds all information
needed to create a module object. There is usually only one statically initialized variable of this type for each
module.
PyModuleDef_Base m_base
Always initialize this member to PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT.
const char *m_name
Name for the new module.
const char *m_doc
Docstring for the module; usually a docstring variable created with PyDoc_STRVAR is used.
Py_ssize_t m_size
Module state may be kept in a per-module memory area that can be retrieved with
PyModule_GetState(), rather than in static globals. This makes modules safe for use in mul-
tiple sub-interpreters.
This memory area is allocated based on m_size on module creation, and freed when the module object is
deallocated, after the m_free function has been called, if present.
Setting m_size to -1 means that the module does not support sub-interpreters, because it has global
state.

8.6. Other Objects 165

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Setting it to a non-negative value means that the module can be re-initialized and specifies the additional
amount of memory it requires for its state. Non-negative m_size is required for multi-phase initializa-
tion.
See PEP 3121 for more details.
PyMethodDef *m_methods
A pointer to a table of module-level functions, described by PyMethodDef values. Can be NULL if no
functions are present.
PyModuleDef_Slot *m_slots
An array of slot definitions for multi-phase initialization, terminated by a {0, NULL} entry. When using
single-phase initialization, m_slots must be NULL.
Changed in version 3.5: Prior to version 3.5, this member was always set to NULL, and was defined as:
inquiry m_reload

traverseproc m_traverse
A traversal function to call during GC traversal of the module object, or NULL if not needed.
This function is not called if the module state was requested but is not allocated yet. This is the case
immediately after the module is created and before the module is executed (Py_mod_exec function).
More precisely, this function is not called if m_size is greater than 0 and the module state (as returned
by PyModule_GetState()) is NULL.
Changed in version 3.9: No longer called before the module state is allocated.
inquiry m_clear
A clear function to call during GC clearing of the module object, or NULL if not needed.
This function is not called if the module state was requested but is not allocated yet. This is the case
immediately after the module is created and before the module is executed (Py_mod_exec function).
More precisely, this function is not called if m_size is greater than 0 and the module state (as returned
by PyModule_GetState()) is NULL.
Like PyTypeObject.tp_clear, this function is not always called before a module is deallocated. For
example, when reference counting is enough to determine that an object is no longer used, the cyclic
garbage collector is not involved and m_free is called directly.
Changed in version 3.9: No longer called before the module state is allocated.
freefunc m_free
A function to call during deallocation of the module object, or NULL if not needed.
This function is not called if the module state was requested but is not allocated yet. This is the case
immediately after the module is created and before the module is executed (Py_mod_exec function).
More precisely, this function is not called if m_size is greater than 0 and the module state (as returned
by PyModule_GetState()) is NULL.
Changed in version 3.9: No longer called before the module state is allocated.

Single-phase initialization

The module initialization function may create and return the module object directly. This is referred to as “single-
phase initialization”, and uses one of the following two module creation functions:
PyObject *PyModule_Create(PyModuleDef *def)
Return value: New reference. Create a new module object, given the definition in def. This behaves like
PyModule_Create2() with module_api_version set to PYTHON_API_VERSION.

PyObject *PyModule_Create2(PyModuleDef *def, int module_api_version)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new module object, given the definition in
def, assuming the API version module_api_version. If that version does not match the version of the running
interpreter, a RuntimeWarning is emitted.

166 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Return NULL with an exception set on error.

® Note

Most uses of this function should be using PyModule_Create() instead; only use this if you are sure you
need it.

Before it is returned from in the initialization function, the resulting module object is typically populated using
functions like PyModule_AddObjectRef().

Multi-phase initialization

An alternate way to specify extensions is to request “multi-phase initialization”. Extension modules created this way
behave more like Python modules: the initialization is split between the creation phase, when the module object is
created, and the execution phase, when it is populated. The distinction is similar to the __new__() and __init__()
methods of classes.
Unlike modules created using single-phase initialization, these modules are not singletons: if the sys.modules entry
is removed and the module is re-imported, a new module object is created, and the old module is subject to normal
garbage collection – as with Python modules. By default, multiple modules created from the same definition should
be independent: changes to one should not affect the others. This means that all state should be specific to the module
object (using e.g. using PyModule_GetState()), or its contents (such as the module’s __dict__ or individual
classes created with PyType_FromSpec()).
All modules created using multi-phase initialization are expected to support sub-interpreters. Making sure multiple
modules are independent is typically enough to achieve this.
To request multi-phase initialization, the initialization function (PyInit_modulename) returns a PyModuleDef in-
stance with non-empty m_slots. Before it is returned, the PyModuleDef instance must be initialized with the
following function:
PyObject *PyModuleDef_Init(PyModuleDef *def)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.5. Ensures a module definition is a
properly initialized Python object that correctly reports its type and reference count.
Returns def cast to PyObject*, or NULL if an error occurred.
Added in version 3.5.
The m_slots member of the module definition must point to an array of PyModuleDef_Slot structures:
type PyModuleDef_Slot

int slot
A slot ID, chosen from the available values explained below.
void *value
Value of the slot, whose meaning depends on the slot ID.
Added in version 3.5.
The m_slots array must be terminated by a slot with id 0.
The available slot types are:
Py_mod_create
Specifies a function that is called to create the module object itself. The value pointer of this slot must point
to a function of the signature:
PyObject *create_module(PyObject *spec, PyModuleDef *def)

The function receives a ModuleSpec instance, as defined in PEP 451, and the module definition. It should
return a new module object, or set an error and return NULL.

8.6. Other Objects 167

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This function should be kept minimal. In particular, it should not call arbitrary Python code, as trying to import
the same module again may result in an infinite loop.
Multiple Py_mod_create slots may not be specified in one module definition.
If Py_mod_create is not specified, the import machinery will create a normal module object using
PyModule_New(). The name is taken from spec, not the definition, to allow extension modules to dynami-
cally adjust to their place in the module hierarchy and be imported under different names through symlinks,
all while sharing a single module definition.
There is no requirement for the returned object to be an instance of PyModule_Type. Any type can be used,
as long as it supports setting and getting import-related attributes. However, only PyModule_Type instances
may be returned if the PyModuleDef has non-NULL m_traverse, m_clear, m_free; non-zero m_size; or
slots other than Py_mod_create.
Py_mod_exec
Specifies a function that is called to execute the module. This is equivalent to executing the code of a Python
module: typically, this function adds classes and constants to the module. The signature of the function is:
int exec_module(PyObject *module)

If multiple Py_mod_exec slots are specified, they are processed in the order they appear in the m_slots array.
Py_mod_multiple_interpreters
Specifies one of the following values:
Py_MOD_MULTIPLE_INTERPRETERS_NOT_SUPPORTED
The module does not support being imported in subinterpreters.
Py_MOD_MULTIPLE_INTERPRETERS_SUPPORTED
The module supports being imported in subinterpreters, but only when they share the main interpreter’s
GIL. (See isolating-extensions-howto.)
Py_MOD_PER_INTERPRETER_GIL_SUPPORTED
The module supports being imported in subinterpreters, even when they have their own GIL. (See
isolating-extensions-howto.)
This slot determines whether or not importing this module in a subinterpreter will fail.
Multiple Py_mod_multiple_interpreters slots may not be specified in one module definition.
If Py_mod_multiple_interpreters is not specified, the import machinery defaults to
Py_MOD_MULTIPLE_INTERPRETERS_SUPPORTED.

Added in version 3.12.

See PEP 489 for more details on multi-phase initialization.

Low-level module creation functions

The following functions are called under the hood when using multi-phase initialization. They can be used di-
rectly, for example when creating module objects dynamically. Note that both PyModule_FromDefAndSpec and
PyModule_ExecDef must be called to fully initialize a module.

PyObject *PyModule_FromDefAndSpec(PyModuleDef *def, PyObject *spec)

Return value: New reference. Create a new module object, given the definition in def and the
ModuleSpec spec. This behaves like PyModule_FromDefAndSpec2() with module_api_version set to
PYTHON_API_VERSION.

Added in version 3.5.

PyObject *PyModule_FromDefAndSpec2(PyModuleDef *def, PyObject *spec, int module_api_version)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Create a new module object, given the
definition in def and the ModuleSpec spec, assuming the API version module_api_version. If that version does
not match the version of the running interpreter, a RuntimeWarning is emitted.

168 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Return NULL with an exception set on error.

® Note

Most uses of this function should be using PyModule_FromDefAndSpec() instead; only use this if you
are sure you need it.

Added in version 3.5.

int PyModule_ExecDef(PyObject *module, PyModuleDef *def)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Process any execution slots (Py_mod_exec) given in def.
Added in version 3.5.
int PyModule_SetDocString(PyObject *module, const char *docstring)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Set the docstring for module to docstring. This function is
called automatically when creating a module from PyModuleDef, using either PyModule_Create or
PyModule_FromDefAndSpec.

Added in version 3.5.

int PyModule_AddFunctions(PyObject *module, PyMethodDef *functions)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Add the functions from the NULL terminated functions array to module.
Refer to the PyMethodDef documentation for details on individual entries (due to the lack of a shared module
namespace, module level “functions” implemented in C typically receive the module as their first parameter,
making them similar to instance methods on Python classes). This function is called automatically when
creating a module from PyModuleDef, using either PyModule_Create or PyModule_FromDefAndSpec.
Added in version 3.5.

Support functions

The module initialization function (if using single phase initialization) or a function called from a module execution
slot (if using multi-phase initialization), can use the following functions to help initialize the module state:
int PyModule_AddObjectRef(PyObject *module, const char *name, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Add an object to module as name. This is a convenience function
which can be used from the module’s initialization function.
On success, return 0. On error, raise an exception and return -1.
Example usage:

static int
add_spam(PyObject *module, int value)
{
PyObject *obj = PyLong_FromLong(value);
if (obj == NULL) {
return -1;
}
int res = PyModule_AddObjectRef(module, "spam", obj);
Py_DECREF(obj);
return res;
}

To be convenient, the function accepts NULL value with an exception set. In this case, return -1 and just leave
the raised exception unchanged.
The example can also be written without checking explicitly if obj is NULL:

8.6. Other Objects 169

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

static int
add_spam(PyObject *module, int value)
{
PyObject *obj = PyLong_FromLong(value);
int res = PyModule_AddObjectRef(module, "spam", obj);
Py_XDECREF(obj);
return res;
}

Note that Py_XDECREF() should be used instead of Py_DECREF() in this case, since obj can be NULL.
The number of different name strings passed to this function should be kept small, usually by
only using statically allocated strings as name. For names that aren’t known at compile time, pre-
fer calling PyUnicode_FromString() and PyObject_SetAttr() directly. For more details, see
PyUnicode_InternFromString(), which may be used internally to create a key object.

Added in version 3.10.

int PyModule_AddObject(PyObject *module, const char *name, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Similar to PyModule_AddObjectRef(), but steals a reference to value on success
(if it returns 0).
The new PyModule_AddObjectRef() function is recommended, since it is easy to introduce reference leaks
by misusing the PyModule_AddObject() function.

® Note

Unlike other functions that steal references, PyModule_AddObject() only releases the reference to value
on success.
This means that its return value must be checked, and calling code must Py_DECREF() value manually on
error.

Example usage:

static int
add_spam(PyObject *module, int value)
{
PyObject *obj = PyLong_FromLong(value);
if (obj == NULL) {
return -1;
}
if (PyModule_AddObject(module, "spam", obj) < 0) {
Py_DECREF(obj);
return -1;
}
// PyModule_AddObject() stole a reference to obj:
// Py_DECREF(obj) is not needed here
return 0;
}

The example can also be written without checking explicitly if obj is NULL:
static int
add_spam(PyObject *module, int value)
{
PyObject *obj = PyLong_FromLong(value);
if (PyModule_AddObject(module, "spam", obj) < 0) {
Py_XDECREF(obj);
(continues on next page)

170 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

return -1;
}
// PyModule_AddObject() stole a reference to obj:
// Py_DECREF(obj) is not needed here
return 0;
}

Note that Py_XDECREF() should be used instead of Py_DECREF() in this case, since obj can be NULL.
int PyModule_AddIntConstant(PyObject *module, const char *name, long value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Add an integer constant to module as name. This convenience function can be used
from the module’s initialization function. Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.
This is a convenience function that calls PyLong_FromLong() and PyModule_AddObjectRef(); see their
documentation for details.
int PyModule_AddStringConstant(PyObject *module, const char *name, const char *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Add a string constant to module as name. This convenience function can be used from
the module’s initialization function. The string value must be NULL-terminated. Return -1 with an exception
set on error, 0 on success.
This is a convenience function that calls PyUnicode_InternFromString() and
PyModule_AddObjectRef(); see their documentation for details.

PyModule_AddIntMacro(module, macro)
Add an int constant to module. The name and the value are taken from macro. For example
PyModule_AddIntMacro(module, AF_INET) adds the int constant AF_INET with the value of AF_INET
to module. Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.
PyModule_AddStringMacro(module, macro)
Add a string constant to module.
int PyModule_AddType(PyObject *module, PyTypeObject *type)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Add a type object to module. The type object is finalized by calling
internally PyType_Ready(). The name of the type object is taken from the last component of tp_name after
dot. Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.
Added in version 3.9.

Module lookup
Single-phase initialization creates singleton modules that can be looked up in the context of the current interpreter.
This allows the module object to be retrieved later with only a reference to the module definition.
These functions will not work on modules created using multi-phase initialization, since multiple such modules can
be created from a single definition.
PyObject *PyState_FindModule(PyModuleDef *def)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Returns the module object that was created from def
for the current interpreter. This method requires that the module object has been attached to the interpreter
state with PyState_AddModule() beforehand. In case the corresponding module object is not found or has
not been attached to the interpreter state yet, it returns NULL.
int PyState_AddModule(PyObject *module, PyModuleDef *def)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.3. Attaches the module object passed to the function to the interpreter
state. This allows the module object to be accessible via PyState_FindModule().
Only effective on modules created using single-phase initialization.
Python calls PyState_AddModule automatically after importing a module, so it is unnecessary (but harm-
less) to call it from module initialization code. An explicit call is needed only if the module’s own init code

8.6. Other Objects 171

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

subsequently calls PyState_FindModule. The function is mainly intended for implementing alternative im-
port mechanisms (either by calling it directly, or by referring to its implementation for details of the required
state updates).
The caller must hold the GIL.
Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.
Added in version 3.3.
int PyState_RemoveModule(PyModuleDef *def)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.3. Removes the module object created from def from the interpreter
state. Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.
The caller must hold the GIL.
Added in version 3.3.

8.6.3 Iterator Objects

Python provides two general-purpose iterator objects. The first, a sequence iterator, works with an arbitrary sequence
supporting the __getitem__() method. The second works with a callable object and a sentinel value, calling the
callable for each item in the sequence, and ending the iteration when the sentinel value is returned.
PyTypeObject PySeqIter_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. Type object for iterator objects returned by PySeqIter_New() and the one-argument
form of the iter() built-in function for built-in sequence types.
int PySeqIter_Check(PyObject *op)
Return true if the type of op is PySeqIter_Type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PySeqIter_New(PyObject *seq)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return an iterator that works with a general sequence
object, seq. The iteration ends when the sequence raises IndexError for the subscripting operation.
PyTypeObject PyCallIter_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. Type object for iterator objects returned by PyCallIter_New() and the two-argument
form of the iter() built-in function.
int PyCallIter_Check(PyObject *op)
Return true if the type of op is PyCallIter_Type. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyCallIter_New(PyObject *callable, PyObject *sentinel)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new iterator. The first parameter, callable, can
be any Python callable object that can be called with no parameters; each call to it should return the next item
in the iteration. When callable returns a value equal to sentinel, the iteration will be terminated.

8.6.4 Descriptor Objects

“Descriptors” are objects that describe some attribute of an object. They are found in the dictionary of type objects.
PyTypeObject PyProperty_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. The type object for the built-in descriptor types.
PyObject *PyDescr_NewGetSet(PyTypeObject *type, struct PyGetSetDef *getset)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI.
PyObject *PyDescr_NewMember(PyTypeObject *type, struct PyMemberDef *meth)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI.
PyObject *PyDescr_NewMethod(PyTypeObject *type, struct PyMethodDef *meth)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI.

172 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyDescr_NewWrapper(PyTypeObject *type, struct wrapperbase *wrapper, void *wrapped)

Return value: New reference.
PyObject *PyDescr_NewClassMethod(PyTypeObject *type, PyMethodDef *method)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI.
int PyDescr_IsData(PyObject *descr)
Return non-zero if the descriptor objects descr describes a data attribute, or 0 if it describes a method. descr
must be a descriptor object; there is no error checking.
PyObject *PyWrapper_New(PyObject*, PyObject*)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI.

8.6.5 Slice Objects

PyTypeObject PySlice_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. The type object for slice objects. This is the same as slice in the Python layer.
int PySlice_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is a slice object; ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PySlice_New(PyObject *start, PyObject *stop, PyObject *step)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a new slice object with the given values. The start,
stop, and step parameters are used as the values of the slice object attributes of the same names. Any of the
values may be NULL, in which case the None will be used for the corresponding attribute.
Return NULL with an exception set if the new object could not be allocated.
int PySlice_GetIndices(PyObject *slice, Py_ssize_t length, Py_ssize_t *start, Py_ssize_t *stop, Py_ssize_t
*step)
Part of the Stable ABI. Retrieve the start, stop and step indices from the slice object slice, assuming a sequence
of length length. Treats indices greater than length as errors.
Returns 0 on success and -1 on error with no exception set (unless one of the indices was not None and failed
to be converted to an integer, in which case -1 is returned with an exception set).
You probably do not want to use this function.
Changed in version 3.2: The parameter type for the slice parameter was PySliceObject* before.
int PySlice_GetIndicesEx(PyObject *slice, Py_ssize_t length, Py_ssize_t *start, Py_ssize_t *stop, Py_ssize_t
*step, Py_ssize_t *slicelength)
Part of the Stable ABI. Usable replacement for PySlice_GetIndices(). Retrieve the start, stop, and step
indices from the slice object slice assuming a sequence of length length, and store the length of the slice in
slicelength. Out of bounds indices are clipped in a manner consistent with the handling of normal slices.
Return 0 on success and -1 on error with an exception set.

® Note

This function is considered not safe for resizable sequences. Its invocation should be replaced by a combi-
nation of PySlice_Unpack() and PySlice_AdjustIndices() where
if (PySlice_GetIndicesEx(slice, length, &start, &stop, &step, &slicelength)
,→< 0) {

// return error
}

is replaced by
if (PySlice_Unpack(slice, &start, &stop, &step) < 0) {
// return error
}
slicelength = PySlice_AdjustIndices(length, &start, &stop, step);

8.6. Other Objects 173

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.2: The parameter type for the slice parameter was PySliceObject* before.
Changed in version 3.6.1: If Py_LIMITED_API is not set or set to the value between 0x03050400 and
0x03060000 (not including) or 0x03060100 or higher PySlice_GetIndicesEx() is implemented as a
macro using PySlice_Unpack() and PySlice_AdjustIndices(). Arguments start, stop and step are
evaluated more than once.
Deprecated since version 3.6.1: If Py_LIMITED_API is set to the value less than 0x03050400 or between
0x03060000 and 0x03060100 (not including) PySlice_GetIndicesEx() is a deprecated function.

int PySlice_Unpack(PyObject *slice, Py_ssize_t *start, Py_ssize_t *stop, Py_ssize_t *step)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Extract the start, stop and step data members from a slice object as C
integers. Silently reduce values larger than PY_SSIZE_T_MAX to PY_SSIZE_T_MAX, silently boost the start
and stop values less than PY_SSIZE_T_MIN to PY_SSIZE_T_MIN, and silently boost the step values less than
-PY_SSIZE_T_MAX to -PY_SSIZE_T_MAX.

Return -1 with an exception set on error, 0 on success.

Added in version 3.6.1.
Py_ssize_t PySlice_AdjustIndices(Py_ssize_t length, Py_ssize_t *start, Py_ssize_t *stop, Py_ssize_t step)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Adjust start/end slice indices assuming a sequence of the specified
length. Out of bounds indices are clipped in a manner consistent with the handling of normal slices.
Return the length of the slice. Always successful. Doesn’t call Python code.
Added in version 3.6.1.

Ellipsis Object
PyTypeObject PyEllipsis_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. The type of Python Ellipsis object. Same as types.EllipsisType in the Python
layer.
PyObject *Py_Ellipsis
The Python Ellipsis object. This object has no methods. Like Py_None, it is an immortal. singleton object.
Changed in version 3.12: Py_Ellipsis is immortal.

8.6.6 MemoryView objects

A memoryview object exposes the C level buffer interface as a Python object which can then be passed around like
any other object.
PyObject *PyMemoryView_FromObject(PyObject *obj)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a memoryview object from an object that pro-
vides the buffer interface. If obj supports writable buffer exports, the memoryview object will be read/write,
otherwise it may be either read-only or read/write at the discretion of the exporter.
PyBUF_READ
Flag to request a readonly buffer.
PyBUF_WRITE
Flag to request a writable buffer.
PyObject *PyMemoryView_FromMemory(char *mem, Py_ssize_t size, int flags)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Create a memoryview object using mem
as the underlying buffer. flags can be one of PyBUF_READ or PyBUF_WRITE.
Added in version 3.3.

174 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyMemoryView_FromBuffer(const Py_buffer *view)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. Create a memoryview object wrapping
the given buffer structure view. For simple byte buffers, PyMemoryView_FromMemory() is the preferred
function.
PyObject *PyMemoryView_GetContiguous(PyObject *obj, int buffertype, char order)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a memoryview object to a contiguous chunk of
memory (in either ‘C’ or ‘F’ortran order) from an object that defines the buffer interface. If memory is contigu-
ous, the memoryview object points to the original memory. Otherwise, a copy is made and the memoryview
points to a new bytes object.
buffertype can be one of PyBUF_READ or PyBUF_WRITE.
int PyMemoryView_Check(PyObject *obj)
Return true if the object obj is a memoryview object. It is not currently allowed to create subclasses of
memoryview. This function always succeeds.

Py_buffer *PyMemoryView_GET_BUFFER(PyObject *mview)

Return a pointer to the memoryview’s private copy of the exporter’s buffer. mview must be a memoryview
instance; this macro doesn’t check its type, you must do it yourself or you will risk crashes.
PyObject *PyMemoryView_GET_BASE(PyObject *mview)
Return either a pointer to the exporting object that the memoryview is based on or NULL if the memoryview has
been created by one of the functions PyMemoryView_FromMemory() or PyMemoryView_FromBuffer().
mview must be a memoryview instance.

8.6.7 Weak Reference Objects

Python supports weak references as first-class objects. There are two specific object types which directly implement
weak references. The first is a simple reference object, and the second acts as a proxy for the original object as much
as it can.
int PyWeakref_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is either a reference or proxy object. This function always succeeds.
int PyWeakref_CheckRef(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is a reference object. This function always succeeds.
int PyWeakref_CheckProxy(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is a proxy object. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyWeakref_NewRef(PyObject *ob, PyObject *callback)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a weak reference object for the object ob. This
will always return a new reference, but is not guaranteed to create a new object; an existing reference object
may be returned. The second parameter, callback, can be a callable object that receives notification when ob is
garbage collected; it should accept a single parameter, which will be the weak reference object itself. callback
may also be None or NULL. If ob is not a weakly referenceable object, or if callback is not callable, None, or
NULL, this will return NULL and raise TypeError.

PyObject *PyWeakref_NewProxy(PyObject *ob, PyObject *callback)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a weak reference proxy object for the object ob.
This will always return a new reference, but is not guaranteed to create a new object; an existing proxy object
may be returned. The second parameter, callback, can be a callable object that receives notification when ob is
garbage collected; it should accept a single parameter, which will be the weak reference object itself. callback
may also be None or NULL. If ob is not a weakly referenceable object, or if callback is not callable, None, or
NULL, this will return NULL and raise TypeError.

PyObject *PyWeakref_GetObject(PyObject *ref)

Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return the referenced object from a weak reference,
ref. If the referent is no longer live, returns Py_None.

8.6. Other Objects 175

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

® Note

This function returns a borrowed reference to the referenced object. This means that you should always
call Py_INCREF() on the object except when it cannot be destroyed before the last usage of the borrowed
reference.

PyObject *PyWeakref_GET_OBJECT(PyObject *ref)

Return value: Borrowed reference. Similar to PyWeakref_GetObject(), but does no error checking.
void PyObject_ClearWeakRefs(PyObject *object)
Part of the Stable ABI. This function is called by the tp_dealloc handler to clear weak references.
This iterates through the weak references for object and calls callbacks for those references which have one. It
returns when all callbacks have been attempted.

8.6.8 Capsules
Refer to using-capsules for more information on using these objects.
Added in version 3.1.
type PyCapsule
This subtype of PyObject represents an opaque value, useful for C extension modules who need to pass an
opaque value (as a void* pointer) through Python code to other C code. It is often used to make a C function
pointer defined in one module available to other modules, so the regular import mechanism can be used to
access C APIs defined in dynamically loaded modules.
type PyCapsule_Destructor
Part of the Stable ABI. The type of a destructor callback for a capsule. Defined as:

typedef void (*PyCapsule_Destructor)(PyObject *);

See PyCapsule_New() for the semantics of PyCapsule_Destructor callbacks.

int PyCapsule_CheckExact(PyObject *p)
Return true if its argument is a PyCapsule. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyCapsule_New(void *pointer, const char *name, PyCapsule_Destructor destructor)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Create a PyCapsule encapsulating the pointer. The
pointer argument may not be NULL.
On failure, set an exception and return NULL.
The name string may either be NULL or a pointer to a valid C string. If non-NULL, this string must outlive the
capsule. (Though it is permitted to free it inside the destructor.)
If the destructor argument is not NULL, it will be called with the capsule as its argument when it is destroyed.
If this capsule will be stored as an attribute of a module, the name should be specified as modulename.
attributename. This will enable other modules to import the capsule using PyCapsule_Import().

void *PyCapsule_GetPointer(PyObject *capsule, const char *name)

Part of the Stable ABI. Retrieve the pointer stored in the capsule. On failure, set an exception and return NULL.
The name parameter must compare exactly to the name stored in the capsule. If the name stored in the capsule
is NULL, the name passed in must also be NULL. Python uses the C function strcmp() to compare capsule
names.
PyCapsule_Destructor PyCapsule_GetDestructor(PyObject *capsule)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current destructor stored in the capsule. On failure, set an exception and
return NULL.
It is legal for a capsule to have a NULL destructor. This makes a NULL return code somewhat ambiguous; use
PyCapsule_IsValid() or PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.

176 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void *PyCapsule_GetContext(PyObject *capsule)

Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current context stored in the capsule. On failure, set an exception and return
NULL.

It is legal for a capsule to have a NULL context. This makes a NULL return code somewhat ambiguous; use
PyCapsule_IsValid() or PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.
const char *PyCapsule_GetName(PyObject *capsule)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current name stored in the capsule. On failure, set an exception and return
NULL.
It is legal for a capsule to have a NULL name. This makes a NULL return code somewhat ambiguous; use
PyCapsule_IsValid() or PyErr_Occurred() to disambiguate.

void *PyCapsule_Import(const char *name, int no_block)

Part of the Stable ABI. Import a pointer to a C object from a capsule attribute in a module. The name parameter
should specify the full name to the attribute, as in module.attribute. The name stored in the capsule must
match this string exactly.
Return the capsule’s internal pointer on success. On failure, set an exception and return NULL.
Changed in version 3.3: no_block has no effect anymore.
int PyCapsule_IsValid(PyObject *capsule, const char *name)
Part of the Stable ABI. Determines whether or not capsule is a valid capsule. A valid capsule is non-NULL,
passes PyCapsule_CheckExact(), has a non-NULL pointer stored in it, and its internal name matches the
name parameter. (See PyCapsule_GetPointer() for information on how capsule names are compared.)
In other words, if PyCapsule_IsValid() returns a true value, calls to any of the accessors (any function
starting with PyCapsule_Get) are guaranteed to succeed.
Return a nonzero value if the object is valid and matches the name passed in. Return 0 otherwise. This function
will not fail.
int PyCapsule_SetContext(PyObject *capsule, void *context)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the context pointer inside capsule to context.
Return 0 on success. Return nonzero and set an exception on failure.
int PyCapsule_SetDestructor(PyObject *capsule, PyCapsule_Destructor destructor)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the destructor inside capsule to destructor.
Return 0 on success. Return nonzero and set an exception on failure.
int PyCapsule_SetName(PyObject *capsule, const char *name)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the name inside capsule to name. If non-NULL, the name must outlive the capsule.
If the previous name stored in the capsule was not NULL, no attempt is made to free it.
Return 0 on success. Return nonzero and set an exception on failure.
int PyCapsule_SetPointer(PyObject *capsule, void *pointer)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the void pointer inside capsule to pointer. The pointer may not be NULL.
Return 0 on success. Return nonzero and set an exception on failure.

8.6.9 Frame Objects

type PyFrameObject
Part of the Limited API (as an opaque struct). The C structure of the objects used to describe frame objects.
There are no public members in this structure.
Changed in version 3.11: The members of this structure were removed from the public C API. Refer to the
What’s New entry for details.

8.6. Other Objects 177

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The PyEval_GetFrame() and PyThreadState_GetFrame() functions can be used to get a frame object.
See also Reflection.
PyTypeObject PyFrame_Type
The type of frame objects. It is the same object as types.FrameType in the Python layer.
Changed in version 3.11: Previously, this type was only available after including <frameobject.h>.
int PyFrame_Check(PyObject *obj)
Return non-zero if obj is a frame object.
Changed in version 3.11: Previously, this function was only available after including <frameobject.h>.
PyFrameObject *PyFrame_GetBack(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the frame next outer frame.
Return a strong reference, or NULL if frame has no outer frame.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyFrame_GetBuiltins(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the frame’s f_builtins attribute.
Return a strong reference. The result cannot be NULL.
Added in version 3.11.
PyCodeObject *PyFrame_GetCode(PyFrameObject *frame)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Get the frame code.
Return a strong reference.
The result (frame code) cannot be NULL.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyFrame_GetGenerator(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the generator, coroutine, or async generator that owns this frame, or NULL if this frame is not owned by a
generator. Does not raise an exception, even if the return value is NULL.
Return a strong reference, or NULL.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyFrame_GetGlobals(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the frame’s f_globals attribute.
Return a strong reference. The result cannot be NULL.
Added in version 3.11.
int PyFrame_GetLasti(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the frame’s f_lasti attribute.
Returns -1 if frame.f_lasti is None.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyFrame_GetVar(PyFrameObject *frame, PyObject *name)
Get the variable name of frame.
• Return a strong reference to the variable value on success.
• Raise NameError and return NULL if the variable does not exist.
• Raise an exception and return NULL on error.
name type must be a str.
Added in version 3.12.

178 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyFrame_GetVarString(PyFrameObject *frame, const char *name)

Similar to PyFrame_GetVar(), but the variable name is a C string encoded in UTF-8.
Added in version 3.12.
PyObject *PyFrame_GetLocals(PyFrameObject *frame)
Get the frame’s f_locals attribute (dict).
Return a strong reference.
Added in version 3.11.
int PyFrame_GetLineNumber(PyFrameObject *frame)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Return the line number that frame is currently executing.

Internal Frames
Unless using PEP 523, you will not need this.
struct _PyInterpreterFrame
The interpreter’s internal frame representation.
Added in version 3.11.
PyObject *PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetCode(struct _PyInterpreterFrame *frame);

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return a strong reference to the code object for the frame.

Added in version 3.12.

int PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetLasti(struct _PyInterpreterFrame *frame);

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return the byte offset into the last executed instruction.

Added in version 3.12.
int PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetLine(struct _PyInterpreterFrame *frame);

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Return the currently executing line number, or -1 if there is no line number.

Added in version 3.12.

8.6.10 Generator Objects

Generator objects are what Python uses to implement generator iterators. They are normally created by iterating over
a function that yields values, rather than explicitly calling PyGen_New() or PyGen_NewWithQualName().

8.6. Other Objects 179

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

type PyGenObject
The C structure used for generator objects.
PyTypeObject PyGen_Type
The type object corresponding to generator objects.
int PyGen_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is a generator object; ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyGen_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob’s type is PyGen_Type; ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyGen_New(PyFrameObject *frame)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new generator object based on the frame object. A reference
to frame is stolen by this function. The argument must not be NULL.
PyObject *PyGen_NewWithQualName(PyFrameObject *frame, PyObject *name, PyObject *qualname)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new generator object based on the frame object, with
__name__ and __qualname__ set to name and qualname. A reference to frame is stolen by this function.
The frame argument must not be NULL.

8.6.11 Coroutine Objects

Added in version 3.5.
Coroutine objects are what functions declared with an async keyword return.
type PyCoroObject
The C structure used for coroutine objects.
PyTypeObject PyCoro_Type
The type object corresponding to coroutine objects.
int PyCoro_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob’s type is PyCoro_Type; ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
PyObject *PyCoro_New(PyFrameObject *frame, PyObject *name, PyObject *qualname)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new coroutine object based on the frame object, with
__name__ and __qualname__ set to name and qualname. A reference to frame is stolen by this function.
The frame argument must not be NULL.

8.6.12 Context Variables Objects

Added in version 3.7.
Changed in version 3.7.1:

® Note

In Python 3.7.1 the signatures of all context variables C APIs were changed to use PyObject pointers instead
of PyContext, PyContextVar, and PyContextToken, e.g.:
// in 3.7.0:
PyContext *PyContext_New(void);

// in 3.7.1+:
PyObject *PyContext_New(void);

See bpo-34762 for more details.

This section details the public C API for the contextvars module.

180 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

type PyContext
The C structure used to represent a contextvars.Context object.
type PyContextVar
The C structure used to represent a contextvars.ContextVar object.
type PyContextToken
The C structure used to represent a contextvars.Token object.
PyTypeObject PyContext_Type
The type object representing the context type.
PyTypeObject PyContextVar_Type
The type object representing the context variable type.
PyTypeObject PyContextToken_Type
The type object representing the context variable token type.
Type-check macros:
int PyContext_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is of type PyContext_Type. o must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyContextVar_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is of type PyContextVar_Type. o must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyContextToken_CheckExact(PyObject *o)
Return true if o is of type PyContextToken_Type. o must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
Context object management functions:
PyObject *PyContext_New(void)
Return value: New reference. Create a new empty context object. Returns NULL if an error has occurred.
PyObject *PyContext_Copy(PyObject *ctx)
Return value: New reference. Create a shallow copy of the passed ctx context object. Returns NULL if an error
has occurred.
PyObject *PyContext_CopyCurrent(void)
Return value: New reference. Create a shallow copy of the current thread context. Returns NULL if an error
has occurred.
int PyContext_Enter(PyObject *ctx)
Set ctx as the current context for the current thread. Returns 0 on success, and -1 on error.
int PyContext_Exit(PyObject *ctx)
Deactivate the ctx context and restore the previous context as the current context for the current thread. Returns
0 on success, and -1 on error.

Context variable functions:

PyObject *PyContextVar_New(const char *name, PyObject *def)
Return value: New reference. Create a new ContextVar object. The name parameter is used for introspection
and debug purposes. The def parameter specifies a default value for the context variable, or NULL for no default.
If an error has occurred, this function returns NULL.
int PyContextVar_Get(PyObject *var, PyObject *default_value, PyObject **value)
Get the value of a context variable. Returns -1 if an error has occurred during lookup, and 0 if no error
occurred, whether or not a value was found.
If the context variable was found, value will be a pointer to it. If the context variable was not found, value will
point to:
• default_value, if not NULL;

8.6. Other Objects 181

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• the default value of var, if not NULL;

• NULL
Except for NULL, the function returns a new reference.
PyObject *PyContextVar_Set(PyObject *var, PyObject *value)
Return value: New reference. Set the value of var to value in the current context. Returns a new token object
for this change, or NULL if an error has occurred.
int PyContextVar_Reset(PyObject *var, PyObject *token)
Reset the state of the var context variable to that it was in before PyContextVar_Set() that returned the
token was called. This function returns 0 on success and -1 on error.

8.6.13 DateTime Objects

Various date and time objects are supplied by the datetime module. Before using any of these functions, the header
file datetime.h must be included in your source (note that this is not included by Python.h), and the macro
PyDateTime_IMPORT must be invoked, usually as part of the module initialisation function. The macro puts a
pointer to a C structure into a static variable, PyDateTimeAPI, that is used by the following macros.
type PyDateTime_Date
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python date object.
type PyDateTime_DateTime
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python datetime object.
type PyDateTime_Time
This subtype of PyObject represents a Python time object.
type PyDateTime_Delta
This subtype of PyObject represents the difference between two datetime values.
PyTypeObject PyDateTime_DateType
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python date type; it is the same object as datetime.date
in the Python layer.
PyTypeObject PyDateTime_DateTimeType
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python datetime type; it is the same object as datetime.
datetime in the Python layer.

PyTypeObject PyDateTime_TimeType
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python time type; it is the same object as datetime.time
in the Python layer.
PyTypeObject PyDateTime_DeltaType
This instance of PyTypeObject represents Python type for the difference between two datetime values; it is
the same object as datetime.timedelta in the Python layer.
PyTypeObject PyDateTime_TZInfoType
This instance of PyTypeObject represents the Python time zone info type; it is the same object as datetime.
tzinfo in the Python layer.
Macro for access to the UTC singleton:
PyObject *PyDateTime_TimeZone_UTC
Returns the time zone singleton representing UTC, the same object as datetime.timezone.utc.
Added in version 3.7.
Type-check macros:

182 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyDate_Check(PyObject *ob)

Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DateType or a subtype of PyDateTime_DateType. ob must not
be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyDate_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DateType. ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyDateTime_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DateTimeType or a subtype of PyDateTime_DateTimeType.
ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyDateTime_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DateTimeType. ob must not be NULL. This function always suc-
ceeds.
int PyTime_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_TimeType or a subtype of PyDateTime_TimeType. ob must not
be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyTime_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_TimeType. ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyDelta_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DeltaType or a subtype of PyDateTime_DeltaType. ob must
not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyDelta_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_DeltaType. ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyTZInfo_Check(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_TZInfoType or a subtype of PyDateTime_TZInfoType. ob must
not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
int PyTZInfo_CheckExact(PyObject *ob)
Return true if ob is of type PyDateTime_TZInfoType. ob must not be NULL. This function always succeeds.
Macros to create objects:
PyObject *PyDate_FromDate(int year, int month, int day)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.date object with the specified year, month and day.
PyObject *PyDateTime_FromDateAndTime(int year, int month, int day, int hour, int minute, int second, int
usecond)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.datetime object with the specified year, month, day, hour,
minute, second and microsecond.
PyObject *PyDateTime_FromDateAndTimeAndFold(int year, int month, int day, int hour, int minute, int
second, int usecond, int fold)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.datetime object with the specified year, month, day, hour,
minute, second, microsecond and fold.
Added in version 3.6.
PyObject *PyTime_FromTime(int hour, int minute, int second, int usecond)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.time object with the specified hour, minute, second and
microsecond.
PyObject *PyTime_FromTimeAndFold(int hour, int minute, int second, int usecond, int fold)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.time object with the specified hour, minute, second,
microsecond and fold.
Added in version 3.6.

8.6. Other Objects 183

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyDelta_FromDSU(int days, int seconds, int useconds)

Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.timedelta object representing the given number of days,
seconds and microseconds. Normalization is performed so that the resulting number of microseconds and
seconds lie in the ranges documented for datetime.timedelta objects.
PyObject *PyTimeZone_FromOffset(PyObject *offset)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.timezone object with an unnamed fixed offset represented
by the offset argument.
Added in version 3.7.
PyObject *PyTimeZone_FromOffsetAndName(PyObject *offset, PyObject *name)
Return value: New reference. Return a datetime.timezone object with a fixed offset represented by the
offset argument and with tzname name.
Added in version 3.7.
Macros to extract fields from date objects. The argument must be an instance of PyDateTime_Date, including
subclasses (such as PyDateTime_DateTime). The argument must not be NULL, and the type is not checked:
int PyDateTime_GET_YEAR(PyDateTime_Date *o)
Return the year, as a positive int.
int PyDateTime_GET_MONTH(PyDateTime_Date *o)
Return the month, as an int from 1 through 12.
int PyDateTime_GET_DAY(PyDateTime_Date *o)
Return the day, as an int from 1 through 31.
Macros to extract fields from datetime objects. The argument must be an instance of PyDateTime_DateTime,
including subclasses. The argument must not be NULL, and the type is not checked:
int PyDateTime_DATE_GET_HOUR(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the hour, as an int from 0 through 23.
int PyDateTime_DATE_GET_MINUTE(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the minute, as an int from 0 through 59.
int PyDateTime_DATE_GET_SECOND(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the second, as an int from 0 through 59.
int PyDateTime_DATE_GET_MICROSECOND(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the microsecond, as an int from 0 through 999999.
int PyDateTime_DATE_GET_FOLD(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the fold, as an int from 0 through 1.
Added in version 3.6.
PyObject *PyDateTime_DATE_GET_TZINFO(PyDateTime_DateTime *o)
Return the tzinfo (which may be None).
Added in version 3.10.
Macros to extract fields from time objects. The argument must be an instance of PyDateTime_Time, including
subclasses. The argument must not be NULL, and the type is not checked:
int PyDateTime_TIME_GET_HOUR(PyDateTime_Time *o)
Return the hour, as an int from 0 through 23.
int PyDateTime_TIME_GET_MINUTE(PyDateTime_Time *o)
Return the minute, as an int from 0 through 59.
int PyDateTime_TIME_GET_SECOND(PyDateTime_Time *o)
Return the second, as an int from 0 through 59.

184 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyDateTime_TIME_GET_MICROSECOND(PyDateTime_Time *o)

Return the microsecond, as an int from 0 through 999999.
int PyDateTime_TIME_GET_FOLD(PyDateTime_Time *o)
Return the fold, as an int from 0 through 1.
Added in version 3.6.
PyObject *PyDateTime_TIME_GET_TZINFO(PyDateTime_Time *o)
Return the tzinfo (which may be None).
Added in version 3.10.
Macros to extract fields from time delta objects. The argument must be an instance of PyDateTime_Delta, in-
cluding subclasses. The argument must not be NULL, and the type is not checked:
int PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_DAYS(PyDateTime_Delta *o)
Return the number of days, as an int from -999999999 to 999999999.
Added in version 3.3.
int PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_SECONDS(PyDateTime_Delta *o)
Return the number of seconds, as an int from 0 through 86399.
Added in version 3.3.
int PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_MICROSECONDS(PyDateTime_Delta *o)
Return the number of microseconds, as an int from 0 through 999999.
Added in version 3.3.
Macros for the convenience of modules implementing the DB API:
PyObject *PyDateTime_FromTimestamp(PyObject *args)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new datetime.datetime object given an argument tuple
suitable for passing to datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp().
PyObject *PyDate_FromTimestamp(PyObject *args)
Return value: New reference. Create and return a new datetime.date object given an argument tuple suitable
for passing to datetime.date.fromtimestamp().

8.6.14 Objects for Type Hinting

Various built-in types for type hinting are provided. Currently, two types exist – GenericAlias and Union. Only
GenericAlias is exposed to C.
PyObject *Py_GenericAlias(PyObject *origin, PyObject *args)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Create a GenericAlias object. Equivalent to calling the Python
class types.GenericAlias. The origin and args arguments set the GenericAlias‘s __origin__ and
__args__ attributes respectively. origin should be a PyTypeObject*, and args can be a PyTupleObject*
or any PyObject*. If args passed is not a tuple, a 1-tuple is automatically constructed and __args__ is set
to (args,). Minimal checking is done for the arguments, so the function will succeed even if origin is not
a type. The GenericAlias‘s __parameters__ attribute is constructed lazily from __args__. On failure,
an exception is raised and NULL is returned.
Here’s an example of how to make an extension type generic:

...
static PyMethodDef my_obj_methods[] = {
// Other methods.
...
{"__class_getitem__", Py_GenericAlias, METH_O|METH_CLASS, "See PEP 585"}
...
}

8.6. Other Objects 185

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

µ See also

The data model method __class_getitem__().

Added in version 3.9.

PyTypeObject Py_GenericAliasType
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. The C type of the object returned by Py_GenericAlias(). Equiv-
alent to types.GenericAlias in Python.
Added in version 3.9.

186 Chapter 8. Concrete Objects Layer

 CHAPTER

NINE

INITIALIZATION, FINALIZATION, AND THREADS

See also Python Initialization Configuration.

9.1 Before Python Initialization

In an application embedding Python, the Py_Initialize() function must be called before using any other
Python/C API functions; with the exception of a few functions and the global configuration variables.
The following functions can be safely called before Python is initialized:
• Configuration functions:
– PyImport_AppendInittab()
– PyImport_ExtendInittab()
– PyInitFrozenExtensions()
– PyMem_SetAllocator()
– PyMem_SetupDebugHooks()
– PyObject_SetArenaAllocator()
– Py_SetPath()
– Py_SetProgramName()
– Py_SetPythonHome()
– Py_SetStandardStreamEncoding()
– PySys_AddWarnOption()
– PySys_AddXOption()
– PySys_ResetWarnOptions()
• Informative functions:
– Py_IsInitialized()
– PyMem_GetAllocator()
– PyObject_GetArenaAllocator()
– Py_GetBuildInfo()
– Py_GetCompiler()
– Py_GetCopyright()
– Py_GetPlatform()
– Py_GetVersion()
• Utilities:

187
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

– Py_DecodeLocale()
• Memory allocators:
– PyMem_RawMalloc()
– PyMem_RawRealloc()
– PyMem_RawCalloc()
– PyMem_RawFree()

® Note

The following functions should not be called before Py_Initialize(): Py_EncodeLocale(),

Py_GetPath(), Py_GetPrefix(), Py_GetExecPrefix(), Py_GetProgramFullPath(),
Py_GetPythonHome(), Py_GetProgramName() and PyEval_InitThreads().

9.2 Global configuration variables

Python has variables for the global configuration to control different features and options. By default, these flags are
controlled by command line options.
When a flag is set by an option, the value of the flag is the number of times that the option was set. For example, -b
sets Py_BytesWarningFlag to 1 and -bb sets Py_BytesWarningFlag to 2.
int Py_BytesWarningFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.bytes_warning should be used instead,
see Python Initialization Configuration.
Issue a warning when comparing bytes or bytearray with str or bytes with int. Issue an error if greater
or equal to 2.
Set by the -b option.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_DebugFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.parser_debug should be used instead, see
Python Initialization Configuration.
Turn on parser debugging output (for expert only, depending on compilation options).
Set by the -d option and the PYTHONDEBUG environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_DontWriteBytecodeFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.write_bytecode should be used instead,
see Python Initialization Configuration.
If set to non-zero, Python won’t try to write .pyc files on the import of source modules.
Set by the -B option and the PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_FrozenFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.pathconfig_warnings should be used
instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Suppress error messages when calculating the module search path in Py_GetPath().
Private flag used by _freeze_module and frozenmain programs.
Deprecated since version 3.12.

188 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int Py_HashRandomizationFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.hash_seed and PyConfig.
use_hash_seed should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.

Set to 1 if the PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable is set to a non-empty string.

If the flag is non-zero, read the PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable to initialize the secret hash seed.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_IgnoreEnvironmentFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.use_environment should be used instead,
see Python Initialization Configuration.
Ignore all PYTHON* environment variables, e.g. PYTHONPATH and PYTHONHOME, that might be set.
Set by the -E and -I options.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_InspectFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.inspect should be used instead, see Python
Initialization Configuration.
When a script is passed as first argument or the -c option is used, enter interactive mode after executing the
script or the command, even when sys.stdin does not appear to be a terminal.
Set by the -i option and the PYTHONINSPECT environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_InteractiveFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.interactive should be used instead, see
Python Initialization Configuration.
Set by the -i option.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_IsolatedFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.isolated should be used instead, see Python
Initialization Configuration.
Run Python in isolated mode. In isolated mode sys.path contains neither the script’s directory nor the user’s
site-packages directory.
Set by the -I option.
Added in version 3.4.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_LegacyWindowsFSEncodingFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyPreConfig.legacy_windows_fs_encoding
should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
If the flag is non-zero, use the mbcs encoding with replace error handler, instead of the UTF-8 encoding
with surrogatepass error handler, for the filesystem encoding and error handler.
Set to 1 if the PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING environment variable is set to a non-empty string.
See PEP 529 for more details.
Availability: Windows.
Deprecated since version 3.12.

9.2. Global configuration variables 189

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int Py_LegacyWindowsStdioFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.legacy_windows_stdio should be used
instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
If the flag is non-zero, use io.FileIO instead of io._WindowsConsoleIO for sys standard streams.
Set to 1 if the PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO environment variable is set to a non-empty string.
See PEP 528 for more details.
Availability: Windows.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_NoSiteFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.site_import should be used instead, see
Python Initialization Configuration.
Disable the import of the module site and the site-dependent manipulations of sys.path that it entails.
Also disable these manipulations if site is explicitly imported later (call site.main() if you want them to
be triggered).
Set by the -S option.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_NoUserSiteDirectory
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.user_site_directory should be used
instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Don’t add the user site-packages directory to sys.path.
Set by the -s and -I options, and the PYTHONNOUSERSITE environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_OptimizeFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.optimization_level should be used
instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Set by the -O option and the PYTHONOPTIMIZE environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_QuietFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.quiet should be used instead, see Python
Initialization Configuration.
Don’t display the copyright and version messages even in interactive mode.
Set by the -q option.
Added in version 3.2.
Deprecated since version 3.12.
int Py_UnbufferedStdioFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.buffered_stdio should be used instead,
see Python Initialization Configuration.
Force the stdout and stderr streams to be unbuffered.
Set by the -u option and the PYTHONUNBUFFERED environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.

190 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int Py_VerboseFlag
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.verbose should be used instead, see Python
Initialization Configuration.
Print a message each time a module is initialized, showing the place (filename or built-in module) from which
it is loaded. If greater or equal to 2, print a message for each file that is checked for when searching for a
module. Also provides information on module cleanup at exit.
Set by the -v option and the PYTHONVERBOSE environment variable.
Deprecated since version 3.12.

9.3 Initializing and finalizing the interpreter

void Py_Initialize()
Part of the Stable ABI. Initialize the Python interpreter. In an application embedding Python, this should be
called before using any other Python/C API functions; see Before Python Initialization for the few exceptions.
This initializes the table of loaded modules (sys.modules), and creates the fundamental modules builtins,
__main__ and sys. It also initializes the module search path (sys.path). It does not set sys.argv;
use PySys_SetArgvEx() for that. This is a no-op when called for a second time (without calling
Py_FinalizeEx() first). There is no return value; it is a fatal error if the initialization fails.
Use the Py_InitializeFromConfig() function to customize the Python Initialization Configuration.

® Note

On Windows, changes the console mode from O_TEXT to O_BINARY, which will also affect non-Python
uses of the console using the C Runtime.

void Py_InitializeEx(int initsigs)

Part of the Stable ABI. This function works like Py_Initialize() if initsigs is 1. If initsigs is 0, it skips
initialization registration of signal handlers, which might be useful when Python is embedded.
Use the Py_InitializeFromConfig() function to customize the Python Initialization Configuration.
int Py_IsInitialized()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return true (nonzero) when the Python interpreter has been initialized, false (zero) if
not. After Py_FinalizeEx() is called, this returns false until Py_Initialize() is called again.
int Py_FinalizeEx()
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.6. Undo all initializations made by Py_Initialize() and subse-
quent use of Python/C API functions, and destroy all sub-interpreters (see Py_NewInterpreter() be-
low) that were created and not yet destroyed since the last call to Py_Initialize(). Ideally, this frees
all memory allocated by the Python interpreter. This is a no-op when called for a second time (without calling
Py_Initialize() again first).

Since this is the reverse of Py_Initialize(), it should be called in the same thread with the same interpreter
active. That means the main thread and the main interpreter. This should never be called while Py_RunMain()
is running.
Normally the return value is 0. If there were errors during finalization (flushing buffered data), -1 is returned.
This function is provided for a number of reasons. An embedding application might want to restart Python
without having to restart the application itself. An application that has loaded the Python interpreter from a
dynamically loadable library (or DLL) might want to free all memory allocated by Python before unloading the
DLL. During a hunt for memory leaks in an application a developer might want to free all memory allocated
by Python before exiting from the application.

9.3. Initializing and finalizing the interpreter 191

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Bugs and caveats: The destruction of modules and objects in modules is done in random order; this may
cause destructors (__del__() methods) to fail when they depend on other objects (even functions) or mod-
ules. Dynamically loaded extension modules loaded by Python are not unloaded. Small amounts of memory
allocated by the Python interpreter may not be freed (if you find a leak, please report it). Memory tied up in
circular references between objects is not freed. Some memory allocated by extension modules may not be
freed. Some extensions may not work properly if their initialization routine is called more than once; this can
happen if an application calls Py_Initialize() and Py_FinalizeEx() more than once.
Raises an auditing event cpython._PySys_ClearAuditHooks with no arguments.
Added in version 3.6.
void Py_Finalize()
Part of the Stable ABI. This is a backwards-compatible version of Py_FinalizeEx() that disregards the
return value.

9.4 Process-wide parameters

int Py_SetStandardStreamEncoding(const char *encoding, const char *errors)
This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.stdio_encoding and PyConfig.
stdio_errors should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.

This function should be called before Py_Initialize(), if it is called at all. It specifies which encoding and
error handling to use with standard IO, with the same meanings as in str.encode().
It overrides PYTHONIOENCODING values, and allows embedding code to control IO encoding when the envi-
ronment variable does not work.
encoding and/or errors may be NULL to use PYTHONIOENCODING and/or default values (depending on other
settings).
Note that sys.stderr always uses the “backslashreplace” error handler, regardless of this (or any other)
setting.
If Py_FinalizeEx() is called, this function will need to be called again in order to affect subsequent calls to
Py_Initialize().

Returns 0 if successful, a nonzero value on error (e.g. calling after the interpreter has already been initialized).
Added in version 3.4.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
void Py_SetProgramName(const wchar_t *name)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.program_name
should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
This function should be called before Py_Initialize() is called for the first time, if it is called at all. It
tells the interpreter the value of the argv[0] argument to the main() function of the program (converted to
wide characters). This is used by Py_GetPath() and some other functions below to find the Python run-time
libraries relative to the interpreter executable. The default value is 'python'. The argument should point to
a zero-terminated wide character string in static storage whose contents will not change for the duration of the
program’s execution. No code in the Python interpreter will change the contents of this storage.
Use Py_DecodeLocale() to decode a bytes string to get a wchar_t* string.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
wchar_t *Py_GetProgramName()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the program name set with Py_SetProgramName(), or the default. The
returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value.
This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().

192 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

wchar_t *Py_GetPrefix()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the prefix for installed platform-independent files. This is derived through a num-
ber of complicated rules from the program name set with Py_SetProgramName() and some environment
variables; for example, if the program name is '/usr/local/bin/python', the prefix is '/usr/local'.
The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. This corresponds to the
prefix variable in the top-level Makefile and the --prefix argument to the configure script at build
time. The value is available to Python code as sys.prefix. It is only useful on Unix. See also the next
function.
This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().
wchar_t *Py_GetExecPrefix()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the exec-prefix for installed platform-dependent files. This is derived through
a number of complicated rules from the program name set with Py_SetProgramName() and some envi-
ronment variables; for example, if the program name is '/usr/local/bin/python', the exec-prefix is
'/usr/local'. The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. This
corresponds to the exec_prefix variable in the top-level Makefile and the --exec-prefix argument to
the configure script at build time. The value is available to Python code as sys.exec_prefix. It is only
useful on Unix.
Background: The exec-prefix differs from the prefix when platform dependent files (such as executables and
shared libraries) are installed in a different directory tree. In a typical installation, platform dependent files may
be installed in the /usr/local/plat subtree while platform independent may be installed in /usr/local.
Generally speaking, a platform is a combination of hardware and software families, e.g. Sparc machines run-
ning the Solaris 2.x operating system are considered the same platform, but Intel machines running Solaris 2.x
are another platform, and Intel machines running Linux are yet another platform. Different major revisions of
the same operating system generally also form different platforms. Non-Unix operating systems are a different
story; the installation strategies on those systems are so different that the prefix and exec-prefix are meaning-
less, and set to the empty string. Note that compiled Python bytecode files are platform independent (but not
independent from the Python version by which they were compiled!).
System administrators will know how to configure the mount or automount programs to share /usr/local
between platforms while having /usr/local/plat be a different filesystem for each platform.
This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().
wchar_t *Py_GetProgramFullPath()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the full program name of the Python executable; this is computed as a side-effect
of deriving the default module search path from the program name (set by Py_SetProgramName() above).
The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. The value is available to
Python code as sys.executable.
This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().
wchar_t *Py_GetPath()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the default module search path; this is computed from the program name (set
by Py_SetProgramName() above) and some environment variables. The returned string consists of a series
of directory names separated by a platform dependent delimiter character. The delimiter character is ':'
on Unix and macOS, ';' on Windows. The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not
modify its value. The list sys.path is initialized with this value on interpreter startup; it can be (and usually
is) modified later to change the search path for loading modules.
This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().

9.4. Process-wide parameters 193

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void Py_SetPath(const wchar_t*)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.
module_search_paths and PyConfig.module_search_paths_set should be used instead, see Python
Initialization Configuration.
Set the default module search path. If this function is called before Py_Initialize(), then Py_GetPath()
won’t attempt to compute a default search path but uses the one provided instead. This is useful if Python is
embedded by an application that has full knowledge of the location of all modules. The path components
should be separated by the platform dependent delimiter character, which is ':' on Unix and macOS, ';' on
Windows.
This also causes sys.executable to be set to the program full path (see Py_GetProgramFullPath())
and for sys.prefix and sys.exec_prefix to be empty. It is up to the caller to modify these if required
after calling Py_Initialize().
Use Py_DecodeLocale() to decode a bytes string to get a wchar_* string.
The path argument is copied internally, so the caller may free it after the call completes.
Changed in version 3.8: The program full path is now used for sys.executable, instead of the program
name.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
const char *Py_GetVersion()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the version of this Python interpreter. This is a string that looks something like

"3.0a5+ (py3k:63103M, May 12 2008, 00:53:55) \n[GCC 4.2.3]"

The first word (up to the first space character) is the current Python version; the first characters are the major
and minor version separated by a period. The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not
modify its value. The value is available to Python code as sys.version.
See also the Py_Version constant.
const char *Py_GetPlatform()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the platform identifier for the current platform. On Unix, this is formed from
the “official” name of the operating system, converted to lower case, followed by the major revision number;
e.g., for Solaris 2.x, which is also known as SunOS 5.x, the value is 'sunos5'. On macOS, it is 'darwin'.
On Windows, it is 'win'. The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value.
The value is available to Python code as sys.platform.
const char *Py_GetCopyright()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the official copyright string for the current Python version, for example
'Copyright 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam'

The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. The value is available to
Python code as sys.copyright.
const char *Py_GetCompiler()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return an indication of the compiler used to build the current Python version, in square
brackets, for example:

"[GCC 2.7.2.2]"

The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. The value is available to
Python code as part of the variable sys.version.
const char *Py_GetBuildInfo()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return information about the sequence number and build date and time of the current
Python interpreter instance, for example

194 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

"#67, Aug 1 1997, 22:34:28"

The returned string points into static storage; the caller should not modify its value. The value is available to
Python code as part of the variable sys.version.
void PySys_SetArgvEx(int argc, wchar_t **argv, int updatepath)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.argv , PyConfig.
parse_argv and PyConfig.safe_path should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Set sys.argv based on argc and argv. These parameters are similar to those passed to the program’s
main() function with the difference that the first entry should refer to the script file to be executed rather
than the executable hosting the Python interpreter. If there isn’t a script that will be run, the first entry in
argv can be an empty string. If this function fails to initialize sys.argv, a fatal condition is signalled using
Py_FatalError().

If updatepath is zero, this is all the function does. If updatepath is non-zero, the function also modifies sys.
path according to the following algorithm:

• If the name of an existing script is passed in argv[0], the absolute path of the directory where the script
is located is prepended to sys.path.
• Otherwise (that is, if argc is 0 or argv[0] doesn’t point to an existing file name), an empty string is
prepended to sys.path, which is the same as prepending the current working directory (".").
Use Py_DecodeLocale() to decode a bytes string to get a wchar_t* string.
See also PyConfig.orig_argv and PyConfig.argv members of the Python Initialization Configuration.

® Note

It is recommended that applications embedding the Python interpreter for purposes other than executing a
single script pass 0 as updatepath, and update sys.path themselves if desired. See CVE 2008-5983.
On versions before 3.1.3, you can achieve the same effect by manually popping the first sys.path element
after having called PySys_SetArgv(), for example using:
PyRun_SimpleString("import sys; sys.path.pop(0)\n");

Added in version 3.1.3.

Deprecated since version 3.11.
void PySys_SetArgv(int argc, wchar_t **argv)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.argv and PyConfig.
parse_argv should be used instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.

This function works like PySys_SetArgvEx() with updatepath set to 1 unless the python interpreter was
started with the -I.
Use Py_DecodeLocale() to decode a bytes string to get a wchar_t* string.
See also PyConfig.orig_argv and PyConfig.argv members of the Python Initialization Configuration.
Changed in version 3.4: The updatepath value depends on -I.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
void Py_SetPythonHome(const wchar_t *home)
Part of the Stable ABI. This API is kept for backward compatibility: setting PyConfig.home should be used
instead, see Python Initialization Configuration.
Set the default “home” directory, that is, the location of the standard Python libraries. See PYTHONHOME for
the meaning of the argument string.

9.4. Process-wide parameters 195

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The argument should point to a zero-terminated character string in static storage whose contents will not change
for the duration of the program’s execution. No code in the Python interpreter will change the contents of this
storage.
Use Py_DecodeLocale() to decode a bytes string to get a wchar_t* string.
Deprecated since version 3.11.
wchar_t *Py_GetPythonHome()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the default “home”, that is, the value set by a previous call to
Py_SetPythonHome(), or the value of the PYTHONHOME environment variable if it is set.

This function should not be called before Py_Initialize(), otherwise it returns NULL.
Changed in version 3.10: It now returns NULL if called before Py_Initialize().

9.5 Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock

The Python interpreter is not fully thread-safe. In order to support multi-threaded Python programs, there’s a global
lock, called the global interpreter lock or GIL, that must be held by the current thread before it can safely access
Python objects. Without the lock, even the simplest operations could cause problems in a multi-threaded program:
for example, when two threads simultaneously increment the reference count of the same object, the reference count
could end up being incremented only once instead of twice.
Therefore, the rule exists that only the thread that has acquired the GIL may operate on Python objects or call Python/C
API functions. In order to emulate concurrency of execution, the interpreter regularly tries to switch threads (see
sys.setswitchinterval()). The lock is also released around potentially blocking I/O operations like reading
or writing a file, so that other Python threads can run in the meantime.
The Python interpreter keeps some thread-specific bookkeeping information inside a data structure called
PyThreadState. There’s also one global variable pointing to the current PyThreadState: it can be retrieved
using PyThreadState_Get().

9.5.1 Releasing the GIL from extension code

Most extension code manipulating the GIL has the following simple structure:

Save the thread state in a local variable.

Release the global interpreter lock.
... Do some blocking I/O operation ...
Reacquire the global interpreter lock.
Restore the thread state from the local variable.

This is so common that a pair of macros exists to simplify it:

Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
... Do some blocking I/O operation ...
Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS

The Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS macro opens a new block and declares a hidden local variable; the
Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS macro closes the block.
The block above expands to the following code:

PyThreadState *_save;

_save = PyEval_SaveThread();
... Do some blocking I/O operation ...
PyEval_RestoreThread(_save);

Here is how these functions work: the global interpreter lock is used to protect the pointer to the current thread
state. When releasing the lock and saving the thread state, the current thread state pointer must be retrieved before

196 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

the lock is released (since another thread could immediately acquire the lock and store its own thread state in the
global variable). Conversely, when acquiring the lock and restoring the thread state, the lock must be acquired before
storing the thread state pointer.

® Note

Calling system I/O functions is the most common use case for releasing the GIL, but it can also be useful before
calling long-running computations which don’t need access to Python objects, such as compression or crypto-
graphic functions operating over memory buffers. For example, the standard zlib and hashlib modules release
the GIL when compressing or hashing data.

9.5.2 Non-Python created threads

When threads are created using the dedicated Python APIs (such as the threading module), a thread state is
automatically associated to them and the code showed above is therefore correct. However, when threads are created
from C (for example by a third-party library with its own thread management), they don’t hold the GIL, nor is there
a thread state structure for them.
If you need to call Python code from these threads (often this will be part of a callback API provided by the afore-
mentioned third-party library), you must first register these threads with the interpreter by creating a thread state
data structure, then acquiring the GIL, and finally storing their thread state pointer, before you can start using the
Python/C API. When you are done, you should reset the thread state pointer, release the GIL, and finally free the
thread state data structure.
The PyGILState_Ensure() and PyGILState_Release() functions do all of the above automatically. The
typical idiom for calling into Python from a C thread is:

PyGILState_STATE gstate;
gstate = PyGILState_Ensure();

/* Perform Python actions here. */

result = CallSomeFunction();
/* evaluate result or handle exception */

/* Release the thread. No Python API allowed beyond this point. */

PyGILState_Release(gstate);

Note that the PyGILState_* functions assume there is only one global interpreter (created automatically by
Py_Initialize()). Python supports the creation of additional interpreters (using Py_NewInterpreter()),
but mixing multiple interpreters and the PyGILState_* API is unsupported.

9.5.3 Cautions about fork()

Another important thing to note about threads is their behaviour in the face of the C fork() call. On most systems
with fork(), after a process forks only the thread that issued the fork will exist. This has a concrete impact both on
how locks must be handled and on all stored state in CPython’s runtime.
The fact that only the “current” thread remains means any locks held by other threads will never be released. Python
solves this for os.fork() by acquiring the locks it uses internally before the fork, and releasing them afterwards.
In addition, it resets any lock-objects in the child. When extending or embedding Python, there is no way to inform
Python of additional (non-Python) locks that need to be acquired before or reset after a fork. OS facilities such
as pthread_atfork() would need to be used to accomplish the same thing. Additionally, when extending or
embedding Python, calling fork() directly rather than through os.fork() (and returning to or calling into Python)
may result in a deadlock by one of Python’s internal locks being held by a thread that is defunct after the fork.
PyOS_AfterFork_Child() tries to reset the necessary locks, but is not always able to.
The fact that all other threads go away also means that CPython’s runtime state there must be cleaned up properly,
which os.fork() does. This means finalizing all other PyThreadState objects belonging to the current interpreter
and all other PyInterpreterState objects. Due to this and the special nature of the “main” interpreter, fork()

9.5. Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock 197

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

should only be called in that interpreter’s “main” thread, where the CPython global runtime was originally initialized.
The only exception is if exec() will be called immediately after.

9.5.4 High-level API

These are the most commonly used types and functions when writing C extension code, or when embedding the
Python interpreter:
type PyInterpreterState
Part of the Limited API (as an opaque struct). This data structure represents the state shared by a number of
cooperating threads. Threads belonging to the same interpreter share their module administration and a few
other internal items. There are no public members in this structure.
Threads belonging to different interpreters initially share nothing, except process state like available memory,
open file descriptors and such. The global interpreter lock is also shared by all threads, regardless of to which
interpreter they belong.
type PyThreadState
Part of the Limited API (as an opaque struct). This data structure represents the state of a single thread. The
only public data member is:
PyInterpreterState *interp
This thread’s interpreter state.
void PyEval_InitThreads()
Part of the Stable ABI. Deprecated function which does nothing.
In Python 3.6 and older, this function created the GIL if it didn’t exist.
Changed in version 3.9: The function now does nothing.
Changed in version 3.7: This function is now called by Py_Initialize(), so you don’t have to call it yourself
anymore.
Changed in version 3.2: This function cannot be called before Py_Initialize() anymore.
Deprecated since version 3.9.
int PyEval_ThreadsInitialized()
Part of the Stable ABI. Returns a non-zero value if PyEval_InitThreads() has been called. This function
can be called without holding the GIL, and therefore can be used to avoid calls to the locking API when running
single-threaded.
Changed in version 3.7: The GIL is now initialized by Py_Initialize().
Deprecated since version 3.9.
PyThreadState *PyEval_SaveThread()
Part of the Stable ABI. Release the global interpreter lock (if it has been created) and reset the thread state to
NULL, returning the previous thread state (which is not NULL). If the lock has been created, the current thread
must have acquired it.
void PyEval_RestoreThread(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Acquire the global interpreter lock (if it has been created) and set the thread state to
tstate, which must not be NULL. If the lock has been created, the current thread must not have acquired it,
otherwise deadlock ensues.

® Note

Calling this function from a thread when the runtime is finalizing will terminate the thread, even if the
thread was not created by Python. You can use _Py_IsFinalizing() or sys.is_finalizing()
to check if the interpreter is in process of being finalized before calling this function to avoid unwanted
termination.

198 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyThreadState *PyThreadState_Get()
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the current thread state. The global interpreter lock must be held. When the
current thread state is NULL, this issues a fatal error (so that the caller needn’t check for NULL).
PyThreadState *PyThreadState_Swap(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Swap the current thread state with the thread state given by the argument tstate, which
may be NULL. The global interpreter lock must be held and is not released.
The following functions use thread-local storage, and are not compatible with sub-interpreters:
PyGILState_STATE PyGILState_Ensure()
Part of the Stable ABI. Ensure that the current thread is ready to call the Python C API regardless of the
current state of Python, or of the global interpreter lock. This may be called as many times as desired by
a thread as long as each call is matched with a call to PyGILState_Release(). In general, other thread-
related APIs may be used between PyGILState_Ensure() and PyGILState_Release() calls as long
as the thread state is restored to its previous state before the Release(). For example, normal usage of the
Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS and Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS macros is acceptable.

The return value is an opaque “handle” to the thread state when PyGILState_Ensure() was called, and
must be passed to PyGILState_Release() to ensure Python is left in the same state. Even though recursive
calls are allowed, these handles cannot be shared - each unique call to PyGILState_Ensure() must save the
handle for its call to PyGILState_Release().
When the function returns, the current thread will hold the GIL and be able to call arbitrary Python code.
Failure is a fatal error.

® Note

Calling this function from a thread when the runtime is finalizing will terminate the thread, even if the
thread was not created by Python. You can use _Py_IsFinalizing() or sys.is_finalizing()
to check if the interpreter is in process of being finalized before calling this function to avoid unwanted
termination.

void PyGILState_Release(PyGILState_STATE)
Part of the Stable ABI. Release any resources previously acquired. After this call, Python’s state will be the same
as it was prior to the corresponding PyGILState_Ensure() call (but generally this state will be unknown to
the caller, hence the use of the GILState API).
Every call to PyGILState_Ensure() must be matched by a call to PyGILState_Release() on the same
thread.
PyThreadState *PyGILState_GetThisThreadState()
Part of the Stable ABI. Get the current thread state for this thread. May return NULL if no GILState API
has been used on the current thread. Note that the main thread always has such a thread-state, even if no
auto-thread-state call has been made on the main thread. This is mainly a helper/diagnostic function.
int PyGILState_Check()
Return 1 if the current thread is holding the GIL and 0 otherwise. This function can be called from any thread
at any time. Only if it has had its Python thread state initialized and currently is holding the GIL will it return
1. This is mainly a helper/diagnostic function. It can be useful for example in callback contexts or memory
allocation functions when knowing that the GIL is locked can allow the caller to perform sensitive actions or
otherwise behave differently.
Added in version 3.4.
The following macros are normally used without a trailing semicolon; look for example usage in the Python source
distribution.
Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
Part of the Stable ABI. This macro expands to { PyThreadState *_save; _save =

9.5. Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock 199

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyEval_SaveThread();. Note that it contains an opening brace; it must be matched with a follow-
ing Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS macro. See above for further discussion of this macro.
Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
Part of the Stable ABI. This macro expands to PyEval_RestoreThread(_save); }. Note that it contains
a closing brace; it must be matched with an earlier Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS macro. See above for further
discussion of this macro.
Py_BLOCK_THREADS
Part of the Stable ABI. This macro expands to PyEval_RestoreThread(_save);: it is equivalent to
Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS without the closing brace.

Py_UNBLOCK_THREADS
Part of the Stable ABI. This macro expands to _save = PyEval_SaveThread();: it is equivalent to
Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS without the opening brace and variable declaration.

9.5.5 Low-level API

All of the following functions must be called after Py_Initialize().
Changed in version 3.7: Py_Initialize() now initializes the GIL.
PyInterpreterState *PyInterpreterState_New()
Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new interpreter state object. The global interpreter lock need not be held, but
may be held if it is necessary to serialize calls to this function.
Raises an auditing event cpython.PyInterpreterState_New with no arguments.
void PyInterpreterState_Clear(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Part of the Stable ABI. Reset all information in an interpreter state object. The global interpreter lock must be
held.
Raises an auditing event cpython.PyInterpreterState_Clear with no arguments.
void PyInterpreterState_Delete(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Part of the Stable ABI. Destroy an interpreter state object. The global interpreter lock need not be held. The
interpreter state must have been reset with a previous call to PyInterpreterState_Clear().
PyThreadState *PyThreadState_New(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new thread state object belonging to the given interpreter object. The global
interpreter lock need not be held, but may be held if it is necessary to serialize calls to this function.
void PyThreadState_Clear(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Reset all information in a thread state object. The global interpreter lock must be held.
Changed in version 3.9: This function now calls the PyThreadState.on_delete callback. Previously, that
happened in PyThreadState_Delete().
void PyThreadState_Delete(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Destroy a thread state object. The global interpreter lock need not be held. The thread
state must have been reset with a previous call to PyThreadState_Clear().
void PyThreadState_DeleteCurrent(void)
Destroy the current thread state and release the global interpreter lock. Like PyThreadState_Delete(),
the global interpreter lock must be held. The thread state must have been reset with a previous call to
PyThreadState_Clear().

PyFrameObject *PyThreadState_GetFrame(PyThreadState *tstate)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Get the current frame of the Python thread state tstate.
Return a strong reference. Return NULL if no frame is currently executing.
See also PyEval_GetFrame().
tstate must not be NULL.

200 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.9.

uint64_t PyThreadState_GetID(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Get the unique thread state identifier of the Python thread state tstate.
tstate must not be NULL.
Added in version 3.9.
PyInterpreterState *PyThreadState_GetInterpreter(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Get the interpreter of the Python thread state tstate.
tstate must not be NULL.
Added in version 3.9.
void PyThreadState_EnterTracing(PyThreadState *tstate)
Suspend tracing and profiling in the Python thread state tstate.
Resume them using the PyThreadState_LeaveTracing() function.
Added in version 3.11.
void PyThreadState_LeaveTracing(PyThreadState *tstate)
Resume tracing and profiling in the Python thread state tstate suspended by the
PyThreadState_EnterTracing() function.
See also PyEval_SetTrace() and PyEval_SetProfile() functions.
Added in version 3.11.
PyInterpreterState *PyInterpreterState_Get(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Get the current interpreter.
Issue a fatal error if there no current Python thread state or no current interpreter. It cannot return NULL.
The caller must hold the GIL.
Added in version 3.9.
int64_t PyInterpreterState_GetID(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the interpreter’s unique ID. If there was any error in doing so
then -1 is returned and an error is set.
The caller must hold the GIL.
Added in version 3.7.
PyObject *PyInterpreterState_GetDict(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.8. Return a dictionary in which interpreter-specific data may be stored.
If this function returns NULL then no exception has been raised and the caller should assume no interpreter-
specific dict is available.
This is not a replacement for PyModule_GetState(), which extensions should use to store interpreter-
specific state information.
Added in version 3.8.
typedef PyObject *(*_PyFrameEvalFunction)(PyThreadState *tstate, _PyInterpreterFrame *frame, int
throwflag)
Type of a frame evaluation function.
The throwflag parameter is used by the throw() method of generators: if non-zero, handle the current ex-
ception.
Changed in version 3.9: The function now takes a tstate parameter.
Changed in version 3.11: The frame parameter changed from PyFrameObject* to
_PyInterpreterFrame*.

9.5. Thread State and the Global Interpreter Lock 201

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

_PyFrameEvalFunction _PyInterpreterState_GetEvalFrameFunc(PyInterpreterState *interp)

Get the frame evaluation function.
See the PEP 523 “Adding a frame evaluation API to CPython”.
Added in version 3.9.
void _PyInterpreterState_SetEvalFrameFunc(PyInterpreterState *interp, _PyFrameEvalFunction
eval_frame)
Set the frame evaluation function.
See the PEP 523 “Adding a frame evaluation API to CPython”.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyThreadState_GetDict()
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Return a dictionary in which extensions can store
thread-specific state information. Each extension should use a unique key to use to store state in the dictionary.
It is okay to call this function when no current thread state is available. If this function returns NULL, no
exception has been raised and the caller should assume no current thread state is available.
int PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(unsigned long id, PyObject *exc)
Part of the Stable ABI. Asynchronously raise an exception in a thread. The id argument is the thread id of
the target thread; exc is the exception object to be raised. This function does not steal any references to exc.
To prevent naive misuse, you must write your own C extension to call this. Must be called with the GIL held.
Returns the number of thread states modified; this is normally one, but will be zero if the thread id isn’t found.
If exc is NULL, the pending exception (if any) for the thread is cleared. This raises no exceptions.
Changed in version 3.7: The type of the id parameter changed from long to unsigned long.
void PyEval_AcquireThread(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Acquire the global interpreter lock and set the current thread state to tstate, which must
not be NULL. The lock must have been created earlier. If this thread already has the lock, deadlock ensues.

® Note

Calling this function from a thread when the runtime is finalizing will terminate the thread, even if the
thread was not created by Python. You can use _Py_IsFinalizing() or sys.is_finalizing()
to check if the interpreter is in process of being finalized before calling this function to avoid unwanted
termination.

Changed in version 3.8: Updated to be consistent with PyEval_RestoreThread(),

Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS(), and PyGILState_Ensure(), and terminate the current thread if called
while the interpreter is finalizing.
PyEval_RestoreThread() is a higher-level function which is always available (even when threads have not
been initialized).
void PyEval_ReleaseThread(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Reset the current thread state to NULL and release the global interpreter lock. The lock
must have been created earlier and must be held by the current thread. The tstate argument, which must not
be NULL, is only used to check that it represents the current thread state — if it isn’t, a fatal error is reported.
PyEval_SaveThread() is a higher-level function which is always available (even when threads have not
been initialized).
void PyEval_AcquireLock()
Part of the Stable ABI. Acquire the global interpreter lock. The lock must have been created earlier. If this
thread already has the lock, a deadlock ensues.
Deprecated since version 3.2: This function does not update the current thread state. Please use
PyEval_RestoreThread() or PyEval_AcquireThread() instead.

202 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

® Note

Calling this function from a thread when the runtime is finalizing will terminate the thread, even if the
thread was not created by Python. You can use _Py_IsFinalizing() or sys.is_finalizing()
to check if the interpreter is in process of being finalized before calling this function to avoid unwanted
termination.

Changed in version 3.8: Updated to be consistent with PyEval_RestoreThread(),

Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS(), and PyGILState_Ensure(), and terminate the current thread if called
while the interpreter is finalizing.
void PyEval_ReleaseLock()
Part of the Stable ABI. Release the global interpreter lock. The lock must have been created earlier.
Deprecated since version 3.2: This function does not update the current thread state. Please use
PyEval_SaveThread() or PyEval_ReleaseThread() instead.

9.6 Sub-interpreter support

While in most uses, you will only embed a single Python interpreter, there are cases where you need to create several
independent interpreters in the same process and perhaps even in the same thread. Sub-interpreters allow you to do
that.
The “main” interpreter is the first one created when the runtime initializes. It is usually the only Python interpreter in a
process. Unlike sub-interpreters, the main interpreter has unique process-global responsibilities like signal handling.
It is also responsible for execution during runtime initialization and is usually the active interpreter during runtime
finalization. The PyInterpreterState_Main() function returns a pointer to its state.
You can switch between sub-interpreters using the PyThreadState_Swap() function. You can create and destroy
them using the following functions:
type PyInterpreterConfig
Structure containing most parameters to configure a sub-interpreter. Its values are used only in
Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig() and never modified by the runtime.

Added in version 3.12.

Structure fields:
int use_main_obmalloc
If this is 0 then the sub-interpreter will use its own “object” allocator state. Otherwise it will use (share)
the main interpreter’s.
If this is 0 then check_multi_interp_extensions must be 1 (non-zero). If this is 1 then gil must
not be PyInterpreterConfig_OWN_GIL.
int allow_fork
If this is 0 then the runtime will not support forking the process in any thread where the sub-interpreter
is currently active. Otherwise fork is unrestricted.
Note that the subprocess module still works when fork is disallowed.
int allow_exec
If this is 0 then the runtime will not support replacing the current process via exec (e.g. os.execv())
in any thread where the sub-interpreter is currently active. Otherwise exec is unrestricted.
Note that the subprocess module still works when exec is disallowed.
int allow_threads
If this is 0 then the sub-interpreter’s threading module won’t create threads. Otherwise threads are
allowed.

9.6. Sub-interpreter support 203

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int allow_daemon_threads
If this is 0 then the sub-interpreter’s threading module won’t create daemon threads. Otherwise daemon
threads are allowed (as long as allow_threads is non-zero).
int check_multi_interp_extensions
If this is 0 then all extension modules may be imported, including legacy (single-phase init) modules,
in any thread where the sub-interpreter is currently active. Otherwise only multi-phase init extension
modules (see PEP 489) may be imported. (Also see Py_mod_multiple_interpreters.)
This must be 1 (non-zero) if use_main_obmalloc is 0.
int gil
This determines the operation of the GIL for the sub-interpreter. It may be one of the following:
PyInterpreterConfig_DEFAULT_GIL
Use the default selection (PyInterpreterConfig_SHARED_GIL).
PyInterpreterConfig_SHARED_GIL
Use (share) the main interpreter’s GIL.
PyInterpreterConfig_OWN_GIL
Use the sub-interpreter’s own GIL.
If this is PyInterpreterConfig_OWN_GIL then PyInterpreterConfig.use_main_obmalloc
must be 0.
PyStatus Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig(PyThreadState **tstate_p, const PyInterpreterConfig *config)
Create a new sub-interpreter. This is an (almost) totally separate environment for the execution of Python
code. In particular, the new interpreter has separate, independent versions of all imported modules, including
the fundamental modules builtins, __main__ and sys. The table of loaded modules (sys.modules) and
the module search path (sys.path) are also separate. The new environment has no sys.argv variable. It
has new standard I/O stream file objects sys.stdin, sys.stdout and sys.stderr (however these refer
to the same underlying file descriptors).
The given config controls the options with which the interpreter is initialized.
Upon success, tstate_p will be set to the first thread state created in the new sub-interpreter. This thread state
is made in the current thread state. Note that no actual thread is created; see the discussion of thread states
below. If creation of the new interpreter is unsuccessful, tstate_p is set to NULL; no exception is set since the
exception state is stored in the current thread state and there may not be a current thread state.
Like all other Python/C API functions, the global interpreter lock must be held before calling this function
and is still held when it returns. Likewise a current thread state must be set on entry. On success, the returned
thread state will be set as current. If the sub-interpreter is created with its own GIL then the GIL of the calling
interpreter will be released. When the function returns, the new interpreter’s GIL will be held by the current
thread and the previously interpreter’s GIL will remain released here.
Added in version 3.12.
Sub-interpreters are most effective when isolated from each other, with certain functionality restricted:

PyInterpreterConfig config = {
.use_main_obmalloc = 0,
.allow_fork = 0,
.allow_exec = 0,
.allow_threads = 1,
.allow_daemon_threads = 0,
.check_multi_interp_extensions = 1,
.gil = PyInterpreterConfig_OWN_GIL,
};
PyThreadState *tstate = NULL;
PyStatus status = Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig(&tstate, &config);
(continues on next page)

204 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}

Note that the config is used only briefly and does not get modified. During initialization the config’s values are
converted into various PyInterpreterState values. A read-only copy of the config may be stored internally
on the PyInterpreterState.
Extension modules are shared between (sub-)interpreters as follows:
• For modules using multi-phase initialization, e.g. PyModule_FromDefAndSpec(), a separate module
object is created and initialized for each interpreter. Only C-level static and global variables are shared
between these module objects.
• For modules using single-phase initialization, e.g. PyModule_Create(), the first time a particular ex-
tension is imported, it is initialized normally, and a (shallow) copy of its module’s dictionary is squirreled
away. When the same extension is imported by another (sub-)interpreter, a new module is initialized and
filled with the contents of this copy; the extension’s init function is not called. Objects in the module’s
dictionary thus end up shared across (sub-)interpreters, which might cause unwanted behavior (see Bugs
and caveats below).
Note that this is different from what happens when an extension is imported after the interpreter has
been completely re-initialized by calling Py_FinalizeEx() and Py_Initialize(); in that case, the
extension’s initmodule function is called again. As with multi-phase initialization, this means that only
C-level static and global variables are shared between these modules.
PyThreadState *Py_NewInterpreter(void)
Part of the Stable ABI. Create a new sub-interpreter. This is essentially just a wrapper around
Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig() with a config that preserves the existing behavior. The result is an
unisolated sub-interpreter that shares the main interpreter’s GIL, allows fork/exec, allows daemon threads, and
allows single-phase init modules.
void Py_EndInterpreter(PyThreadState *tstate)
Part of the Stable ABI. Destroy the (sub-)interpreter represented by the given thread state. The given thread
state must be the current thread state. See the discussion of thread states below. When the call returns,
the current thread state is NULL. All thread states associated with this interpreter are destroyed. The global
interpreter lock used by the target interpreter must be held before calling this function. No GIL is held when
it returns.
Py_FinalizeEx() will destroy all sub-interpreters that haven’t been explicitly destroyed at that point.

9.6.1 A Per-Interpreter GIL

Using Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig() you can create a sub-interpreter that is completely isolated from other
interpreters, including having its own GIL. The most important benefit of this isolation is that such an interpreter
can execute Python code without being blocked by other interpreters or blocking any others. Thus a single Python
process can truly take advantage of multiple CPU cores when running Python code. The isolation also encourages a
different approach to concurrency than that of just using threads. (See PEP 554.)
Using an isolated interpreter requires vigilance in preserving that isolation. That especially means not sharing any
objects or mutable state without guarantees about thread-safety. Even objects that are otherwise immutable (e.g.
None, (1, 5)) can’t normally be shared because of the refcount. One simple but less-efficient approach around
this is to use a global lock around all use of some state (or object). Alternately, effectively immutable objects (like
integers or strings) can be made safe in spite of their refcounts by making them “immortal”. In fact, this has been
done for the builtin singletons, small integers, and a number of other builtin objects.
If you preserve isolation then you will have access to proper multi-core computing without the complications that
come with free-threading. Failure to preserve isolation will expose you to the full consequences of free-threading,
including races and hard-to-debug crashes.
Aside from that, one of the main challenges of using multiple isolated interpreters is how to communicate between
them safely (not break isolation) and efficiently. The runtime and stdlib do not provide any standard approach to

9.6. Sub-interpreter support 205

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

this yet. A future stdlib module would help mitigate the effort of preserving isolation and expose effective tools for
communicating (and sharing) data between interpreters.
Added in version 3.12.

9.6.2 Bugs and caveats

Because sub-interpreters (and the main interpreter) are part of the same process, the insulation between them isn’t
perfect — for example, using low-level file operations like os.close() they can (accidentally or maliciously) affect
each other’s open files. Because of the way extensions are shared between (sub-)interpreters, some extensions may not
work properly; this is especially likely when using single-phase initialization or (static) global variables. It is possible
to insert objects created in one sub-interpreter into a namespace of another (sub-)interpreter; this should be avoided
if possible.
Special care should be taken to avoid sharing user-defined functions, methods, instances or classes between sub-
interpreters, since import operations executed by such objects may affect the wrong (sub-)interpreter’s dictionary of
loaded modules. It is equally important to avoid sharing objects from which the above are reachable.
Also note that combining this functionality with PyGILState_* APIs is delicate, because these APIs assume a bijec-
tion between Python thread states and OS-level threads, an assumption broken by the presence of sub-interpreters. It
is highly recommended that you don’t switch sub-interpreters between a pair of matching PyGILState_Ensure()
and PyGILState_Release() calls. Furthermore, extensions (such as ctypes) using these APIs to allow calling
of Python code from non-Python created threads will probably be broken when using sub-interpreters.

9.7 Asynchronous Notifications

A mechanism is provided to make asynchronous notifications to the main interpreter thread. These notifications take
the form of a function pointer and a void pointer argument.
int Py_AddPendingCall(int (*func)(void*), void *arg)
Part of the Stable ABI. Schedule a function to be called from the main interpreter thread. On success, 0 is
returned and func is queued for being called in the main thread. On failure, -1 is returned without setting any
exception.
When successfully queued, func will be eventually called from the main interpreter thread with the argument
arg. It will be called asynchronously with respect to normally running Python code, but with both these con-
ditions met:
• on a bytecode boundary;
• with the main thread holding the global interpreter lock (func can therefore use the full C API).
func must return 0 on success, or -1 on failure with an exception set. func won’t be interrupted to perform
another asynchronous notification recursively, but it can still be interrupted to switch threads if the global
interpreter lock is released.
This function doesn’t need a current thread state to run, and it doesn’t need the global interpreter lock.
To call this function in a subinterpreter, the caller must hold the GIL. Otherwise, the function func can be
scheduled to be called from the wrong interpreter.

Á Warning

This is a low-level function, only useful for very special cases. There is no guarantee that func will be
called as quick as possible. If the main thread is busy executing a system call, func won’t be called before
the system call returns. This function is generally not suitable for calling Python code from arbitrary C
threads. Instead, use the PyGILState API.

Added in version 3.1.

206 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.9: If this function is called in a subinterpreter, the function func is now scheduled to be
called from the subinterpreter, rather than being called from the main interpreter. Each subinterpreter now has
its own list of scheduled calls.

9.8 Profiling and Tracing

The Python interpreter provides some low-level support for attaching profiling and execution tracing facilities. These
are used for profiling, debugging, and coverage analysis tools.
This C interface allows the profiling or tracing code to avoid the overhead of calling through Python-level callable
objects, making a direct C function call instead. The essential attributes of the facility have not changed; the interface
allows trace functions to be installed per-thread, and the basic events reported to the trace function are the same as
had been reported to the Python-level trace functions in previous versions.
typedef int (*Py_tracefunc)(PyObject *obj, PyFrameObject *frame, int what, PyObject *arg)
The type of the trace function registered using PyEval_SetProfile() and PyEval_SetTrace().
The first parameter is the object passed to the registration function as obj, frame is the frame ob-
ject to which the event pertains, what is one of the constants PyTrace_CALL, PyTrace_EXCEPTION ,
PyTrace_LINE, PyTrace_RETURN , PyTrace_C_CALL, PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION , PyTrace_C_RETURN ,
or PyTrace_OPCODE, and arg depends on the value of what:

Value of what Meaning of arg

PyTrace_CALL Always Py_None.
PyTrace_EXCEPTION Exception information as returned by sys.exc_info().
PyTrace_LINE Always Py_None.
PyTrace_RETURN Value being returned to the caller, or NULL if caused by an exception.
PyTrace_C_CALL Function object being called.
PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION Function object being called.
PyTrace_C_RETURN Function object being called.
PyTrace_OPCODE Always Py_None.

int PyTrace_CALL
The value of the what parameter to a Py_tracefunc function when a new call to a function or method is
being reported, or a new entry into a generator. Note that the creation of the iterator for a generator function
is not reported as there is no control transfer to the Python bytecode in the corresponding frame.
int PyTrace_EXCEPTION
The value of the what parameter to a Py_tracefunc function when an exception has been raised. The
callback function is called with this value for what when after any bytecode is processed after which the
exception becomes set within the frame being executed. The effect of this is that as exception propagation
causes the Python stack to unwind, the callback is called upon return to each frame as the exception propagates.
Only trace functions receives these events; they are not needed by the profiler.
int PyTrace_LINE
The value passed as the what parameter to a Py_tracefunc function (but not a profiling function) when a
line-number event is being reported. It may be disabled for a frame by setting f_trace_lines to 0 on that
frame.
int PyTrace_RETURN
The value for the what parameter to Py_tracefunc functions when a call is about to return.
int PyTrace_C_CALL
The value for the what parameter to Py_tracefunc functions when a C function is about to be called.
int PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION
The value for the what parameter to Py_tracefunc functions when a C function has raised an exception.

9.8. Profiling and Tracing 207

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyTrace_C_RETURN
The value for the what parameter to Py_tracefunc functions when a C function has returned.
int PyTrace_OPCODE
The value for the what parameter to Py_tracefunc functions (but not profiling functions) when a new op-
code is about to be executed. This event is not emitted by default: it must be explicitly requested by setting
f_trace_opcodes to 1 on the frame.
void PyEval_SetProfile(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *obj)
Set the profiler function to func. The obj parameter is passed to the function as its first parameter, and may
be any Python object, or NULL. If the profile function needs to maintain state, using a different value for obj
for each thread provides a convenient and thread-safe place to store it. The profile function is called for all
monitored events except PyTrace_LINE PyTrace_OPCODE and PyTrace_EXCEPTION .
See also the sys.setprofile() function.
The caller must hold the GIL.
void PyEval_SetProfileAllThreads(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *obj)
Like PyEval_SetProfile() but sets the profile function in all running threads belonging to the current
interpreter instead of the setting it only on the current thread.
The caller must hold the GIL.
As PyEval_SetProfile(), this function ignores any exceptions raised while setting the profile functions in
all threads.
Added in version 3.12.
void PyEval_SetTrace(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *obj)
Set the tracing function to func. This is similar to PyEval_SetProfile(), except the tracing function does
receive line-number events and per-opcode events, but does not receive any event related to C function objects
being called. Any trace function registered using PyEval_SetTrace() will not receive PyTrace_C_CALL,
PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION or PyTrace_C_RETURN as a value for the what parameter.

See also the sys.settrace() function.

The caller must hold the GIL.
void PyEval_SetTraceAllThreads(Py_tracefunc func, PyObject *obj)
Like PyEval_SetTrace() but sets the tracing function in all running threads belonging to the current inter-
preter instead of the setting it only on the current thread.
The caller must hold the GIL.
As PyEval_SetTrace(), this function ignores any exceptions raised while setting the trace functions in all
threads.
Added in version 3.12.

9.9 Advanced Debugger Support

These functions are only intended to be used by advanced debugging tools.
PyInterpreterState *PyInterpreterState_Head()
Return the interpreter state object at the head of the list of all such objects.
PyInterpreterState *PyInterpreterState_Main()
Return the main interpreter state object.
PyInterpreterState *PyInterpreterState_Next(PyInterpreterState *interp)
Return the next interpreter state object after interp from the list of all such objects.

208 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyThreadState *PyInterpreterState_ThreadHead(PyInterpreterState *interp)

Return the pointer to the first PyThreadState object in the list of threads associated with the interpreter
interp.
PyThreadState *PyThreadState_Next(PyThreadState *tstate)
Return the next thread state object after tstate from the list of all such objects belonging to the same
PyInterpreterState object.

9.10 Thread Local Storage Support

The Python interpreter provides low-level support for thread-local storage (TLS) which wraps the underlying native
TLS implementation to support the Python-level thread local storage API (threading.local). The CPython C
level APIs are similar to those offered by pthreads and Windows: use a thread key and functions to associate a void*
value per thread.
The GIL does not need to be held when calling these functions; they supply their own locking.
Note that Python.h does not include the declaration of the TLS APIs, you need to include pythread.h to use
thread-local storage.

® Note

None of these API functions handle memory management on behalf of the void* values. You need to allocate
and deallocate them yourself. If the void* values happen to be PyObject*, these functions don’t do refcount
operations on them either.

9.10.1 Thread Specific Storage (TSS) API

TSS API is introduced to supersede the use of the existing TLS API within the CPython interpreter. This API uses
a new type Py_tss_t instead of int to represent thread keys.
Added in version 3.7.

µ See also

“A New C-API for Thread-Local Storage in CPython” (PEP 539)

type Py_tss_t
This data structure represents the state of a thread key, the definition of which may depend on the underlying
TLS implementation, and it has an internal field representing the key’s initialization state. There are no public
members in this structure.
When Py_LIMITED_API is not defined, static allocation of this type by Py_tss_NEEDS_INIT is allowed.
Py_tss_NEEDS_INIT
This macro expands to the initializer for Py_tss_t variables. Note that this macro won’t be defined with
Py_LIMITED_API.

Dynamic Allocation
Dynamic allocation of the Py_tss_t, required in extension modules built with Py_LIMITED_API, where static
allocation of this type is not possible due to its implementation being opaque at build time.
Py_tss_t *PyThread_tss_alloc()
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a value which is the same state as a value initialized with
Py_tss_NEEDS_INIT , or NULL in the case of dynamic allocation failure.

9.10. Thread Local Storage Support 209

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyThread_tss_free(Py_tss_t *key)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Free the given key allocated by PyThread_tss_alloc(), after first
calling PyThread_tss_delete() to ensure any associated thread locals have been unassigned. This is a
no-op if the key argument is NULL.

® Note

A freed key becomes a dangling pointer. You should reset the key to NULL.

Methods
The parameter key of these functions must not be NULL. Moreover, the behaviors of PyThread_tss_set()
and PyThread_tss_get() are undefined if the given Py_tss_t has not been initialized by
PyThread_tss_create().

int PyThread_tss_is_created(Py_tss_t *key)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a non-zero value if the given Py_tss_t has been initialized
by PyThread_tss_create().
int PyThread_tss_create(Py_tss_t *key)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a zero value on successful initialization of a TSS key. The
behavior is undefined if the value pointed to by the key argument is not initialized by Py_tss_NEEDS_INIT .
This function can be called repeatedly on the same key – calling it on an already initialized key is a no-op and
immediately returns success.
void PyThread_tss_delete(Py_tss_t *key)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Destroy a TSS key to forget the values associated with the key across
all threads, and change the key’s initialization state to uninitialized. A destroyed key is able to be initialized
again by PyThread_tss_create(). This function can be called repeatedly on the same key – calling it on
an already destroyed key is a no-op.
int PyThread_tss_set(Py_tss_t *key, void *value)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return a zero value to indicate successfully associating a void* value
with a TSS key in the current thread. Each thread has a distinct mapping of the key to a void* value.
void *PyThread_tss_get(Py_tss_t *key)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Return the void* value associated with a TSS key in the current
thread. This returns NULL if no value is associated with the key in the current thread.

9.10.2 Thread Local Storage (TLS) API

Deprecated since version 3.7: This API is superseded by Thread Specific Storage (TSS) API.

® Note

This version of the API does not support platforms where the native TLS key is defined in a way that cannot be
safely cast to int. On such platforms, PyThread_create_key() will return immediately with a failure status,
and the other TLS functions will all be no-ops on such platforms.

Due to the compatibility problem noted above, this version of the API should not be used in new code.
int PyThread_create_key()
Part of the Stable ABI.
void PyThread_delete_key(int key)
Part of the Stable ABI.

210 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int PyThread_set_key_value(int key, void *value)

Part of the Stable ABI.
void *PyThread_get_key_value(int key)
Part of the Stable ABI.
void PyThread_delete_key_value(int key)
Part of the Stable ABI.
void PyThread_ReInitTLS()
Part of the Stable ABI.

9.10. Thread Local Storage Support 211

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

212 Chapter 9. Initialization, Finalization, and Threads

 CHAPTER

TEN

PYTHON INITIALIZATION CONFIGURATION

Added in version 3.8.

Python can be initialized with Py_InitializeFromConfig() and the PyConfig structure. It can be preinitialized
with Py_PreInitialize() and the PyPreConfig structure.
There are two kinds of configuration:
• The Python Configuration can be used to build a customized Python which behaves as the regular Python. For
example, environment variables and command line arguments are used to configure Python.
• The Isolated Configuration can be used to embed Python into an application. It isolates Python from the system.
For example, environment variables are ignored, the LC_CTYPE locale is left unchanged and no signal handler
is registered.
The Py_RunMain() function can be used to write a customized Python program.
See also Initialization, Finalization, and Threads.

µ See also

PEP 587 “Python Initialization Configuration”.

10.1 Example
Example of customized Python always running in isolated mode:

int main(int argc, char **argv)

{
PyStatus status;

PyConfig config;
PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(&config);
config.isolated = 1;

/* Decode command line arguments.

Implicitly preinitialize Python (in isolated mode). */
status = PyConfig_SetBytesArgv(&config, argc, argv);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto exception;
}

status = Py_InitializeFromConfig(&config);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto exception;
}
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
(continues on next page)

213
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

return Py_RunMain();

exception:
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
if (PyStatus_IsExit(status)) {
return status.exitcode;
}
/* Display the error message and exit the process with
non-zero exit code */
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}

10.2 PyWideStringList
type PyWideStringList
List of wchar_t* strings.
If length is non-zero, items must be non-NULL and all strings must be non-NULL.
Methods:
PyStatus PyWideStringList_Append(PyWideStringList *list, const wchar_t *item)
Append item to list.
Python must be preinitialized to call this function.
PyStatus PyWideStringList_Insert(PyWideStringList *list, Py_ssize_t index, const wchar_t *item)
Insert item into list at index.
If index is greater than or equal to list length, append item to list.
index must be greater than or equal to 0.
Python must be preinitialized to call this function.
Structure fields:
Py_ssize_t length
List length.
wchar_t **items
List items.

10.3 PyStatus
type PyStatus
Structure to store an initialization function status: success, error or exit.
For an error, it can store the C function name which created the error.
Structure fields:
int exitcode
Exit code. Argument passed to exit().
const char *err_msg
Error message.

214 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

const char *func

Name of the function which created an error, can be NULL.
Functions to create a status:
PyStatus PyStatus_Ok(void)
Success.
PyStatus PyStatus_Error(const char *err_msg)
Initialization error with a message.
err_msg must not be NULL.
PyStatus PyStatus_NoMemory(void)
Memory allocation failure (out of memory).
PyStatus PyStatus_Exit(int exitcode)
Exit Python with the specified exit code.
Functions to handle a status:
int PyStatus_Exception(PyStatus status)
Is the status an error or an exit? If true, the exception must be handled; by calling
Py_ExitStatusException() for example.

int PyStatus_IsError(PyStatus status)

Is the result an error?
int PyStatus_IsExit(PyStatus status)
Is the result an exit?
void Py_ExitStatusException(PyStatus status)
Call exit(exitcode) if status is an exit. Print the error message and exit with a non-zero exit code if
status is an error. Must only be called if PyStatus_Exception(status) is non-zero.

® Note

Internally, Python uses macros which set PyStatus.func, whereas functions to create a status set func to
NULL.

Example:

PyStatus alloc(void **ptr, size_t size)

{
*ptr = PyMem_RawMalloc(size);
if (*ptr == NULL) {
return PyStatus_NoMemory();
}
return PyStatus_Ok();
}

int main(int argc, char **argv)

{
void *ptr;
PyStatus status = alloc(&ptr, 16);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}
PyMem_Free(ptr);
return 0;
}

10.3. PyStatus 215

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

10.4 PyPreConfig
type PyPreConfig
Structure used to preinitialize Python.
Function to initialize a preconfiguration:
void PyPreConfig_InitPythonConfig(PyPreConfig *preconfig)
Initialize the preconfiguration with Python Configuration.
void PyPreConfig_InitIsolatedConfig(PyPreConfig *preconfig)
Initialize the preconfiguration with Isolated Configuration.
Structure fields:
int allocator
Name of the Python memory allocators:
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_NOT_SET (0): don’t change memory allocators (use defaults).
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_DEFAULT (1): default memory allocators.
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_DEBUG (2): default memory allocators with debug hooks.
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_MALLOC (3): use malloc() of the C library.
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_MALLOC_DEBUG (4): force usage of malloc() with debug hooks.
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_PYMALLOC (5): Python pymalloc memory allocator.
• PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_PYMALLOC_DEBUG (6): Python pymalloc memory allocator with debug hooks.
PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_PYMALLOC and PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_PYMALLOC_DEBUG are not supported if
Python is configured using --without-pymalloc.
See Memory Management.
Default: PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_NOT_SET.
int configure_locale
Set the LC_CTYPE locale to the user preferred locale.
If equals to 0, set coerce_c_locale and coerce_c_locale_warn members to 0.
See the locale encoding.
Default: 1 in Python config, 0 in isolated config.
int coerce_c_locale
If equals to 2, coerce the C locale.
If equals to 1, read the LC_CTYPE locale to decide if it should be coerced.
See the locale encoding.
Default: -1 in Python config, 0 in isolated config.
int coerce_c_locale_warn
If non-zero, emit a warning if the C locale is coerced.
Default: -1 in Python config, 0 in isolated config.
int dev_mode
Python Development Mode: see PyConfig.dev_mode.
Default: -1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.

216 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int isolated
Isolated mode: see PyConfig.isolated.
Default: 0 in Python mode, 1 in isolated mode.
int legacy_windows_fs_encoding
If non-zero:
• Set PyPreConfig.utf8_mode to 0,
• Set PyConfig.filesystem_encoding to "mbcs",
• Set PyConfig.filesystem_errors to "replace".
Initialized from the PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING environment variable value.
Only available on Windows. #ifdef MS_WINDOWS macro can be used for Windows specific code.
Default: 0.
int parse_argv
If non-zero, Py_PreInitializeFromArgs() and Py_PreInitializeFromBytesArgs() parse
their argv argument the same way the regular Python parses command line arguments: see Command
Line Arguments.
Default: 1 in Python config, 0 in isolated config.
int use_environment
Use environment variables? See PyConfig.use_environment.
Default: 1 in Python config and 0 in isolated config.
int utf8_mode
If non-zero, enable the Python UTF-8 Mode.
Set to 0 or 1 by the -X utf8 command line option and the PYTHONUTF8 environment variable.
Also set to 1 if the LC_CTYPE locale is C or POSIX.
Default: -1 in Python config and 0 in isolated config.

10.5 Preinitialize Python with PyPreConfig

The preinitialization of Python:
• Set the Python memory allocators (PyPreConfig.allocator)
• Configure the LC_CTYPE locale (locale encoding)
• Set the Python UTF-8 Mode (PyPreConfig.utf8_mode)
The current preconfiguration (PyPreConfig type) is stored in _PyRuntime.preconfig.
Functions to preinitialize Python:
PyStatus Py_PreInitialize(const PyPreConfig *preconfig)
Preinitialize Python from preconfig preconfiguration.
preconfig must not be NULL.
PyStatus Py_PreInitializeFromBytesArgs(const PyPreConfig *preconfig, int argc, char *const *argv)
Preinitialize Python from preconfig preconfiguration.
Parse argv command line arguments (bytes strings) if parse_argv of preconfig is non-zero.
preconfig must not be NULL.

10.5. Preinitialize Python with PyPreConfig 217

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyStatus Py_PreInitializeFromArgs(const PyPreConfig *preconfig, int argc, wchar_t *const *argv)

Preinitialize Python from preconfig preconfiguration.
Parse argv command line arguments (wide strings) if parse_argv of preconfig is non-zero.
preconfig must not be NULL.
The caller is responsible to handle exceptions (error or exit) using PyStatus_Exception() and
Py_ExitStatusException().

For Python Configuration (PyPreConfig_InitPythonConfig()), if Python is initialized with command line

arguments, the command line arguments must also be passed to preinitialize Python, since they have an effect on the
pre-configuration like encodings. For example, the -X utf8 command line option enables the Python UTF-8 Mode.
PyMem_SetAllocator() can be called after Py_PreInitialize() and before
Py_InitializeFromConfig() to install a custom memory allocator. It can be called before
Py_PreInitialize() if PyPreConfig.allocator is set to PYMEM_ALLOCATOR_NOT_SET.

Python memory allocation functions like PyMem_RawMalloc() must not be used before the Python preinitialization,
whereas calling directly malloc() and free() is always safe. Py_DecodeLocale() must not be called before
the Python preinitialization.
Example using the preinitialization to enable the Python UTF-8 Mode:

PyStatus status;
PyPreConfig preconfig;
PyPreConfig_InitPythonConfig(&preconfig);

preconfig.utf8_mode = 1;

status = Py_PreInitialize(&preconfig);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}

/* at this point, Python speaks UTF-8 */

Py_Initialize();
/* ... use Python API here ... */
Py_Finalize();

10.6 PyConfig
type PyConfig
Structure containing most parameters to configure Python.
When done, the PyConfig_Clear() function must be used to release the configuration memory.
Structure methods:
void PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(PyConfig *config)
Initialize configuration with the Python Configuration.
void PyConfig_InitIsolatedConfig(PyConfig *config)
Initialize configuration with the Isolated Configuration.
PyStatus PyConfig_SetString(PyConfig *config, wchar_t *const *config_str, const wchar_t *str)
Copy the wide character string str into *config_str.
Preinitialize Python if needed.

218 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyStatus PyConfig_SetBytesString(PyConfig *config, wchar_t *const *config_str, const char *str)

Decode str using Py_DecodeLocale() and set the result into *config_str.
Preinitialize Python if needed.
PyStatus PyConfig_SetArgv(PyConfig *config, int argc, wchar_t *const *argv)
Set command line arguments (argv member of config) from the argv list of wide character strings.
Preinitialize Python if needed.
PyStatus PyConfig_SetBytesArgv(PyConfig *config, int argc, char *const *argv)
Set command line arguments (argv member of config) from the argv list of bytes strings. Decode bytes
using Py_DecodeLocale().
Preinitialize Python if needed.
PyStatus PyConfig_SetWideStringList(PyConfig *config, PyWideStringList *list, Py_ssize_t length,
wchar_t **items)
Set the list of wide strings list to length and items.
Preinitialize Python if needed.
PyStatus PyConfig_Read(PyConfig *config)
Read all Python configuration.
Fields which are already initialized are left unchanged.
Fields for path configuration are no longer calculated or modified when calling this function, as of Python
3.11.
The PyConfig_Read() function only parses PyConfig.argv arguments once: PyConfig.
parse_argv is set to 2 after arguments are parsed. Since Python arguments are stripped from
PyConfig.argv , parsing arguments twice would parse the application options as Python options.

Preinitialize Python if needed.

Changed in version 3.10: The PyConfig.argv arguments are now only parsed once, PyConfig.
parse_argv is set to 2 after arguments are parsed, and arguments are only parsed if PyConfig.
parse_argv equals 1.
Changed in version 3.11: PyConfig_Read() no longer calculates all paths, and so fields listed under
Python Path Configuration may no longer be updated until Py_InitializeFromConfig() is called.
void PyConfig_Clear(PyConfig *config)
Release configuration memory.
Most PyConfig methods preinitialize Python if needed. In that case, the Python preinitialization configuration
(PyPreConfig ) in based on the PyConfig . If configuration fields which are in common with PyPreConfig
are tuned, they must be set before calling a PyConfig method:
• PyConfig.dev_mode
• PyConfig.isolated
• PyConfig.parse_argv
• PyConfig.use_environment
Moreover, if PyConfig_SetArgv() or PyConfig_SetBytesArgv() is used, this method must be called
before other methods, since the preinitialization configuration depends on command line arguments (if
parse_argv is non-zero).

The caller of these methods is responsible to handle exceptions (error or exit) using PyStatus_Exception()
and Py_ExitStatusException().
Structure fields:

10.6. PyConfig 219

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyWideStringList argv
Command line arguments: sys.argv.
Set parse_argv to 1 to parse argv the same way the regular Python parses Python command line
arguments and then to strip Python arguments from argv .
If argv is empty, an empty string is added to ensure that sys.argv always exists and is never empty.
Default: NULL.
See also the orig_argv member.
int safe_path
If equals to zero, Py_RunMain() prepends a potentially unsafe path to sys.path at startup:
• If argv[0] is equal to L"-m" (python -m module), prepend the current working directory.
• If running a script (python script.py), prepend the script’s directory. If it’s a symbolic link,
resolve symbolic links.
• Otherwise (python -c code and python), prepend an empty string, which means the current
working directory.
Set to 1 by the -P command line option and the PYTHONSAFEPATH environment variable.
Default: 0 in Python config, 1 in isolated config.
Added in version 3.11.
wchar_t *base_exec_prefix
sys.base_exec_prefix.

Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.
wchar_t *base_executable
Python base executable: sys._base_executable.
Set by the __PYVENV_LAUNCHER__ environment variable.
Set from PyConfig.executable if NULL.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.
wchar_t *base_prefix
sys.base_prefix.

Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.
int buffered_stdio
If equals to 0 and configure_c_stdio is non-zero, disable buffering on the C streams stdout and
stderr.
Set to 0 by the -u command line option and the PYTHONUNBUFFERED environment variable.
stdin is always opened in buffered mode.
Default: 1.
int bytes_warning
If equals to 1, issue a warning when comparing bytes or bytearray with str, or comparing bytes
with int.
If equal or greater to 2, raise a BytesWarning exception in these cases.
Incremented by the -b command line option.

220 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Default: 0.
int warn_default_encoding
If non-zero, emit a EncodingWarning warning when io.TextIOWrapper uses its default encoding.
See io-encoding-warning for details.
Default: 0.
Added in version 3.10.
int code_debug_ranges
If equals to 0, disables the inclusion of the end line and column mappings in code objects. Also disables
traceback printing carets to specific error locations.
Set to 0 by the PYTHONNODEBUGRANGES environment variable and by the -X no_debug_ranges com-
mand line option.
Default: 1.
Added in version 3.11.
wchar_t *check_hash_pycs_mode
Control the validation behavior of hash-based .pyc files: value of the --check-hash-based-pycs
command line option.
Valid values:
• L"always": Hash the source file for invalidation regardless of value of the ‘check_source’ flag.
• L"never": Assume that hash-based pycs always are valid.
• L"default": The ‘check_source’ flag in hash-based pycs determines invalidation.
Default: L"default".
See also PEP 552 “Deterministic pycs”.
int configure_c_stdio
If non-zero, configure C standard streams:
• On Windows, set the binary mode (O_BINARY) on stdin, stdout and stderr.
• If buffered_stdio equals zero, disable buffering of stdin, stdout and stderr streams.
• If interactive is non-zero, enable stream buffering on stdin and stdout (only stdout on Windows).
Default: 1 in Python config, 0 in isolated config.
int dev_mode
If non-zero, enable the Python Development Mode.
Set to 1 by the -X dev option and the PYTHONDEVMODE environment variable.
Default: -1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
int dump_refs
Dump Python references?
If non-zero, dump all objects which are still alive at exit.
Set to 1 by the PYTHONDUMPREFS environment variable.
Need a special build of Python with the Py_TRACE_REFS macro defined: see the configure
--with-trace-refs option.

Default: 0.

10.6. PyConfig 221

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

wchar_t *exec_prefix
The site-specific directory prefix where the platform-dependent Python files are installed: sys.
exec_prefix.

Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.
wchar_t *executable
The absolute path of the executable binary for the Python interpreter: sys.executable.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.
int faulthandler
Enable faulthandler?
If non-zero, call faulthandler.enable() at startup.
Set to 1 by -X faulthandler and the PYTHONFAULTHANDLER environment variable.
Default: -1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
wchar_t *filesystem_encoding
Filesystem encoding: sys.getfilesystemencoding().
On macOS, Android and VxWorks: use "utf-8" by default.
On Windows: use "utf-8" by default, or "mbcs" if legacy_windows_fs_encoding of
PyPreConfig is non-zero.

Default encoding on other platforms:

• "utf-8" if PyPreConfig.utf8_mode is non-zero.
• "ascii" if Python detects that nl_langinfo(CODESET) announces the ASCII encoding,
whereas the mbstowcs() function decodes from a different encoding (usually Latin1).
• "utf-8" if nl_langinfo(CODESET) returns an empty string.
• Otherwise, use the locale encoding: nl_langinfo(CODESET) result.
At Python startup, the encoding name is normalized to the Python codec name. For example, "ANSI_X3.
4-1968" is replaced with "ascii".
See also the filesystem_errors member.
wchar_t *filesystem_errors
Filesystem error handler: sys.getfilesystemencodeerrors().
On Windows: use "surrogatepass" by default, or "replace" if legacy_windows_fs_encoding
of PyPreConfig is non-zero.
On other platforms: use "surrogateescape" by default.
Supported error handlers:
• "strict"
• "surrogateescape"
• "surrogatepass" (only supported with the UTF-8 encoding)
See also the filesystem_encoding member.
unsigned long hash_seed

222 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int use_hash_seed
Randomized hash function seed.
If use_hash_seed is zero, a seed is chosen randomly at Python startup, and hash_seed is ignored.
Set by the PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable.
Default use_hash_seed value: -1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
wchar_t *home
Python home directory.
If Py_SetPythonHome() has been called, use its argument if it is not NULL.
Set by the PYTHONHOME environment variable.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration input.
int import_time
If non-zero, profile import time.
Set the 1 by the -X importtime option and the PYTHONPROFILEIMPORTTIME environment variable.
Default: 0.
int inspect
Enter interactive mode after executing a script or a command.
If greater than 0, enable inspect: when a script is passed as first argument or the -c option is used, enter
interactive mode after executing the script or the command, even when sys.stdin does not appear to
be a terminal.
Incremented by the -i command line option. Set to 1 if the PYTHONINSPECT environment variable is
non-empty.
Default: 0.
int install_signal_handlers
Install Python signal handlers?
Default: 1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
int interactive
If greater than 0, enable the interactive mode (REPL).
Incremented by the -i command line option.
Default: 0.
int int_max_str_digits
Configures the integer string conversion length limitation. An initial value of -1 means the value
will be taken from the command line or environment or otherwise default to 4300 (sys.int_info.
default_max_str_digits). A value of 0 disables the limitation. Values greater than zero but less
than 640 (sys.int_info.str_digits_check_threshold) are unsupported and will produce an
error.
Configured by the -X int_max_str_digits command line flag or the PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS
environment variable.
Default: -1 in Python mode. 4300 (sys.int_info.default_max_str_digits) in isolated mode.
Added in version 3.12.
int isolated
If greater than 0, enable isolated mode:

10.6. PyConfig 223

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• Set safe_path to 1: don’t prepend a potentially unsafe path to sys.path at Python startup, such
as the current directory, the script’s directory or an empty string.
• Set use_environment to 0: ignore PYTHON environment variables.
• Set user_site_directory to 0: don’t add the user site directory to sys.path.
• Python REPL doesn’t import readline nor enable default readline configuration on interactive
prompts.
Set to 1 by the -I command line option.
Default: 0 in Python mode, 1 in isolated mode.
See also the Isolated Configuration and PyPreConfig.isolated.
int legacy_windows_stdio
If non-zero, use io.FileIO instead of io._WindowsConsoleIO for sys.stdin, sys.stdout and
sys.stderr.

Set to 1 if the PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO environment variable is set to a non-empty string.

Only available on Windows. #ifdef MS_WINDOWS macro can be used for Windows specific code.
Default: 0.
See also the PEP 528 (Change Windows console encoding to UTF-8).
int malloc_stats
If non-zero, dump statistics on Python pymalloc memory allocator at exit.
Set to 1 by the PYTHONMALLOCSTATS environment variable.
The option is ignored if Python is configured using the --without-pymalloc option.
Default: 0.
wchar_t *platlibdir
Platform library directory name: sys.platlibdir.
Set by the PYTHONPLATLIBDIR environment variable.
Default: value of the PLATLIBDIR macro which is set by the configure --with-platlibdir
option (default: "lib", or "DLLs" on Windows).
Part of the Python Path Configuration input.
Added in version 3.9.
Changed in version 3.11: This macro is now used on Windows to locate the standard library extension
modules, typically under DLLs. However, for compatibility, note that this value is ignored for any non-
standard layouts, including in-tree builds and virtual environments.
wchar_t *pythonpath_env
Module search paths (sys.path) as a string separated by DELIM (os.pathsep).
Set by the PYTHONPATH environment variable.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration input.
PyWideStringList module_search_paths

int module_search_paths_set
Module search paths: sys.path.
If module_search_paths_set is equal to 0, Py_InitializeFromConfig() will replace
module_search_paths and sets module_search_paths_set to 1.

Default: empty list (module_search_paths) and 0 (module_search_paths_set).

224 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Part of the Python Path Configuration output.

int optimization_level
Compilation optimization level:
• 0: Peephole optimizer, set __debug__ to True.
• 1: Level 0, remove assertions, set __debug__ to False.
• 2: Level 1, strip docstrings.
Incremented by the -O command line option. Set to the PYTHONOPTIMIZE environment variable value.
Default: 0.
PyWideStringList orig_argv
The list of the original command line arguments passed to the Python executable: sys.orig_argv.
If orig_argv list is empty and argv is not a list only containing an empty string, PyConfig_Read()
copies argv into orig_argv before modifying argv (if parse_argv is non-zero).
See also the argv member and the Py_GetArgcArgv() function.
Default: empty list.
Added in version 3.10.
int parse_argv
Parse command line arguments?
If equals to 1, parse argv the same way the regular Python parses command line arguments, and strip
Python arguments from argv .
The PyConfig_Read() function only parses PyConfig.argv arguments once: PyConfig.
parse_argv is set to 2 after arguments are parsed. Since Python arguments are stripped from
PyConfig.argv , parsing arguments twice would parse the application options as Python options.
Default: 1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
Changed in version 3.10: The PyConfig.argv arguments are now only parsed if PyConfig.
parse_argv equals to 1.

int parser_debug
Parser debug mode. If greater than 0, turn on parser debugging output (for expert only, depending on
compilation options).
Incremented by the -d command line option. Set to the PYTHONDEBUG environment variable value.
Need a debug build of Python (the Py_DEBUG macro must be defined).
Default: 0.
int pathconfig_warnings
If non-zero, calculation of path configuration is allowed to log warnings into stderr. If equals to 0,
suppress these warnings.
Default: 1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
Part of the Python Path Configuration input.
Changed in version 3.11: Now also applies on Windows.
wchar_t *prefix
The site-specific directory prefix where the platform independent Python files are installed: sys.
prefix.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration output.

10.6. PyConfig 225

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

wchar_t *program_name
Program name used to initialize executable and in early error messages during Python initialization.
• If Py_SetProgramName() has been called, use its argument.
• On macOS, use PYTHONEXECUTABLE environment variable if set.
• If the WITH_NEXT_FRAMEWORK macro is defined, use __PYVENV_LAUNCHER__ environment vari-
able if set.
• Use argv[0] of argv if available and non-empty.
• Otherwise, use L"python" on Windows, or L"python3" on other platforms.
Default: NULL.
Part of the Python Path Configuration input.
wchar_t *pycache_prefix
Directory where cached .pyc files are written: sys.pycache_prefix.
Set by the -X pycache_prefix=PATH command line option and the PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX envi-
ronment variable.
If NULL, sys.pycache_prefix is set to None.
Default: NULL.
int quiet
Quiet mode. If greater than 0, don’t display the copyright and version at Python startup in interactive
mode.
Incremented by the -q command line option.
Default: 0.
wchar_t *run_command
Value of the -c command line option.
Used by Py_RunMain().
Default: NULL.
wchar_t *run_filename
Filename passed on the command line: trailing command line argument without -c or -m. It is used by
the Py_RunMain() function.
For example, it is set to script.py by the python3 script.py arg command line.
See also the PyConfig.skip_source_first_line option.
Default: NULL.
wchar_t *run_module
Value of the -m command line option.
Used by Py_RunMain().
Default: NULL.
int show_ref_count
Show total reference count at exit (excluding immortal objects)?
Set to 1 by -X showrefcount command line option.
Need a debug build of Python (the Py_REF_DEBUG macro must be defined).
Default: 0.

226 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int site_import
Import the site module at startup?
If equal to zero, disable the import of the module site and the site-dependent manipulations of sys.path
that it entails.
Also disable these manipulations if the site module is explicitly imported later (call site.main() if
you want them to be triggered).
Set to 0 by the -S command line option.
sys.flags.no_site is set to the inverted value of site_import.

Default: 1.
int skip_source_first_line
If non-zero, skip the first line of the PyConfig.run_filename source.
It allows the usage of non-Unix forms of #!cmd. This is intended for a DOS specific hack only.
Set to 1 by the -x command line option.
Default: 0.
wchar_t *stdio_encoding

wchar_t *stdio_errors
Encoding and encoding errors of sys.stdin, sys.stdout and sys.stderr (but sys.stderr al-
ways uses "backslashreplace" error handler).
If Py_SetStandardStreamEncoding() has been called, use its error and errors arguments if they
are not NULL.
Use the PYTHONIOENCODING environment variable if it is non-empty.
Default encoding:
• "UTF-8" if PyPreConfig.utf8_mode is non-zero.
• Otherwise, use the locale encoding.
Default error handler:
• On Windows: use "surrogateescape".
• "surrogateescape" if PyPreConfig.utf8_mode is non-zero, or if the LC_CTYPE locale is
“C” or “POSIX”.
• "strict" otherwise.
int tracemalloc
Enable tracemalloc?
If non-zero, call tracemalloc.start() at startup.
Set by -X tracemalloc=N command line option and by the PYTHONTRACEMALLOC environment vari-
able.
Default: -1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
int perf_profiling
Enable compatibility mode with the perf profiler?
If non-zero, initialize the perf trampoline. See perf_profiling for more information.
Set by -X perf command line option and by the PYTHONPERFSUPPORT environment variable.
Default: -1.
Added in version 3.12.

10.6. PyConfig 227

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int use_environment
Use environment variables?
If equals to zero, ignore the environment variables.
Set to 0 by the -E environment variable.
Default: 1 in Python config and 0 in isolated config.
int user_site_directory
If non-zero, add the user site directory to sys.path.
Set to 0 by the -s and -I command line options.
Set to 0 by the PYTHONNOUSERSITE environment variable.
Default: 1 in Python mode, 0 in isolated mode.
int verbose
Verbose mode. If greater than 0, print a message each time a module is imported, showing the place
(filename or built-in module) from which it is loaded.
If greater than or equal to 2, print a message for each file that is checked for when searching for a module.
Also provides information on module cleanup at exit.
Incremented by the -v command line option.
Set by the PYTHONVERBOSE environment variable value.
Default: 0.
PyWideStringList warnoptions
Options of the warnings module to build warnings filters, lowest to highest priority: sys.
warnoptions.

The warnings module adds sys.warnoptions in the reverse order: the last PyConfig.
warnoptions item becomes the first item of warnings.filters which is checked first (highest pri-
ority).
The -W command line options adds its value to warnoptions, it can be used multiple times.
The PYTHONWARNINGS environment variable can also be used to add warning options. Multiple options
can be specified, separated by commas (,).
Default: empty list.
int write_bytecode
If equal to 0, Python won’t try to write .pyc files on the import of source modules.
Set to 0 by the -B command line option and the PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE environment variable.
sys.dont_write_bytecode is initialized to the inverted value of write_bytecode.

Default: 1.
PyWideStringList xoptions
Values of the -X command line options: sys._xoptions.
Default: empty list.
If parse_argv is non-zero, argv arguments are parsed the same way the regular Python parses command line
arguments, and Python arguments are stripped from argv .
The xoptions options are parsed to set other options: see the -X command line option.
Changed in version 3.9: The show_alloc_count field has been removed.

228 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

10.7 Initialization with PyConfig

Function to initialize Python:
PyStatus Py_InitializeFromConfig(const PyConfig *config)
Initialize Python from config configuration.
The caller is responsible to handle exceptions (error or exit) using PyStatus_Exception() and
Py_ExitStatusException().

If PyImport_FrozenModules(), PyImport_AppendInittab() or PyImport_ExtendInittab() are used,

they must be set or called after Python preinitialization and before the Python initialization. If Python is initial-
ized multiple times, PyImport_AppendInittab() or PyImport_ExtendInittab() must be called before each
Python initialization.
The current configuration (PyConfig type) is stored in PyInterpreterState.config.
Example setting the program name:

void init_python(void)
{
PyStatus status;

PyConfig config;
PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(&config);

/* Set the program name. Implicitly preinitialize Python. */

status = PyConfig_SetString(&config, &config.program_name,
L"/path/to/my_program");
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto exception;
}

status = Py_InitializeFromConfig(&config);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto exception;
}
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
return;

exception:
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}

More complete example modifying the default configuration, read the configuration, and then override some param-
eters. Note that since 3.11, many parameters are not calculated until initialization, and so values cannot be read from
the configuration structure. Any values set before initialize is called will be left unchanged by initialization:

PyStatus init_python(const char *program_name)

{
PyStatus status;

PyConfig config;
PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(&config);

/* Set the program name before reading the configuration

(decode byte string from the locale encoding).

Implicitly preinitialize Python. */

(continues on next page)

10.7. Initialization with PyConfig 229

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

status = PyConfig_SetBytesString(&config, &config.program_name,
program_name);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto done;
}

/* Read all configuration at once */

status = PyConfig_Read(&config);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto done;
}

/* Specify sys.path explicitly */

/* If you want to modify the default set of paths, finish
initialization first and then use PySys_GetObject("path") */
config.module_search_paths_set = 1;
status = PyWideStringList_Append(&config.module_search_paths,
L"/path/to/stdlib");
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto done;
}
status = PyWideStringList_Append(&config.module_search_paths,
L"/path/to/more/modules");
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto done;
}

/* Override executable computed by PyConfig_Read() */

status = PyConfig_SetString(&config, &config.executable,
L"/path/to/my_executable");
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
goto done;
}

status = Py_InitializeFromConfig(&config);

done:
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
return status;
}

10.8 Isolated Configuration

PyPreConfig_InitIsolatedConfig() and PyConfig_InitIsolatedConfig() functions create a configu-
ration to isolate Python from the system. For example, to embed Python into an application.
This configuration ignores global configuration variables, environment variables, command line arguments
(PyConfig.argv is not parsed) and user site directory. The C standard streams (ex: stdout) and the LC_CTYPE
locale are left unchanged. Signal handlers are not installed.
Configuration files are still used with this configuration to determine paths that are unspecified. Ensure PyConfig.
home is specified to avoid computing the default path configuration.

230 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

10.9 Python Configuration

PyPreConfig_InitPythonConfig() and PyConfig_InitPythonConfig() functions create a configuration
to build a customized Python which behaves as the regular Python.
Environments variables and command line arguments are used to configure Python, whereas global configuration
variables are ignored.
This function enables C locale coercion (PEP 538) and Python UTF-8 Mode (PEP 540) depending on the
LC_CTYPE locale, PYTHONUTF8 and PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE environment variables.

10.10 Python Path Configuration

PyConfig contains multiple fields for the path configuration:
• Path configuration inputs:
– PyConfig.home
– PyConfig.platlibdir
– PyConfig.pathconfig_warnings
– PyConfig.program_name
– PyConfig.pythonpath_env
– current working directory: to get absolute paths
– PATH environment variable to get the program full path (from PyConfig.program_name)
– __PYVENV_LAUNCHER__ environment variable
– (Windows only) Application paths in the registry under “SoftwarePythonPythonCoreX.YPythonPath” of
HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (where X.Y is the Python version).
• Path configuration output fields:
– PyConfig.base_exec_prefix
– PyConfig.base_executable
– PyConfig.base_prefix
– PyConfig.exec_prefix
– PyConfig.executable
– PyConfig.module_search_paths_set, PyConfig.module_search_paths
– PyConfig.prefix
If at least one “output field” is not set, Python calculates the path configuration to fill unset
fields. If module_search_paths_set is equal to 0, module_search_paths is overridden and
module_search_paths_set is set to 1.
It is possible to completely ignore the function calculating the default path configuration by setting explic-
itly all path configuration output fields listed above. A string is considered as set even if it is non-empty.
module_search_paths is considered as set if module_search_paths_set is set to 1. In this case,
module_search_paths will be used without modification.

Set pathconfig_warnings to 0 to suppress warnings when calculating the path configuration (Unix only, Windows
does not log any warning).
If base_prefix or base_exec_prefix fields are not set, they inherit their value from prefix and exec_prefix
respectively.
Py_RunMain() and Py_Main() modify sys.path:

10.9. Python Configuration 231

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• If run_filename is set and is a directory which contains a __main__.py script, prepend run_filename
to sys.path.
• If isolated is zero:
– If run_module is set, prepend the current directory to sys.path. Do nothing if the current directory
cannot be read.
– If run_filename is set, prepend the directory of the filename to sys.path.
– Otherwise, prepend an empty string to sys.path.
If site_import is non-zero, sys.path can be modified by the site module. If user_site_directory is
non-zero and the user’s site-package directory exists, the site module appends the user’s site-package directory to
sys.path.

The following configuration files are used by the path configuration:

• pyvenv.cfg
• ._pth file (ex: python._pth)
• pybuilddir.txt (Unix only)
If a ._pth file is present:
• Set isolated to 1.
• Set use_environment to 0.
• Set site_import to 0.
• Set safe_path to 1.
The __PYVENV_LAUNCHER__ environment variable is used to set PyConfig.base_executable

10.11 Py_RunMain()
int Py_RunMain(void)
Execute the command (PyConfig.run_command), the script (PyConfig.run_filename) or the module
(PyConfig.run_module) specified on the command line or in the configuration.
By default and when if -i option is used, run the REPL.
Finally, finalizes Python and returns an exit status that can be passed to the exit() function.
See Python Configuration for an example of customized Python always running in isolated mode using
Py_RunMain().

10.12 Py_GetArgcArgv()
void Py_GetArgcArgv(int *argc, wchar_t ***argv)
Get the original command line arguments, before Python modified them.
See also PyConfig.orig_argv member.

10.13 Multi-Phase Initialization Private Provisional API

This section is a private provisional API introducing multi-phase initialization, the core feature of PEP 432:
• “Core” initialization phase, “bare minimum Python”:
– Builtin types;
– Builtin exceptions;
– Builtin and frozen modules;

232 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

– The sys module is only partially initialized (ex: sys.path doesn’t exist yet).
• “Main” initialization phase, Python is fully initialized:
– Install and configure importlib;
– Apply the Path Configuration;
– Install signal handlers;
– Finish sys module initialization (ex: create sys.stdout and sys.path);
– Enable optional features like faulthandler and tracemalloc;
– Import the site module;
– etc.
Private provisional API:
• PyConfig._init_main: if set to 0, Py_InitializeFromConfig() stops at the “Core” initialization
phase.
PyStatus _Py_InitializeMain(void)
Move to the “Main” initialization phase, finish the Python initialization.
No module is imported during the “Core” phase and the importlib module is not configured: the Path Configuration
is only applied during the “Main” phase. It may allow to customize Python in Python to override or tune the Path
Configuration, maybe install a custom sys.meta_path importer or an import hook, etc.
It may become possible to calculate the Path Configuration in Python, after the Core phase and before the Main phase,
which is one of the PEP 432 motivation.
The “Core” phase is not properly defined: what should be and what should not be available at this phase is not
specified yet. The API is marked as private and provisional: the API can be modified or even be removed anytime
until a proper public API is designed.
Example running Python code between “Core” and “Main” initialization phases:

void init_python(void)
{
PyStatus status;

PyConfig config;
PyConfig_InitPythonConfig(&config);
config._init_main = 0;

/* ... customize 'config' configuration ... */

status = Py_InitializeFromConfig(&config);
PyConfig_Clear(&config);
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}

/* Use sys.stderr because sys.stdout is only created

by _Py_InitializeMain() */
int res = PyRun_SimpleString(
"import sys; "
"print('Run Python code before _Py_InitializeMain', "
"file=sys.stderr)");
if (res < 0) {
exit(1);
}

(continues on next page)

10.13. Multi-Phase Initialization Private Provisional API 233

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

/* ... put more configuration code here ... */

status = _Py_InitializeMain();
if (PyStatus_Exception(status)) {
Py_ExitStatusException(status);
}
}

234 Chapter 10. Python Initialization Configuration

 CHAPTER

ELEVEN

MEMORY MANAGEMENT

11.1 Overview
Memory management in Python involves a private heap containing all Python objects and data structures. The
management of this private heap is ensured internally by the Python memory manager. The Python memory manager
has different components which deal with various dynamic storage management aspects, like sharing, segmentation,
preallocation or caching.
At the lowest level, a raw memory allocator ensures that there is enough room in the private heap for storing all
Python-related data by interacting with the memory manager of the operating system. On top of the raw memory
allocator, several object-specific allocators operate on the same heap and implement distinct memory management
policies adapted to the peculiarities of every object type. For example, integer objects are managed differently within
the heap than strings, tuples or dictionaries because integers imply different storage requirements and speed/space
tradeoffs. The Python memory manager thus delegates some of the work to the object-specific allocators, but ensures
that the latter operate within the bounds of the private heap.
It is important to understand that the management of the Python heap is performed by the interpreter itself and that
the user has no control over it, even if they regularly manipulate object pointers to memory blocks inside that heap.
The allocation of heap space for Python objects and other internal buffers is performed on demand by the Python
memory manager through the Python/C API functions listed in this document.
To avoid memory corruption, extension writers should never try to operate on Python objects with the functions
exported by the C library: malloc(), calloc(), realloc() and free(). This will result in mixed calls be-
tween the C allocator and the Python memory manager with fatal consequences, because they implement different
algorithms and operate on different heaps. However, one may safely allocate and release memory blocks with the C
library allocator for individual purposes, as shown in the following example:

PyObject *res;
char *buf = (char *) malloc(BUFSIZ); /* for I/O */

if (buf == NULL)
return PyErr_NoMemory();
...Do some I/O operation involving buf...
res = PyBytes_FromString(buf);
free(buf); /* malloc'ed */
return res;

In this example, the memory request for the I/O buffer is handled by the C library allocator. The Python memory
manager is involved only in the allocation of the bytes object returned as a result.
In most situations, however, it is recommended to allocate memory from the Python heap specifically because the
latter is under control of the Python memory manager. For example, this is required when the interpreter is extended
with new object types written in C. Another reason for using the Python heap is the desire to inform the Python
memory manager about the memory needs of the extension module. Even when the requested memory is used
exclusively for internal, highly specific purposes, delegating all memory requests to the Python memory manager
causes the interpreter to have a more accurate image of its memory footprint as a whole. Consequently, under certain
circumstances, the Python memory manager may or may not trigger appropriate actions, like garbage collection,

235
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

memory compaction or other preventive procedures. Note that by using the C library allocator as shown in the
previous example, the allocated memory for the I/O buffer escapes completely the Python memory manager.

µ See also

The PYTHONMALLOC environment variable can be used to configure the memory allocators used by Python.
The PYTHONMALLOCSTATS environment variable can be used to print statistics of the pymalloc memory allocator
every time a new pymalloc object arena is created, and on shutdown.

11.2 Allocator Domains

All allocating functions belong to one of three different “domains” (see also PyMemAllocatorDomain). These
domains represent different allocation strategies and are optimized for different purposes. The specific details on how
every domain allocates memory or what internal functions each domain calls is considered an implementation detail,
but for debugging purposes a simplified table can be found at here. There is no hard requirement to use the memory
returned by the allocation functions belonging to a given domain for only the purposes hinted by that domain (although
this is the recommended practice). For example, one could use the memory returned by PyMem_RawMalloc() for
allocating Python objects or the memory returned by PyObject_Malloc() for allocating memory for buffers.
The three allocation domains are:
• Raw domain: intended for allocating memory for general-purpose memory buffers where the allocation must
go to the system allocator or where the allocator can operate without the GIL. The memory is requested directly
to the system.
• “Mem” domain: intended for allocating memory for Python buffers and general-purpose memory buffers where
the allocation must be performed with the GIL held. The memory is taken from the Python private heap.
• Object domain: intended for allocating memory belonging to Python objects. The memory is taken from the
Python private heap.
When freeing memory previously allocated by the allocating functions belonging to a given domain,the matching
specific deallocating functions must be used. For example, PyMem_Free() must be used to free memory allocated
using PyMem_Malloc().

11.3 Raw Memory Interface

The following function sets are wrappers to the system allocator. These functions are thread-safe, the GIL does not
need to be held.
The default raw memory allocator uses the following functions: malloc(), calloc(), realloc() and free();
call malloc(1) (or calloc(1, 1)) when requesting zero bytes.
Added in version 3.4.
void *PyMem_RawMalloc(size_t n)
Allocates n bytes and returns a pointer of type void* to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request fails.
Requesting zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if PyMem_RawMalloc(1) had been
called instead. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.
void *PyMem_RawCalloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
Allocates nelem elements each whose size in bytes is elsize and returns a pointer of type void* to the allocated
memory, or NULL if the request fails. The memory is initialized to zeros.
Requesting zero elements or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if
PyMem_RawCalloc(1, 1) had been called instead.
Added in version 3.5.

236 Chapter 11. Memory Management

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void *PyMem_RawRealloc(void *p, size_t n)

Resizes the memory block pointed to by p to n bytes. The contents will be unchanged to the minimum of the
old and the new sizes.
If p is NULL, the call is equivalent to PyMem_RawMalloc(n); else if n is equal to zero, the memory block is
resized but is not freed, and the returned pointer is non-NULL.
Unless p is NULL, it must have been returned by a previous call to PyMem_RawMalloc(),
PyMem_RawRealloc() or PyMem_RawCalloc().
If the request fails, PyMem_RawRealloc() returns NULL and p remains a valid pointer to the previous memory
area.
void PyMem_RawFree(void *p)
Frees the memory block pointed to by p, which must have been returned by a previous call
to PyMem_RawMalloc(), PyMem_RawRealloc() or PyMem_RawCalloc(). Otherwise, or if
PyMem_RawFree(p) has been called before, undefined behavior occurs.
If p is NULL, no operation is performed.

11.4 Memory Interface

The following function sets, modeled after the ANSI C standard, but specifying behavior when requesting zero bytes,
are available for allocating and releasing memory from the Python heap.
The default memory allocator uses the pymalloc memory allocator.

Á Warning

The GIL must be held when using these functions.

Changed in version 3.6: The default allocator is now pymalloc instead of system malloc().
void *PyMem_Malloc(size_t n)
Part of the Stable ABI. Allocates n bytes and returns a pointer of type void* to the allocated memory, or
NULL if the request fails.

Requesting zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if PyMem_Malloc(1) had been called
instead. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.
void *PyMem_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Allocates nelem elements each whose size in bytes is elsize and returns
a pointer of type void* to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request fails. The memory is initialized to
zeros.
Requesting zero elements or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if
PyMem_Calloc(1, 1) had been called instead.

Added in version 3.5.

void *PyMem_Realloc(void *p, size_t n)
Part of the Stable ABI. Resizes the memory block pointed to by p to n bytes. The contents will be unchanged
to the minimum of the old and the new sizes.
If p is NULL, the call is equivalent to PyMem_Malloc(n); else if n is equal to zero, the memory block is resized
but is not freed, and the returned pointer is non-NULL.
Unless p is NULL, it must have been returned by a previous call to PyMem_Malloc(), PyMem_Realloc() or
PyMem_Calloc().
If the request fails, PyMem_Realloc() returns NULL and p remains a valid pointer to the previous memory
area.

11.4. Memory Interface 237

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void PyMem_Free(void *p)

Part of the Stable ABI. Frees the memory block pointed to by p, which must have been returned by a previous
call to PyMem_Malloc(), PyMem_Realloc() or PyMem_Calloc(). Otherwise, or if PyMem_Free(p)
has been called before, undefined behavior occurs.
If p is NULL, no operation is performed.
The following type-oriented macros are provided for convenience. Note that TYPE refers to any C type.
PyMem_New(TYPE, n)
Same as PyMem_Malloc(), but allocates (n * sizeof(TYPE)) bytes of memory. Returns a pointer cast
to TYPE*. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.
PyMem_Resize(p, TYPE, n)
Same as PyMem_Realloc(), but the memory block is resized to (n * sizeof(TYPE)) bytes. Returns a
pointer cast to TYPE*. On return, p will be a pointer to the new memory area, or NULL in the event of failure.
This is a C preprocessor macro; p is always reassigned. Save the original value of p to avoid losing memory
when handling errors.
void PyMem_Del(void *p)
Same as PyMem_Free().
In addition, the following macro sets are provided for calling the Python memory allocator directly, without involving
the C API functions listed above. However, note that their use does not preserve binary compatibility across Python
versions and is therefore deprecated in extension modules.
• PyMem_MALLOC(size)
• PyMem_NEW(type, size)
• PyMem_REALLOC(ptr, size)
• PyMem_RESIZE(ptr, type, size)
• PyMem_FREE(ptr)
• PyMem_DEL(ptr)

11.5 Object allocators

The following function sets, modeled after the ANSI C standard, but specifying behavior when requesting zero bytes,
are available for allocating and releasing memory from the Python heap.

® Note

There is no guarantee that the memory returned by these allocators can be successfully cast to a Python object
when intercepting the allocating functions in this domain by the methods described in the Customize Memory
Allocators section.

The default object allocator uses the pymalloc memory allocator.

Á Warning

The GIL must be held when using these functions.

void *PyObject_Malloc(size_t n)
Part of the Stable ABI. Allocates n bytes and returns a pointer of type void* to the allocated memory, or
NULL if the request fails.

Requesting zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if PyObject_Malloc(1) had been
called instead. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.

238 Chapter 11. Memory Management

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

void *PyObject_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.7. Allocates nelem elements each whose size in bytes is elsize and returns
a pointer of type void* to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request fails. The memory is initialized to
zeros.
Requesting zero elements or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-NULL pointer if possible, as if
PyObject_Calloc(1, 1) had been called instead.

Added in version 3.5.

void *PyObject_Realloc(void *p, size_t n)
Part of the Stable ABI. Resizes the memory block pointed to by p to n bytes. The contents will be unchanged
to the minimum of the old and the new sizes.
If p is NULL, the call is equivalent to PyObject_Malloc(n); else if n is equal to zero, the memory block is
resized but is not freed, and the returned pointer is non-NULL.
Unless p is NULL, it must have been returned by a previous call to PyObject_Malloc(),
PyObject_Realloc() or PyObject_Calloc().

If the request fails, PyObject_Realloc() returns NULL and p remains a valid pointer to the previous memory
area.
void PyObject_Free(void *p)
Part of the Stable ABI. Frees the memory block pointed to by p, which must have been returned by a pre-
vious call to PyObject_Malloc(), PyObject_Realloc() or PyObject_Calloc(). Otherwise, or if
PyObject_Free(p) has been called before, undefined behavior occurs.

If p is NULL, no operation is performed.

11.6 Default Memory Allocators

Default memory allocators:

Configuration Name PyMem_RawMallocPyMem_Malloc PyOb-

ject_Malloc
Release build "pymalloc" malloc pymalloc pymalloc
Debug build "pymalloc_debug"malloc + debug pymalloc + de- pymalloc + de-
bug bug
Release build, without py- "malloc" malloc malloc malloc
malloc
Debug build, without py- "malloc_debug" malloc + debug malloc + debug malloc + debug
malloc

Legend:
• Name: value for PYTHONMALLOC environment variable.
• malloc: system allocators from the standard C library, C functions: malloc(), calloc(), realloc() and
free().

• pymalloc: pymalloc memory allocator.

• “+ debug”: with debug hooks on the Python memory allocators.
• “Debug build”: Python build in debug mode.

11.6. Default Memory Allocators 239

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

11.7 Customize Memory Allocators

Added in version 3.4.
type PyMemAllocatorEx
Structure used to describe a memory block allocator. The structure has the following fields:

Field Meaning
void *ctx user context passed as first argument
void* malloc(void *ctx, size_t size) allocate a memory block
void* calloc(void *ctx, size_t nelem, size_t allocate a memory block initialized with
elsize) zeros
void* realloc(void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t allocate or resize a memory block
new_size)
void free(void *ctx, void *ptr) free a memory block

Changed in version 3.5: The PyMemAllocator structure was renamed to PyMemAllocatorEx and a new
calloc field was added.

type PyMemAllocatorDomain
Enum used to identify an allocator domain. Domains:
PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW
Functions:
• PyMem_RawMalloc()
• PyMem_RawRealloc()
• PyMem_RawCalloc()
• PyMem_RawFree()
PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM
Functions:
• PyMem_Malloc(),
• PyMem_Realloc()
• PyMem_Calloc()
• PyMem_Free()
PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ
Functions:
• PyObject_Malloc()
• PyObject_Realloc()
• PyObject_Calloc()
• PyObject_Free()
void PyMem_GetAllocator(PyMemAllocatorDomain domain, PyMemAllocatorEx *allocator)
Get the memory block allocator of the specified domain.
void PyMem_SetAllocator(PyMemAllocatorDomain domain, PyMemAllocatorEx *allocator)
Set the memory block allocator of the specified domain.
The new allocator must return a distinct non-NULL pointer when requesting zero bytes.
For the PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW domain, the allocator must be thread-safe: the GIL is not held when the allocator
is called.

240 Chapter 11. Memory Management

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

For the remaining domains, the allocator must also be thread-safe: the allocator may be called in different
interpreters that do not share a GIL.
If the new allocator is not a hook (does not call the previous allocator), the PyMem_SetupDebugHooks()
function must be called to reinstall the debug hooks on top on the new allocator.
See also PyPreConfig.allocator and Preinitialize Python with PyPreConfig.

Á Warning

PyMem_SetAllocator() does have the following contract:

• It can be called after Py_PreInitialize() and before Py_InitializeFromConfig() to in-

stall a custom memory allocator. There are no restrictions over the installed allocator other than the
ones imposed by the domain (for instance, the Raw Domain allows the allocator to be called without
the GIL held). See the section on allocator domains for more information.
• If called after Python has finish initializing (after Py_InitializeFromConfig() has been called)
the allocator must wrap the existing allocator. Substituting the current allocator for some other
arbitrary one is not supported.

Changed in version 3.12: All allocators must be thread-safe.

void PyMem_SetupDebugHooks(void)
Setup debug hooks in the Python memory allocators to detect memory errors.

11.8 Debug hooks on the Python memory allocators

When Python is built in debug mode, the PyMem_SetupDebugHooks() function is called at the Python preinitial-
ization to setup debug hooks on Python memory allocators to detect memory errors.
The PYTHONMALLOC environment variable can be used to install debug hooks on a Python compiled in release mode
(ex: PYTHONMALLOC=debug).
The PyMem_SetupDebugHooks() function can be used to set debug hooks after calling
PyMem_SetAllocator().
These debug hooks fill dynamically allocated memory blocks with special, recognizable bit patterns. Newly
allocated memory is filled with the byte 0xCD (PYMEM_CLEANBYTE), freed memory is filled with the byte
0xDD (PYMEM_DEADBYTE). Memory blocks are surrounded by “forbidden bytes” filled with the byte 0xFD
(PYMEM_FORBIDDENBYTE). Strings of these bytes are unlikely to be valid addresses, floats, or ASCII strings.
Runtime checks:
• Detect API violations. For example, detect if PyObject_Free() is called on a memory block allocated by
PyMem_Malloc().
• Detect write before the start of the buffer (buffer underflow).
• Detect write after the end of the buffer (buffer overflow).
• Check that the GIL is held when allocator functions of PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ (ex: PyObject_Malloc()) and
PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM (ex: PyMem_Malloc()) domains are called.

On error, the debug hooks use the tracemalloc module to get the traceback where a memory block was allocated.
The traceback is only displayed if tracemalloc is tracing Python memory allocations and the memory block was
traced.
Let S = sizeof(size_t). 2*S bytes are added at each end of each block of N bytes requested. The memory layout
is like so, where p represents the address returned by a malloc-like or realloc-like function (p[i:j] means the slice
of bytes from *(p+i) inclusive up to *(p+j) exclusive; note that the treatment of negative indices differs from a
Python slice):

11.8. Debug hooks on the Python memory allocators 241

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

p[-2*S:-S]
Number of bytes originally asked for. This is a size_t, big-endian (easier to read in a memory dump).
p[-S]
API identifier (ASCII character):
• 'r' for PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW .
• 'm' for PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM .
• 'o' for PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ .
p[-S+1:0]
Copies of PYMEM_FORBIDDENBYTE. Used to catch under- writes and reads.
p[0:N]
The requested memory, filled with copies of PYMEM_CLEANBYTE, used to catch reference to uninitial-
ized memory. When a realloc-like function is called requesting a larger memory block, the new excess bytes
are also filled with PYMEM_CLEANBYTE. When a free-like function is called, these are overwritten with
PYMEM_DEADBYTE, to catch reference to freed memory. When a realloc- like function is called requesting
a smaller memory block, the excess old bytes are also filled with PYMEM_DEADBYTE.
p[N:N+S]
Copies of PYMEM_FORBIDDENBYTE. Used to catch over- writes and reads.
p[N+S:N+2*S]
Only used if the PYMEM_DEBUG_SERIALNO macro is defined (not defined by default).
A serial number, incremented by 1 on each call to a malloc-like or realloc-like function. Big-endian size_t.
If “bad memory” is detected later, the serial number gives an excellent way to set a breakpoint on the next run,
to capture the instant at which this block was passed out. The static function bumpserialno() in obmalloc.c is
the only place the serial number is incremented, and exists so you can set such a breakpoint easily.
A realloc-like or free-like function first checks that the PYMEM_FORBIDDENBYTE bytes at each end are intact.
If they’ve been altered, diagnostic output is written to stderr, and the program is aborted via Py_FatalError(). The
other main failure mode is provoking a memory error when a program reads up one of the special bit patterns and
tries to use it as an address. If you get in a debugger then and look at the object, you’re likely to see that it’s entirely
filled with PYMEM_DEADBYTE (meaning freed memory is getting used) or PYMEM_CLEANBYTE (meaning
uninitialized memory is getting used).
Changed in version 3.6: The PyMem_SetupDebugHooks() function now also works on Python compiled in re-
lease mode. On error, the debug hooks now use tracemalloc to get the traceback where a memory block
was allocated. The debug hooks now also check if the GIL is held when functions of PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ and
PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM domains are called.

Changed in version 3.8: Byte patterns 0xCB (PYMEM_CLEANBYTE), 0xDB (PYMEM_DEADBYTE) and 0xFB
(PYMEM_FORBIDDENBYTE) have been replaced with 0xCD, 0xDD and 0xFD to use the same values than Windows
CRT debug malloc() and free().

11.9 The pymalloc allocator

Python has a pymalloc allocator optimized for small objects (smaller or equal to 512 bytes) with a short lifetime. It
uses memory mappings called “arenas” with a fixed size of either 256 KiB on 32-bit platforms or 1 MiB on 64-bit
platforms. It falls back to PyMem_RawMalloc() and PyMem_RawRealloc() for allocations larger than 512 bytes.
pymalloc is the default allocator of the PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM (ex: PyMem_Malloc()) and PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ
(ex: PyObject_Malloc()) domains.
The arena allocator uses the following functions:
• VirtualAlloc() and VirtualFree() on Windows,
• mmap() and munmap() if available,
• malloc() and free() otherwise.

242 Chapter 11. Memory Management

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This allocator is disabled if Python is configured with the --without-pymalloc option. It can also be disabled at
runtime using the PYTHONMALLOC environment variable (ex: PYTHONMALLOC=malloc).

11.9.1 Customize pymalloc Arena Allocator

Added in version 3.4.
type PyObjectArenaAllocator
Structure used to describe an arena allocator. The structure has three fields:

Field Meaning
void *ctx user context passed as first argument
void* alloc(void *ctx, size_t size) allocate an arena of size bytes
void free(void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t size) free an arena

void PyObject_GetArenaAllocator(PyObjectArenaAllocator *allocator)

Get the arena allocator.
void PyObject_SetArenaAllocator(PyObjectArenaAllocator *allocator)
Set the arena allocator.

11.10 tracemalloc C API

Added in version 3.7.
int PyTraceMalloc_Track(unsigned int domain, uintptr_t ptr, size_t size)
Track an allocated memory block in the tracemalloc module.
Return 0 on success, return -1 on error (failed to allocate memory to store the trace). Return -2 if tracemalloc
is disabled.
If memory block is already tracked, update the existing trace.
int PyTraceMalloc_Untrack(unsigned int domain, uintptr_t ptr)
Untrack an allocated memory block in the tracemalloc module. Do nothing if the block was not tracked.
Return -2 if tracemalloc is disabled, otherwise return 0.

11.11 Examples
Here is the example from section Overview, rewritten so that the I/O buffer is allocated from the Python heap by
using the first function set:

PyObject *res;
char *buf = (char *) PyMem_Malloc(BUFSIZ); /* for I/O */

if (buf == NULL)
return PyErr_NoMemory();
/* ...Do some I/O operation involving buf... */
res = PyBytes_FromString(buf);
PyMem_Free(buf); /* allocated with PyMem_Malloc */
return res;

The same code using the type-oriented function set:

11.10. tracemalloc C API 243

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *res;
char *buf = PyMem_New(char, BUFSIZ); /* for I/O */

if (buf == NULL)
return PyErr_NoMemory();
/* ...Do some I/O operation involving buf... */
res = PyBytes_FromString(buf);
PyMem_Del(buf); /* allocated with PyMem_New */
return res;

Note that in the two examples above, the buffer is always manipulated via functions belonging to the same set. Indeed,
it is required to use the same memory API family for a given memory block, so that the risk of mixing different
allocators is reduced to a minimum. The following code sequence contains two errors, one of which is labeled as
fatal because it mixes two different allocators operating on different heaps.

char *buf1 = PyMem_New(char, BUFSIZ);

char *buf2 = (char *) malloc(BUFSIZ);
char *buf3 = (char *) PyMem_Malloc(BUFSIZ);
...
PyMem_Del(buf3); /* Wrong -- should be PyMem_Free() */
free(buf2); /* Right -- allocated via malloc() */
free(buf1); /* Fatal -- should be PyMem_Del() */

In addition to the functions aimed at handling raw memory blocks from the Python heap, objects in Python are
allocated and released with PyObject_New , PyObject_NewVar and PyObject_Del().
These will be explained in the next chapter on defining and implementing new object types in C.

244 Chapter 11. Memory Management

 CHAPTER

TWELVE

OBJECT IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

This chapter describes the functions, types, and macros used when defining new object types.

12.1 Allocating Objects on the Heap

PyObject *_PyObject_New(PyTypeObject *type)
Return value: New reference.
PyVarObject *_PyObject_NewVar(PyTypeObject *type, Py_ssize_t size)
Return value: New reference.
PyObject *PyObject_Init(PyObject *op, PyTypeObject *type)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Initialize a newly allocated object op with its type
and initial reference. Returns the initialized object. Other fields of the object are not affected.
PyVarObject *PyObject_InitVar(PyVarObject *op, PyTypeObject *type, Py_ssize_t size)
Return value: Borrowed reference. Part of the Stable ABI. This does everything PyObject_Init() does, and
also initializes the length information for a variable-size object.
PyObject_New(TYPE, typeobj)
Allocate a new Python object using the C structure type TYPE and the Python type object typeobj
(PyTypeObject*). Fields not defined by the Python object header are not initialized. The caller will own
the only reference to the object (i.e. its reference count will be one). The size of the memory allocation is
determined from the tp_basicsize field of the type object.
Note that this function is unsuitable if typeobj has Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC set. For such objects, use
PyObject_GC_New() instead.

PyObject_NewVar(TYPE, typeobj, size)

Allocate a new Python object using the C structure type TYPE and the Python type object typeobj
(PyTypeObject*). Fields not defined by the Python object header are not initialized. The allocated memory
allows for the TYPE structure plus size (Py_ssize_t) fields of the size given by the tp_itemsize field of
typeobj. This is useful for implementing objects like tuples, which are able to determine their size at con-
struction time. Embedding the array of fields into the same allocation decreases the number of allocations,
improving the memory management efficiency.
Note that this function is unsuitable if typeobj has Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC set. For such objects, use
PyObject_GC_NewVar() instead.
void PyObject_Del(void *op)
Releases memory allocated to an object using PyObject_New or PyObject_NewVar. This is normally called
from the tp_dealloc handler specified in the object’s type. The fields of the object should not be accessed
after this call as the memory is no longer a valid Python object.
PyObject _Py_NoneStruct
Object which is visible in Python as None. This should only be accessed using the Py_None macro, which
evaluates to a pointer to this object.

245
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

µ See also

PyModule_Create()
To allocate and create extension modules.

12.2 Common Object Structures

There are a large number of structures which are used in the definition of object types for Python. This section
describes these structures and how they are used.

12.2.1 Base object types and macros

All Python objects ultimately share a small number of fields at the beginning of the object’s representation in memory.
These are represented by the PyObject and PyVarObject types, which are defined, in turn, by the expansions of
some macros also used, whether directly or indirectly, in the definition of all other Python objects. Additional macros
can be found under reference counting.
type PyObject
Part of the Limited API. (Only some members are part of the stable ABI.) All object types are extensions of this
type. This is a type which contains the information Python needs to treat a pointer to an object as an object. In
a normal “release” build, it contains only the object’s reference count and a pointer to the corresponding type
object. Nothing is actually declared to be a PyObject, but every pointer to a Python object can be cast to a
PyObject*. Access to the members must be done by using the macros Py_REFCNT and Py_TYPE.

type PyVarObject
Part of the Limited API. (Only some members are part of the stable ABI.) This is an extension of PyObject
that adds the ob_size field. This is only used for objects that have some notion of length. This type does not
often appear in the Python/C API. Access to the members must be done by using the macros Py_REFCNT ,
Py_TYPE, and Py_SIZE.
PyObject_HEAD
This is a macro used when declaring new types which represent objects without a varying length. The PyOb-
ject_HEAD macro expands to:

PyObject ob_base;

See documentation of PyObject above.

PyObject_VAR_HEAD
This is a macro used when declaring new types which represent objects with a length that varies from instance
to instance. The PyObject_VAR_HEAD macro expands to:

PyVarObject ob_base;

See documentation of PyVarObject above.

PyTypeObject PyBaseObject_Type
Part of the Stable ABI. The base class of all other objects, the same as object in Python.
int Py_Is(PyObject *x, PyObject *y)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Test if the x object is the y object, the same as x is y in Python.
Added in version 3.10.
int Py_IsNone(PyObject *x)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Test if an object is the None singleton, the same as x is None in
Python.
Added in version 3.10.

246 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int Py_IsTrue(PyObject *x)

Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Test if an object is the True singleton, the same as x is True in
Python.
Added in version 3.10.
int Py_IsFalse(PyObject *x)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Test if an object is the False singleton, the same as x is False
in Python.
Added in version 3.10.
PyTypeObject *Py_TYPE(PyObject *o)
Get the type of the Python object o.
Return a borrowed reference.
Use the Py_SET_TYPE() function to set an object type.
Changed in version 3.11: Py_TYPE() is changed to an inline static function. The parameter type is no longer
const PyObject*.

int Py_IS_TYPE(PyObject *o, PyTypeObject *type)

Return non-zero if the object o type is type. Return zero otherwise. Equivalent to: Py_TYPE(o) == type.
Added in version 3.9.
void Py_SET_TYPE(PyObject *o, PyTypeObject *type)
Set the object o type to type.
Added in version 3.9.
Py_ssize_t Py_SIZE(PyVarObject *o)
Get the size of the Python object o.
Use the Py_SET_SIZE() function to set an object size.
Changed in version 3.11: Py_SIZE() is changed to an inline static function. The parameter type is no longer
const PyVarObject*.
void Py_SET_SIZE(PyVarObject *o, Py_ssize_t size)
Set the object o size to size.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject_HEAD_INIT(type)
This is a macro which expands to initialization values for a new PyObject type. This macro expands to:

_PyObject_EXTRA_INIT
1, type,

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(type, size)
This is a macro which expands to initialization values for a new PyVarObject type, including the ob_size
field. This macro expands to:

_PyObject_EXTRA_INIT
1, type, size,

12.2.2 Implementing functions and methods

12.2. Common Object Structures 247

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

type PyCFunction
Part of the Stable ABI. Type of the functions used to implement most Python callables in C. Functions of this
type take two PyObject* parameters and return one such value. If the return value is NULL, an exception
shall have been set. If not NULL, the return value is interpreted as the return value of the function as exposed
in Python. The function must return a new reference.
The function signature is:

PyObject *PyCFunction(PyObject *self,

PyObject *args);

type PyCFunctionWithKeywords
Part of the Stable ABI. Type of the functions used to implement Python callables in C with signature
METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS. The function signature is:

PyObject *PyCFunctionWithKeywords(PyObject *self,

PyObject *args,
PyObject *kwargs);

type _PyCFunctionFast
Type of the functions used to implement Python callables in C with signature METH_FASTCALL. The function
signature is:

PyObject *_PyCFunctionFast(PyObject *self,

PyObject *const *args,
Py_ssize_t nargs);

type _PyCFunctionFastWithKeywords
Type of the functions used to implement Python callables in C with signature METH_FASTCALL |
METH_KEYWORDS. The function signature is:

PyObject *_PyCFunctionFastWithKeywords(PyObject *self,

PyObject *const *args,
Py_ssize_t nargs,
PyObject *kwnames);

type PyCMethod
Type of the functions used to implement Python callables in C with signature METH_METHOD |
METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS. The function signature is:

PyObject *PyCMethod(PyObject *self,

PyTypeObject *defining_class,
PyObject *const *args,
Py_ssize_t nargs,
PyObject *kwnames)

Added in version 3.9.

type PyMethodDef
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Structure used to describe a method of an extension type. This
structure has four fields:
const char *ml_name
Name of the method.
PyCFunction ml_meth
Pointer to the C implementation.

248 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

int ml_flags
Flags bits indicating how the call should be constructed.
const char *ml_doc
Points to the contents of the docstring.
The ml_meth is a C function pointer. The functions may be of different types, but they always return PyObject*.
If the function is not of the PyCFunction, the compiler will require a cast in the method table. Even though
PyCFunction defines the first parameter as PyObject*, it is common that the method implementation uses the
specific C type of the self object.
The ml_flags field is a bitfield which can include the following flags. The individual flags indicate either a calling
convention or a binding convention.
There are these calling conventions:
METH_VARARGS
This is the typical calling convention, where the methods have the type PyCFunction. The function expects
two PyObject* values. The first one is the self object for methods; for module functions, it is the module
object. The second parameter (often called args) is a tuple object representing all arguments. This parameter
is typically processed using PyArg_ParseTuple() or PyArg_UnpackTuple().
METH_KEYWORDS
Can only be used in certain combinations with other flags: METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS,
METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS and METH_METHOD | METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS.
METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS
Methods with these flags must be of type PyCFunctionWithKeywords. The function expects three parame-
ters: self, args, kwargs where kwargs is a dictionary of all the keyword arguments or possibly NULL if there are
no keyword arguments. The parameters are typically processed using PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords().
METH_FASTCALL
Fast calling convention supporting only positional arguments. The methods have the type
_PyCFunctionFast. The first parameter is self, the second parameter is a C array of PyObject*
values indicating the arguments and the third parameter is the number of arguments (the length of the array).
Added in version 3.7.
Changed in version 3.10: METH_FASTCALL is now part of the stable ABI.
METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS
Extension of METH_FASTCALL supporting also keyword arguments, with methods of type
_PyCFunctionFastWithKeywords. Keyword arguments are passed the same way as in the vector-
call protocol: there is an additional fourth PyObject* parameter which is a tuple representing the names of
the keyword arguments (which are guaranteed to be strings) or possibly NULL if there are no keywords. The
values of the keyword arguments are stored in the args array, after the positional arguments.
Added in version 3.7.
METH_METHOD
Can only be used in the combination with other flags: METH_METHOD | METH_FASTCALL |
METH_KEYWORDS.
METH_METHOD | METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS
Extension of METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS supporting the defining class, that is, the class that
contains the method in question. The defining class might be a superclass of Py_TYPE(self).
The method needs to be of type PyCMethod, the same as for METH_FASTCALL | METH_KEYWORDS with
defining_class argument added after self.

Added in version 3.9.

METH_NOARGS
Methods without parameters don’t need to check whether arguments are given if they are listed with the

12.2. Common Object Structures 249

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

METH_NOARGS flag. They need to be of type PyCFunction. The first parameter is typically named self and
will hold a reference to the module or object instance. In all cases the second parameter will be NULL.
The function must have 2 parameters. Since the second parameter is unused, Py_UNUSED can be used to
prevent a compiler warning.
METH_O
Methods with a single object argument can be listed with the METH_O flag, instead of invoking
PyArg_ParseTuple() with a "O" argument. They have the type PyCFunction, with the self parameter,
and a PyObject* parameter representing the single argument.
These two constants are not used to indicate the calling convention but the binding when use with methods of classes.
These may not be used for functions defined for modules. At most one of these flags may be set for any given method.

METH_CLASS
The method will be passed the type object as the first parameter rather than an instance of the type. This is
used to create class methods, similar to what is created when using the classmethod() built-in function.
METH_STATIC
The method will be passed NULL as the first parameter rather than an instance of the type. This is used to
create static methods, similar to what is created when using the staticmethod() built-in function.
One other constant controls whether a method is loaded in place of another definition with the same method name.
METH_COEXIST
The method will be loaded in place of existing definitions. Without METH_COEXIST, the default is to skip
repeated definitions. Since slot wrappers are loaded before the method table, the existence of a sq_contains
slot, for example, would generate a wrapped method named __contains__() and preclude the loading of
a corresponding PyCFunction with the same name. With the flag defined, the PyCFunction will be loaded in
place of the wrapper object and will co-exist with the slot. This is helpful because calls to PyCFunctions are
optimized more than wrapper object calls.
PyObject *PyCMethod_New(PyMethodDef *ml, PyObject *self, PyObject *module, PyTypeObject *cls)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Turn ml into a Python callable object.
The caller must ensure that ml outlives the callable. Typically, ml is defined as a static variable.
The self parameter will be passed as the self argument to the C function in ml->ml_meth when invoked. self
can be NULL.
The callable object’s __module__ attribute can be set from the given module argument. module should be a
Python string, which will be used as name of the module the function is defined in. If unavailable, it can be
set to None or NULL.

µ See also
function.__module__

The cls parameter will be passed as the defining_class argument to the C function. Must be set if METH_METHOD
is set on ml->ml_flags.
Added in version 3.9.
PyObject *PyCFunction_NewEx(PyMethodDef *ml, PyObject *self, PyObject *module)
Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI. Equivalent to PyCMethod_New(ml, self, module,
NULL).

PyObject *PyCFunction_New(PyMethodDef *ml, PyObject *self)

Return value: New reference. Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.4. Equivalent to PyCMethod_New(ml,
self, NULL, NULL).

250 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

12.2.3 Accessing attributes of extension types

type PyMemberDef
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Structure which describes an attribute of a type which corre-
sponds to a C struct member. When defining a class, put a NULL-terminated array of these structures in the
tp_members slot.

Its fields are, in order:

const char *name
Name of the member. A NULL value marks the end of a PyMemberDef[] array.
The string should be static, no copy is made of it.
int type
The type of the member in the C struct. See Member types for the possible values.
Py_ssize_t offset
The offset in bytes that the member is located on the type’s object struct.
int flags
Zero or more of the Member flags, combined using bitwise OR.
const char *doc
The docstring, or NULL. The string should be static, no copy is made of it. Typically, it is defined using
PyDoc_STR.

By default (when flags is 0), members allow both read and write access. Use the Py_READONLY flag for
read-only access. Certain types, like Py_T_STRING , imply Py_READONLY . Only Py_T_OBJECT_EX (and
legacy T_OBJECT ) members can be deleted.
For heap-allocated types (created using PyType_FromSpec() or similar), PyMemberDef may contain a def-
inition for the special member "__vectorcalloffset__", corresponding to tp_vectorcall_offset in
type objects. These must be defined with Py_T_PYSSIZET and Py_READONLY, for example:

static PyMemberDef spam_type_members[] = {

{"__vectorcalloffset__", Py_T_PYSSIZET,
offsetof(Spam_object, vectorcall), Py_READONLY},
{NULL} /* Sentinel */
};

(You may need to #include <stddef.h> for offsetof().)

The legacy offsets tp_dictoffset and tp_weaklistoffset can be defined similarly using
"__dictoffset__" and "__weaklistoffset__" members, but extensions are strongly encouraged to
use Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT and Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF instead.
Changed in version 3.12: PyMemberDef is always available. Previously, it required including
"structmember.h".

PyObject *PyMember_GetOne(const char *obj_addr, struct PyMemberDef *m)

Part of the Stable ABI. Get an attribute belonging to the object at address obj_addr. The attribute is described
by PyMemberDef m. Returns NULL on error.
Changed in version 3.12: PyMember_GetOne is always available. Previously, it required including
"structmember.h".
int PyMember_SetOne(char *obj_addr, struct PyMemberDef *m, PyObject *o)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set an attribute belonging to the object at address obj_addr to object o. The attribute
to set is described by PyMemberDef m. Returns 0 if successful and a negative value on failure.
Changed in version 3.12: PyMember_SetOne is always available. Previously, it required including
"structmember.h".

12.2. Common Object Structures 251

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Member flags
The following flags can be used with PyMemberDef.flags:
Py_READONLY
Not writable.
Py_AUDIT_READ
Emit an object.__getattr__ audit event before reading.
Py_RELATIVE_OFFSET
Indicates that the offset of this PyMemberDef entry indicates an offset from the subclass-specific data, rather
than from PyObject.
Can only be used as part of Py_tp_members slot when creating a class using negative basicsize. It is
mandatory in that case.
This flag is only used in PyType_Slot. When setting tp_members during class creation, Python clears it
and sets PyMemberDef.offset to the offset from the PyObject struct.
Changed in version 3.10: The RESTRICTED, READ_RESTRICTED and WRITE_RESTRICTED macros available
with #include "structmember.h" are deprecated. READ_RESTRICTED and RESTRICTED are equivalent to
Py_AUDIT_READ; WRITE_RESTRICTED does nothing.

Changed in version 3.12: The READONLY macro was renamed to Py_READONLY . The PY_AUDIT_READ macro was
renamed with the Py_ prefix. The new names are now always available. Previously, these required #include
"structmember.h". The header is still available and it provides the old names.

Member types
PyMemberDef.type can be one of the following macros corresponding to various C types. When the member is
accessed in Python, it will be converted to the equivalent Python type. When it is set from Python, it will be converted
back to the C type. If that is not possible, an exception such as TypeError or ValueError is raised.
Unless marked (D), attributes defined this way cannot be deleted using e.g. del or delattr().

252 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Macro name C type Python type

char int
Py_T_BYTE

short int
Py_T_SHORT

int int
Py_T_INT

long int
Py_T_LONG

long long int

Py_T_LONGLONG

unsigned char int

Py_T_UBYTE

unsigned int int

Py_T_UINT

unsigned short int

Py_T_USHORT

unsigned long int

Py_T_ULONG

unsigned long long int

Py_T_ULONGLONG

Py_ssize_t int
Py_T_PYSSIZET

float float
Py_T_FLOAT

double float
Py_T_DOUBLE

char (written as 0 or 1) bool

Py_T_BOOL

const char* (*) str (RO)

Py_T_STRING

const char[] (*) str (RO)

Py_T_STRING_INPLACE

char (0-127) str (**)

Py_T_CHAR

PyObject* object (D)

Py_T_OBJECT_EX

(*): Zero-terminated, UTF8-encoded C string. With Py_T_STRING the C representation is a pointer;

with Py_T_STRING_INPLACE the string is stored directly in the structure.

12.2. Common Object Structures 253

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(**): String of length 1. Only ASCII is accepted.

(RO): Implies Py_READONLY .
(D): Can be deleted, in which case the pointer is set to NULL. Reading a NULL pointer raises
AttributeError.

Added in version 3.12: In previous versions, the macros were only available with #include "structmember.h"
and were named without the Py_ prefix (e.g. as T_INT). The header is still available and contains the old names,
along with the following deprecated types:
T_OBJECT
Like Py_T_OBJECT_EX, but NULL is converted to None. This results in surprising behavior in Python: deleting
the attribute effectively sets it to None.
T_NONE
Always None. Must be used with Py_READONLY .

Defining Getters and Setters

type PyGetSetDef
Part of the Stable ABI (including all members). Structure to define property-like access for a type. See also
description of the PyTypeObject.tp_getset slot.
const char *name
attribute name
getter get
C function to get the attribute.
setter set
Optional C function to set or delete the attribute. If NULL, the attribute is read-only.
const char *doc
optional docstring
void *closure
Optional user data pointer, providing additional data for getter and setter.
typedef PyObject *(*getter)(PyObject*, void*)
Part of the Stable ABI. The get function takes one PyObject* parameter (the instance) and a user data
pointer (the associated closure):
It should return a new reference on success or NULL with a set exception on failure.
typedef int (*setter)(PyObject*, PyObject*, void*)
Part of the Stable ABI. set functions take two PyObject* parameters (the instance and the value to be set)
and a user data pointer (the associated closure):
In case the attribute should be deleted the second parameter is NULL. Should return 0 on success or -1 with a
set exception on failure.

12.3 Type Object Structures

Perhaps one of the most important structures of the Python object system is the structure that defines a new type:
the PyTypeObject structure. Type objects can be handled using any of the PyObject_* or PyType_* functions,
but do not offer much that’s interesting to most Python applications. These objects are fundamental to how objects
behave, so they are very important to the interpreter itself and to any extension module that implements new types.
Type objects are fairly large compared to most of the standard types. The reason for the size is that each type object
stores a large number of values, mostly C function pointers, each of which implements a small part of the type’s
functionality. The fields of the type object are examined in detail in this section. The fields will be described in the
order in which they occur in the structure.

254 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

In addition to the following quick reference, the Examples section provides at-a-glance insight into the meaning and
use of PyTypeObject.

12.3.1 Quick Reference

“tp slots”

PyTypeObject SlotPage 256, 1 Type special methods/attrs InfoPage 256, 2

O T D I
<R> tp_name const char * __name__ X X
tp_basicsize Py_ssize_t X X X
tp_itemsize Py_ssize_t X X
tp_dealloc destructor X X X
tp_vectorcall_offset Py_ssize_t X X
(tp_getattr) getattrfunc __getattribute__, __getattr__ G
(tp_setattr) setattrfunc __setattr__, __delattr__ G
tp_as_async PyAsyncMethods * sub-slots %
tp_repr reprfunc __repr__ X X X
tp_as_number PyNumberMethods * sub-slots %
tp_as_sequence PySequenceMethods * sub-slots %
tp_as_mapping PyMappingMethods * sub-slots %
tp_hash hashfunc __hash__ X G
tp_call ternaryfunc __call__ X X
tp_str reprfunc __str__ X X
tp_getattro getattrofunc __getattribute__, __getattr__ X X G
tp_setattro setattrofunc __setattr__, __delattr__ X X G
tp_as_buffer PyBufferProcs * %
tp_flags unsigned long X X ?
tp_doc const char * __doc__ X X
tp_traverse traverseproc X G
tp_clear inquiry X G
tp_richcompare richcmpfunc __lt__, __le__, __eq__, __ne__, X G
__gt__, __ge__
(tp_weaklistoffset) Py_ssize_t X ?
tp_iter getiterfunc __iter__ X
tp_iternext iternextfunc __next__ X
tp_methods PyMethodDef [] X X
tp_members PyMemberDef [] X
tp_getset PyGetSetDef [] X X
tp_base PyTypeObject * __base__ X
tp_dict PyObject * __dict__ ?
tp_descr_get descrgetfunc __get__ X
tp_descr_set descrsetfunc __set__, __delete__ X
(tp_dictoffset) Py_ssize_t X ?
tp_init initproc __init__ X X X
tp_alloc allocfunc X ? ?
tp_new newfunc __new__ X X ? ?
tp_free freefunc X X ? ?
tp_is_gc inquiry X X
<tp_bases> PyObject * __bases__ ~
<tp_mro> PyObject * __mro__ ~
[tp_cache] PyObject *
[tp_subclasses] void * __subclasses__
[tp_weaklist] PyObject *
(tp_del) destructor
[tp_version_tag ] unsigned int
continues on next page

12.3. Type Object Structures 255

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Table 1 – continued from previous page

1
PyTypeObject Slot Type special methods/attrs Info2
O T D I
tp_finalize destructor __del__ X
tp_vectorcall vectorcallfunc
[tp_watched] unsigned char

sub-slots

Slot Type special methods

am_await unaryfunc __await__
am_aiter unaryfunc __aiter__
am_anext unaryfunc __anext__
am_send sendfunc

nb_add binaryfunc __add__ __radd__

nb_inplace_add binaryfunc __iadd__
nb_subtract binaryfunc __sub__ __rsub__
nb_inplace_subtract binaryfunc __isub__
nb_multiply binaryfunc __mul__ __rmul__
nb_inplace_multiply binaryfunc __imul__
nb_remainder binaryfunc __mod__ __rmod__
nb_inplace_remainder binaryfunc __imod__
nb_divmod binaryfunc __divmod__ __rdiv-
mod__
nb_power ternaryfunc __pow__ __rpow__
nb_inplace_power ternaryfunc __ipow__
nb_negative unaryfunc __neg__
nb_positive unaryfunc __pos__
nb_absolute unaryfunc __abs__
nb_bool inquiry __bool__
nb_invert unaryfunc __invert__
nb_lshift binaryfunc __lshift__ __rlshift__
nb_inplace_lshift binaryfunc __ilshift__
nb_rshift binaryfunc __rshift__
__rrshift__
nb_inplace_rshift binaryfunc __irshift__
continues on next page

1 (): A slot name in parentheses indicates it is (effectively) deprecated.

<>: Names in angle brackets should be initially set to NULL and treated as read-only.
[]: Names in square brackets are for internal use only.
<R> (as a prefix) means the field is required (must be non-NULL).
2 Columns:

“O”: set on PyBaseObject_Type

“T”: set on PyType_Type
“D”: default (if slot is set to NULL)
X - PyType_Ready sets this value if it is NULL
~ - PyType_Ready always sets this value (it should be NULL)
? - PyType_Ready may set this value depending on other slots

Also see the inheritance column ("I").

“I”: inheritance
X - type slot is inherited via *PyType_Ready* if defined with a *NULL* value
% - the slots of the sub-struct are inherited individually
G - inherited, but only in combination with other slots; see the slot's description
? - it's complicated; see the slot's description
Note that some slots are effectively inherited through the normal attribute lookup chain.

256 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Table 2 – continued from previous page

Slot Type special methods
nb_and binaryfunc __and__ __rand__
nb_inplace_and binaryfunc __iand__
nb_xor binaryfunc __xor__ __rxor__
nb_inplace_xor binaryfunc __ixor__
nb_or binaryfunc __or__ __ror__
nb_inplace_or binaryfunc __ior__
nb_int unaryfunc __int__
nb_reserved void *
nb_float unaryfunc __float__
nb_floor_divide binaryfunc __floordiv__
nb_inplace_floor_divide binaryfunc __ifloordiv__
nb_true_divide binaryfunc __truediv__
nb_inplace_true_divide binaryfunc __itruediv__
nb_index unaryfunc __index__
nb_matrix_multiply binaryfunc __matmul__ __rmat-
mul__
nb_inplace_matrix_multiply binaryfunc __imatmul__

mp_length lenfunc __len__

mp_subscript binaryfunc __getitem__
mp_ass_subscript objobjargproc __setitem__,
__delitem__

sq_length lenfunc __len__

sq_concat binaryfunc __add__
sq_repeat ssizeargfunc __mul__
sq_item ssizeargfunc __getitem__
sq_ass_item ssizeobjargproc __setitem__
__delitem__
sq_contains objobjproc __contains__
sq_inplace_concat binaryfunc __iadd__
sq_inplace_repeat ssizeargfunc __imul__

bf_getbuffer getbufferproc()
bf_releasebuffer releasebufferproc()

12.3. Type Object Structures 257

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

slot typedefs

typedef Parameter Types Return Type

allocfunc PyObject *

PyTypeObject *
Py_ssize_t

destructor PyObject * void

freefunc void * void
traverseproc int
PyObject *
visitproc
void *

newfunc PyObject *

PyTypeObject *
PyObject *
PyObject *

initproc int
PyObject *
PyObject *
PyObject *

reprfunc PyObject * PyObject *

getattrfunc PyObject *

PyObject *
const char *

setattrfunc int
PyObject *
const char *
PyObject *

getattrofunc PyObject *

PyObject *
PyObject *

setattrofunc int
PyObject *
PyObject *
PyObject *

descrgetfunc PyObject *

PyObject *
PyObject *
PyObject *

descrsetfunc int
PyObject *
PyObject *
258 PyObject * Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

hashfunc PyObject * Py_hash_t

richcmpfunc PyObject *
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

See Slot Type typedefs below for more detail.

12.3.2 PyTypeObject Definition

The structure definition for PyTypeObject can be found in Include/cpython/object.h. For convenience of
reference, this repeats the definition found there:
typedef struct _typeobject {
PyObject_VAR_HEAD
const char *tp_name; /* For printing, in format "<module>.<name>" */
Py_ssize_t tp_basicsize, tp_itemsize; /* For allocation */

/* Methods to implement standard operations */

destructor tp_dealloc;
Py_ssize_t tp_vectorcall_offset;
getattrfunc tp_getattr;
setattrfunc tp_setattr;
PyAsyncMethods *tp_as_async; /* formerly known as tp_compare (Python 2)
or tp_reserved (Python 3) */
reprfunc tp_repr;

/* Method suites for standard classes */

PyNumberMethods *tp_as_number;
PySequenceMethods *tp_as_sequence;
PyMappingMethods *tp_as_mapping;

/* More standard operations (here for binary compatibility) */

hashfunc tp_hash;
ternaryfunc tp_call;
reprfunc tp_str;
getattrofunc tp_getattro;
setattrofunc tp_setattro;

/* Functions to access object as input/output buffer */

PyBufferProcs *tp_as_buffer;

/* Flags to define presence of optional/expanded features */

unsigned long tp_flags;

const char *tp_doc; /* Documentation string */

/* Assigned meaning in release 2.0 */

/* call function for all accessible objects */
traverseproc tp_traverse;

/* delete references to contained objects */

inquiry tp_clear;

/* Assigned meaning in release 2.1 */

/* rich comparisons */
richcmpfunc tp_richcompare;

/* weak reference enabler */

Py_ssize_t tp_weaklistoffset;

(continues on next page)

12.3. Type Object Structures 259

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

/* Iterators */
getiterfunc tp_iter;
iternextfunc tp_iternext;

/* Attribute descriptor and subclassing stuff */

struct PyMethodDef *tp_methods;
struct PyMemberDef *tp_members;
struct PyGetSetDef *tp_getset;
// Strong reference on a heap type, borrowed reference on a static type
struct _typeobject *tp_base;
PyObject *tp_dict;
descrgetfunc tp_descr_get;
descrsetfunc tp_descr_set;
Py_ssize_t tp_dictoffset;
initproc tp_init;
allocfunc tp_alloc;
newfunc tp_new;
freefunc tp_free; /* Low-level free-memory routine */
inquiry tp_is_gc; /* For PyObject_IS_GC */
PyObject *tp_bases;
PyObject *tp_mro; /* method resolution order */
PyObject *tp_cache;
PyObject *tp_subclasses;
PyObject *tp_weaklist;
destructor tp_del;

/* Type attribute cache version tag. Added in version 2.6 */

unsigned int tp_version_tag;

destructor tp_finalize;
vectorcallfunc tp_vectorcall;

/* bitset of which type-watchers care about this type */

unsigned char tp_watched;
} PyTypeObject;

12.3.3 PyObject Slots

The type object structure extends the PyVarObject structure. The ob_size field is used for dynamic types (cre-
ated by type_new(), usually called from a class statement). Note that PyType_Type (the metatype) initializes
tp_itemsize, which means that its instances (i.e. type objects) must have the ob_size field.
Py_ssize_t PyObject.ob_refcnt
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the type object’s reference count, initialized to 1 by the PyObject_HEAD_INIT
macro. Note that for statically allocated type objects, the type’s instances (objects whose ob_type points back
to the type) do not count as references. But for dynamically allocated type objects, the instances do count as
references.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes.
PyTypeObject *PyObject.ob_type
Part of the Stable ABI. This is the type’s type, in other words its metatype. It is initialized by the argument to the
PyObject_HEAD_INIT macro, and its value should normally be &PyType_Type. However, for dynamically
loadable extension modules that must be usable on Windows (at least), the compiler complains that this is not
a valid initializer. Therefore, the convention is to pass NULL to the PyObject_HEAD_INIT macro and to

260 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

initialize this field explicitly at the start of the module’s initialization function, before doing anything else. This
is typically done like this:

Foo_Type.ob_type = &PyType_Type;

This should be done before any instances of the type are created. PyType_Ready() checks if ob_type is
NULL, and if so, initializes it to the ob_type field of the base class. PyType_Ready() will not change this
field if it is non-zero.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
PyObject *PyObject._ob_next
PyObject *PyObject._ob_prev
These fields are only present when the macro Py_TRACE_REFS is defined (see the configure
--with-trace-refs option).

Their initialization to NULL is taken care of by the PyObject_HEAD_INIT macro. For statically allocated
objects, these fields always remain NULL. For dynamically allocated objects, these two fields are used to link the
object into a doubly linked list of all live objects on the heap.
This could be used for various debugging purposes; currently the only uses are the sys.getobjects()
function and to print the objects that are still alive at the end of a run when the environment variable
PYTHONDUMPREFS is set.
Inheritance:
These fields are not inherited by subtypes.

12.3.4 PyVarObject Slots

Py_ssize_t PyVarObject.ob_size
Part of the Stable ABI. For statically allocated type objects, this should be initialized to zero. For dynamically
allocated type objects, this field has a special internal meaning.
This field should be accessed using the Py_SIZE() and Py_SET_SIZE() macros.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes.

12.3.5 PyTypeObject Slots

Each slot has a section describing inheritance. If PyType_Ready() may set a value when the field is set to NULL
then there will also be a “Default” section. (Note that many fields set on PyBaseObject_Type and PyType_Type
effectively act as defaults.)
const char *PyTypeObject.tp_name
Pointer to a NUL-terminated string containing the name of the type. For types that are accessible as module
globals, the string should be the full module name, followed by a dot, followed by the type name; for built-in
types, it should be just the type name. If the module is a submodule of a package, the full package name is
part of the full module name. For example, a type named T defined in module M in subpackage Q in package
P should have the tp_name initializer "P.Q.M.T".

For dynamically allocated type objects, this should just be the type name, and the module name explicitly stored
in the type dict as the value for key '__module__'.
For statically allocated type objects, the tp_name field should contain a dot. Everything before the last dot
is made accessible as the __module__ attribute, and everything after the last dot is made accessible as the
__name__ attribute.

If no dot is present, the entire tp_name field is made accessible as the __name__ attribute, and the
__module__ attribute is undefined (unless explicitly set in the dictionary, as explained above). This means

12.3. Type Object Structures 261

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

your type will be impossible to pickle. Additionally, it will not be listed in module documentations created
with pydoc.
This field must not be NULL. It is the only required field in PyTypeObject() (other than potentially
tp_itemsize).
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes.
Py_ssize_t PyTypeObject.tp_basicsize
Py_ssize_t PyTypeObject.tp_itemsize
These fields allow calculating the size in bytes of instances of the type.
There are two kinds of types: types with fixed-length instances have a zero tp_itemsize field, types
with variable-length instances have a non-zero tp_itemsize field. For a type with fixed-length instances,
all instances have the same size, given in tp_basicsize. (Exceptions to this rule can be made using
PyUnstable_Object_GC_NewWithExtraData().)

For a type with variable-length instances, the instances must have an ob_size field, and the instance size is
tp_basicsize plus N times tp_itemsize, where N is the “length” of the object.

Functions like PyObject_NewVar() will take the value of N as an argument, and store in the instance’s
ob_size field. Note that the ob_size field may later be used for other purposes. For example, int instances
use the bits of ob_size in an implementation-defined way; the underlying storage and its size should be
acessed using PyLong_Export().

® Note

The ob_size field should be accessed using the Py_SIZE() and Py_SET_SIZE() macros.

Also, the presence of an ob_size field in the instance layout doesn’t mean that the instance structure is variable-
length. For example, the list type has fixed-length instances, yet those instances have a ob_size field. (As
with int, avoid reading lists’ ob_size directly. Call PyList_Size() instead.)
The tp_basicsize includes size needed for data of the type’s tp_base, plus any extra data needed by each
instance.
The correct way to set tp_basicsize is to use the sizeof operator on the struct used to declare the instance
layout. This struct must include the struct used to declare the base type. In other words, tp_basicsize must
be greater than or equal to the base’s tp_basicsize.
Since every type is a subtype of object, this struct must include PyObject or PyVarObject (depend-
ing on whether ob_size should be included). These are usually defined by the macro PyObject_HEAD or
PyObject_VAR_HEAD, respectively.

The basic size does not include the GC header size, as that header is not part of PyObject_HEAD.
For cases where struct used to declare the base type is unknown, see PyType_Spec.basicsize and
PyType_FromMetaclass().
Notes about alignment:
• tp_basicsize must be a multiple of _Alignof(PyObject). When using sizeof on a struct that
includes PyObject_HEAD, as recommended, the compiler ensures this. When not using a C struct,
or when using compiler extensions like __attribute__((packed)), it is up to you.
• If the variable items require a particular alignment, tp_basicsize and tp_itemsize must each be a
multiple of that alignment. For example, if a type’s variable part stores a double, it is your responsibility
that both fields are a multiple of _Alignof(double).
Inheritance:
These fields are inherited separately by subtypes. (That is, if the field is set to zero, PyType_Ready() will
copy the value from the base type, indicating that the instances do not need additional storage.)

262 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If the base type has a non-zero tp_itemsize, it is generally not safe to set tp_itemsize to a different
non-zero value in a subtype (though this depends on the implementation of the base type).
destructor PyTypeObject.tp_dealloc
A pointer to the instance destructor function. This function must be defined unless the type guarantees that
its instances will never be deallocated (as is the case for the singletons None and Ellipsis). The function
signature is:

void tp_dealloc(PyObject *self);

The destructor function is called by the Py_DECREF() and Py_XDECREF() macros when the new reference
count is zero. At this point, the instance is still in existence, but there are no references to it. The destructor
function should free all references which the instance owns, free all memory buffers owned by the instance
(using the freeing function corresponding to the allocation function used to allocate the buffer), and call the
type’s tp_free function. If the type is not subtypable (doesn’t have the Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE flag bit set),
it is permissible to call the object deallocator directly instead of via tp_free. The object deallocator should
be the one used to allocate the instance; this is normally PyObject_Del() if the instance was allocated
using PyObject_New or PyObject_NewVar, or PyObject_GC_Del() if the instance was allocated using
PyObject_GC_New or PyObject_GC_NewVar.

If the type supports garbage collection (has the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit set), the destructor should call
PyObject_GC_UnTrack() before clearing any member fields.

static void foo_dealloc(foo_object *self) {

PyObject_GC_UnTrack(self);
Py_CLEAR(self->ref);
Py_TYPE(self)->tp_free((PyObject *)self);
}

Finally, if the type is heap allocated (Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE), the deallocator should release the owned
reference to its type object (via Py_DECREF()) after calling the type deallocator. In order to avoid dangling
pointers, the recommended way to achieve this is:

static void foo_dealloc(foo_object *self) {

PyTypeObject *tp = Py_TYPE(self);
// free references and buffers here
tp->tp_free(self);
Py_DECREF(tp);
}

Á Warning

In a garbage collected Python, tp_dealloc may be called from any Python thread, not just the thread
which created the object (if the object becomes part of a refcount cycle, that cycle might be collected by a
garbage collection on any thread). This is not a problem for Python API calls, since the thread on which
tp_dealloc is called will own the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL). However, if the object being destroyed
in turn destroys objects from some other C or C++ library, care should be taken to ensure that destroying
those objects on the thread which called tp_dealloc will not violate any assumptions of the library.

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Py_ssize_t PyTypeObject.tp_vectorcall_offset
An optional offset to a per-instance function that implements calling the object using the vectorcall protocol, a
more efficient alternative of the simpler tp_call.
This field is only used if the flag Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL is set. If so, this must be a positive integer
containing the offset in the instance of a vectorcallfunc pointer.

12.3. Type Object Structures 263

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The vectorcallfunc pointer may be NULL, in which case the instance behaves as if
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL was not set: calling the instance falls back to tp_call.

Any class that sets Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL must also set tp_call and make sure its behaviour is
consistent with the vectorcallfunc function. This can be done by setting tp_call to PyVectorcall_Call().
Changed in version 3.8: Before version 3.8, this slot was named tp_print. In Python 2.x, it was used for
printing to a file. In Python 3.0 to 3.7, it was unused.
Changed in version 3.12: Before version 3.12, it was not recommended for mutable heap types to implement
the vectorcall protocol. When a user sets __call__ in Python code, only tp_call is updated, likely making it
inconsistent with the vectorcall function. Since 3.12, setting __call__ will disable vectorcall optimization by
clearing the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL flag.
Inheritance:
This field is always inherited. However, the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL flag is not always inherited. If
it’s not set, then the subclass won’t use vectorcall, except when PyVectorcall_Call() is explicitly called.
getattrfunc PyTypeObject.tp_getattr
An optional pointer to the get-attribute-string function.
This field is deprecated. When it is defined, it should point to a function that acts the same as the tp_getattro
function, but taking a C string instead of a Python string object to give the attribute name.
Inheritance:
Group: tp_getattr, tp_getattro
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_getattro: a subtype inherits both tp_getattr and
tp_getattro from its base type when the subtype’s tp_getattr and tp_getattro are both NULL.
setattrfunc PyTypeObject.tp_setattr
An optional pointer to the function for setting and deleting attributes.
This field is deprecated. When it is defined, it should point to a function that acts the same as the tp_setattro
function, but taking a C string instead of a Python string object to give the attribute name.
Inheritance:
Group: tp_setattr, tp_setattro
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_setattro: a subtype inherits both tp_setattr and
tp_setattro from its base type when the subtype’s tp_setattr and tp_setattro are both NULL.
PyAsyncMethods *PyTypeObject.tp_as_async
Pointer to an additional structure that contains fields relevant only to objects which implement awaitable and
asynchronous iterator protocols at the C-level. See Async Object Structures for details.
Added in version 3.5: Formerly known as tp_compare and tp_reserved.
Inheritance:
The tp_as_async field is not inherited, but the contained fields are inherited individually.
reprfunc PyTypeObject.tp_repr
An optional pointer to a function that implements the built-in function repr().
The signature is the same as for PyObject_Repr():

PyObject *tp_repr(PyObject *self);

The function must return a string or a Unicode object. Ideally, this function should return a string that, when
passed to eval(), given a suitable environment, returns an object with the same value. If this is not feasible,
it should return a string starting with '<' and ending with '>' from which both the type and the value of the
object can be deduced.
Inheritance:

264 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This field is inherited by subtypes.

Default:
When this field is not set, a string of the form <%s object at %p> is returned, where %s is replaced by the
type name, and %p by the object’s memory address.
PyNumberMethods *PyTypeObject.tp_as_number
Pointer to an additional structure that contains fields relevant only to objects which implement the number
protocol. These fields are documented in Number Object Structures.
Inheritance:
The tp_as_number field is not inherited, but the contained fields are inherited individually.
PySequenceMethods *PyTypeObject.tp_as_sequence
Pointer to an additional structure that contains fields relevant only to objects which implement the sequence
protocol. These fields are documented in Sequence Object Structures.
Inheritance:
The tp_as_sequence field is not inherited, but the contained fields are inherited individually.
PyMappingMethods *PyTypeObject.tp_as_mapping
Pointer to an additional structure that contains fields relevant only to objects which implement the mapping
protocol. These fields are documented in Mapping Object Structures.
Inheritance:
The tp_as_mapping field is not inherited, but the contained fields are inherited individually.
hashfunc PyTypeObject.tp_hash
An optional pointer to a function that implements the built-in function hash().
The signature is the same as for PyObject_Hash():

Py_hash_t tp_hash(PyObject *);

The value -1 should not be returned as a normal return value; when an error occurs during the computation
of the hash value, the function should set an exception and return -1.
When this field is not set (and tp_richcompare is not set), an attempt to take the hash of the object raises
TypeError. This is the same as setting it to PyObject_HashNotImplemented().

This field can be set explicitly to PyObject_HashNotImplemented() to block inheritance of the hash
method from a parent type. This is interpreted as the equivalent of __hash__ = None at the Python level,
causing isinstance(o, collections.Hashable) to correctly return False. Note that the converse is
also true - setting __hash__ = None on a class at the Python level will result in the tp_hash slot being set
to PyObject_HashNotImplemented().
Inheritance:
Group: tp_hash, tp_richcompare
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_richcompare: a subtype inherits both of
tp_richcompare and tp_hash, when the subtype’s tp_richcompare and tp_hash are both NULL.

ternaryfunc PyTypeObject.tp_call
An optional pointer to a function that implements calling the object. This should be NULL if the object is not
callable. The signature is the same as for PyObject_Call():

PyObject *tp_call(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs);

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.

12.3. Type Object Structures 265

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

reprfunc PyTypeObject.tp_str
An optional pointer to a function that implements the built-in operation str(). (Note that str is a type now,
and str() calls the constructor for that type. This constructor calls PyObject_Str() to do the actual work,
and PyObject_Str() will call this handler.)
The signature is the same as for PyObject_Str():

PyObject *tp_str(PyObject *self);

The function must return a string or a Unicode object. It should be a “friendly” string representation of the
object, as this is the representation that will be used, among other things, by the print() function.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Default:
When this field is not set, PyObject_Repr() is called to return a string representation.
getattrofunc PyTypeObject.tp_getattro
An optional pointer to the get-attribute function.
The signature is the same as for PyObject_GetAttr():

PyObject *tp_getattro(PyObject *self, PyObject *attr);

It is usually convenient to set this field to PyObject_GenericGetAttr(), which implements the normal
way of looking for object attributes.
Inheritance:
Group: tp_getattr, tp_getattro
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_getattr: a subtype inherits both tp_getattr and
tp_getattro from its base type when the subtype’s tp_getattr and tp_getattro are both NULL.

Default:
PyBaseObject_Type uses PyObject_GenericGetAttr().

setattrofunc PyTypeObject.tp_setattro
An optional pointer to the function for setting and deleting attributes.
The signature is the same as for PyObject_SetAttr():

int tp_setattro(PyObject *self, PyObject *attr, PyObject *value);

In addition, setting value to NULL to delete an attribute must be supported. It is usually convenient to set this
field to PyObject_GenericSetAttr(), which implements the normal way of setting object attributes.
Inheritance:
Group: tp_setattr, tp_setattro
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_setattr: a subtype inherits both tp_setattr and
tp_setattro from its base type when the subtype’s tp_setattr and tp_setattro are both NULL.

Default:
PyBaseObject_Type uses PyObject_GenericSetAttr().

PyBufferProcs *PyTypeObject.tp_as_buffer
Pointer to an additional structure that contains fields relevant only to objects which implement the buffer in-
terface. These fields are documented in Buffer Object Structures.
Inheritance:
The tp_as_buffer field is not inherited, but the contained fields are inherited individually.

266 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

unsigned long PyTypeObject.tp_flags

This field is a bit mask of various flags. Some flags indicate variant semantics for certain situations; oth-
ers are used to indicate that certain fields in the type object (or in the extension structures referenced via
tp_as_number, tp_as_sequence, tp_as_mapping , and tp_as_buffer) that were historically not al-
ways present are valid; if such a flag bit is clear, the type fields it guards must not be accessed and must be
considered to have a zero or NULL value instead.
Inheritance:
Inheritance of this field is complicated. Most flag bits are inherited individually, i.e. if the base type has a flag
bit set, the subtype inherits this flag bit. The flag bits that pertain to extension structures are strictly inherited if
the extension structure is inherited, i.e. the base type’s value of the flag bit is copied into the subtype together
with a pointer to the extension structure. The Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is inherited together with the
tp_traverse and tp_clear fields, i.e. if the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is clear in the subtype and
the tp_traverse and tp_clear fields in the subtype exist and have NULL values. .. XXX are most flag bits
really inherited individually?
Default:
PyBaseObject_Type uses Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE.

Bit Masks:
The following bit masks are currently defined; these can be ORed together using the | operator to form the
value of the tp_flags field. The macro PyType_HasFeature() takes a type and a flags value, tp and f,
and checks whether tp->tp_flags & f is non-zero.
Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE
This bit is set when the type object itself is allocated on the heap, for example, types created dynamically
using PyType_FromSpec(). In this case, the ob_type field of its instances is considered a reference
to the type, and the type object is INCREF’ed when a new instance is created, and DECREF’ed when
an instance is destroyed (this does not apply to instances of subtypes; only the type referenced by the
instance’s ob_type gets INCREF’ed or DECREF’ed). Heap types should also support garbage collection
as they can form a reference cycle with their own module object.
Inheritance:
???
Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE
This bit is set when the type can be used as the base type of another type. If this bit is clear, the type
cannot be subtyped (similar to a “final” class in Java).
Inheritance:
???
Py_TPFLAGS_READY
This bit is set when the type object has been fully initialized by PyType_Ready().
Inheritance:
???
Py_TPFLAGS_READYING
This bit is set while PyType_Ready() is in the process of initializing the type object.
Inheritance:
???
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC
This bit is set when the object supports garbage collection. If this bit is set, instances must be created
using PyObject_GC_New and destroyed using PyObject_GC_Del(). More information in section
Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection. This bit also implies that the GC-related fields tp_traverse and
tp_clear are present in the type object.

12.3. Type Object Structures 267

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Inheritance:
Group: Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC , tp_traverse, tp_clear
The Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is inherited together with the tp_traverse and tp_clear fields,
i.e. if the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is clear in the subtype and the tp_traverse and tp_clear
fields in the subtype exist and have NULL values.
Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT
This is a bitmask of all the bits that pertain to the existence of certain fields in the
type object and its extension structures. Currently, it includes the following bits:
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_STACKLESS_EXTENSION.
Inheritance:
???
Py_TPFLAGS_METHOD_DESCRIPTOR
This bit indicates that objects behave like unbound methods.
If this flag is set for type(meth), then:
• meth.__get__(obj, cls)(*args, **kwds) (with obj not None) must be equivalent to
meth(obj, *args, **kwds).

• meth.__get__(None, cls)(*args, **kwds) must be equivalent to meth(*args,

**kwds).

This flag enables an optimization for typical method calls like obj.meth(): it avoids creating a tempo-
rary “bound method” object for obj.meth.
Added in version 3.8.
Inheritance:
This flag is never inherited by types without the Py_TPFLAGS_IMMUTABLETYPE flag set. For extension
types, it is inherited whenever tp_descr_get is inherited.
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT
This bit indicates that instances of the class have a ~object.__dict__ attribute, and that the space for the
dictionary is managed by the VM.
If this flag is set, Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC should also be set.
Added in version 3.12.
Inheritance:
This flag is inherited unless the tp_dictoffset field is set in a superclass.
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF
This bit indicates that instances of the class should be weakly referenceable.
Added in version 3.12.
Inheritance:
This flag is inherited unless the tp_weaklistoffset field is set in a superclass.
Py_TPFLAGS_ITEMS_AT_END
Only usable with variable-size types, i.e. ones with non-zero tp_itemsize.
Indicates that the variable-sized portion of an instance of this type is at the end of the instance’s memory
area, at an offset of Py_TYPE(obj)->tp_basicsize (which may be different in each subclass).
When setting this flag, be sure that all superclasses either use this memory layout, or are not variable-
sized. Python does not check this.
Added in version 3.12.

268 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Inheritance:
This flag is inherited.
Py_TPFLAGS_LONG_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_LIST_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_TUPLE_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_BYTES_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_DICT_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_BASE_EXC_SUBCLASS

Py_TPFLAGS_TYPE_SUBCLASS
These flags are used by functions such as PyLong_Check() to quickly determine if a type is a subclass
of a built-in type; such specific checks are faster than a generic check, like PyObject_IsInstance().
Custom types that inherit from built-ins should have their tp_flags set appropriately, or the code that
interacts with such types will behave differently depending on what kind of check is used.
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_FINALIZE
This bit is set when the tp_finalize slot is present in the type structure.
Added in version 3.4.
Deprecated since version 3.8: This flag isn’t necessary anymore, as the interpreter assumes the
tp_finalize slot is always present in the type structure.

Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL
This bit is set when the class implements the vectorcall protocol. See tp_vectorcall_offset for
details.
Inheritance:
This bit is inherited if tp_call is also inherited.
Added in version 3.9.
Changed in version 3.12: This flag is now removed from a class when the class’s __call__() method
is reassigned.
This flag can now be inherited by mutable classes.
Py_TPFLAGS_IMMUTABLETYPE
This bit is set for type objects that are immutable: type attributes cannot be set nor deleted.
PyType_Ready() automatically applies this flag to static types.

Inheritance:
This flag is not inherited.
Added in version 3.10.
Py_TPFLAGS_DISALLOW_INSTANTIATION
Disallow creating instances of the type: set tp_new to NULL and don’t create the __new__ key in the
type dictionary.
The flag must be set before creating the type, not after. For example, it must be set before
PyType_Ready() is called on the type.

The flag is set automatically on static types if tp_base is NULL or &PyBaseObject_Type and tp_new
is NULL.
Inheritance:

12.3. Type Object Structures 269

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This flag is not inherited. However, subclasses will not be instantiable unless they provide a non-NULL
tp_new (which is only possible via the C API).

® Note

To disallow instantiating a class directly but allow instantiating its subclasses (e.g. for an abstract base
class), do not use this flag. Instead, make tp_new only succeed for subclasses.

Added in version 3.10.

Py_TPFLAGS_MAPPING
This bit indicates that instances of the class may match mapping patterns when used as the subject of
a match block. It is automatically set when registering or subclassing collections.abc.Mapping,
and unset when registering collections.abc.Sequence.

® Note

Py_TPFLAGS_MAPPING and Py_TPFLAGS_SEQUENCE are mutually exclusive; it is an error to en-

able both flags simultaneously.

Inheritance:
This flag is inherited by types that do not already set Py_TPFLAGS_SEQUENCE.

µ See also

PEP 634 – Structural Pattern Matching: Specification

Added in version 3.10.

Py_TPFLAGS_SEQUENCE
This bit indicates that instances of the class may match sequence patterns when used as the subject of
a match block. It is automatically set when registering or subclassing collections.abc.Sequence,
and unset when registering collections.abc.Mapping.

® Note

Py_TPFLAGS_MAPPING and Py_TPFLAGS_SEQUENCE are mutually exclusive; it is an error to en-

able both flags simultaneously.

Inheritance:
This flag is inherited by types that do not already set Py_TPFLAGS_MAPPING .

µ See also

PEP 634 – Structural Pattern Matching: Specification

Added in version 3.10.

Py_TPFLAGS_VALID_VERSION_TAG
Internal. Do not set or unset this flag. To indicate that a class has changed call PyType_Modified()

270 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Á Warning

This flag is present in header files, but is an internal feature and should not be used. It will be removed
in a future version of CPython

const char *PyTypeObject.tp_doc

An optional pointer to a NUL-terminated C string giving the docstring for this type object. This is exposed as
the __doc__ attribute on the type and instances of the type.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes.
traverseproc PyTypeObject.tp_traverse
An optional pointer to a traversal function for the garbage collector. This is only used if the
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is set. The signature is:

int tp_traverse(PyObject *self, visitproc visit, void *arg);

More information about Python’s garbage collection scheme can be found in section Supporting Cyclic Garbage
Collection.
The tp_traverse pointer is used by the garbage collector to detect reference cycles. A typical implemen-
tation of a tp_traverse function simply calls Py_VISIT() on each of the instance’s members that are
Python objects that the instance owns. For example, this is function local_traverse() from the _thread
extension module:

static int
local_traverse(localobject *self, visitproc visit, void *arg)
{
Py_VISIT(self->args);
Py_VISIT(self->kw);
Py_VISIT(self->dict);
return 0;
}

Note that Py_VISIT() is called only on those members that can participate in reference cycles. Although
there is also a self->key member, it can only be NULL or a Python string and therefore cannot be part of a
reference cycle.
On the other hand, even if you know a member can never be part of a cycle, as a debugging aid you may want
to visit it anyway just so the gc module’s get_referents() function will include it.

Á Warning

When implementing tp_traverse, only the members that the instance owns (by having strong references
to them) must be visited. For instance, if an object supports weak references via the tp_weaklist slot,
the pointer supporting the linked list (what tp_weaklist points to) must not be visited as the instance does
not directly own the weak references to itself (the weakreference list is there to support the weak reference
machinery, but the instance has no strong reference to the elements inside it, as they are allowed to be
removed even if the instance is still alive).

Note that Py_VISIT() requires the visit and arg parameters to local_traverse() to have these specific
names; don’t name them just anything.
Instances of heap-allocated types hold a reference to their type. Their traversal function must therefore either
visit Py_TYPE(self), or delegate this responsibility by calling tp_traverse of another heap-allocated type
(such as a heap-allocated superclass). If they do not, the type object may not be garbage-collected.

12.3. Type Object Structures 271

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.9: Heap-allocated types are expected to visit Py_TYPE(self) in tp_traverse. In
earlier versions of Python, due to bug 40217, doing this may lead to crashes in subclasses.
Inheritance:
Group: Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC , tp_traverse, tp_clear
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_clear and the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit: the flag
bit, tp_traverse, and tp_clear are all inherited from the base type if they are all zero in the subtype.
inquiry PyTypeObject.tp_clear
An optional pointer to a clear function for the garbage collector. This is only used if the
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit is set. The signature is:

int tp_clear(PyObject *);

The tp_clear member function is used to break reference cycles in cyclic garbage detected by the garbage
collector. Taken together, all tp_clear functions in the system must combine to break all reference cycles.
This is subtle, and if in any doubt supply a tp_clear function. For example, the tuple type does not implement
a tp_clear function, because it’s possible to prove that no reference cycle can be composed entirely of tuples.
Therefore the tp_clear functions of other types must be sufficient to break any cycle containing a tuple. This
isn’t immediately obvious, and there’s rarely a good reason to avoid implementing tp_clear.
Implementations of tp_clear should drop the instance’s references to those of its members that may be
Python objects, and set its pointers to those members to NULL, as in the following example:

static int
local_clear(localobject *self)
{
Py_CLEAR(self->key);
Py_CLEAR(self->args);
Py_CLEAR(self->kw);
Py_CLEAR(self->dict);
return 0;
}

The Py_CLEAR() macro should be used, because clearing references is delicate: the reference to the contained
object must not be released (via Py_DECREF()) until after the pointer to the contained object is set to NULL.
This is because releasing the reference may cause the contained object to become trash, triggering a chain of
reclamation activity that may include invoking arbitrary Python code (due to finalizers, or weakref callbacks,
associated with the contained object). If it’s possible for such code to reference self again, it’s important that
the pointer to the contained object be NULL at that time, so that self knows the contained object can no longer
be used. The Py_CLEAR() macro performs the operations in a safe order.
Note that tp_clear is not always called before an instance is deallocated. For example, when reference
counting is enough to determine that an object is no longer used, the cyclic garbage collector is not involved
and tp_dealloc is called directly.
Because the goal of tp_clear functions is to break reference cycles, it’s not necessary to clear contained
objects like Python strings or Python integers, which can’t participate in reference cycles. On the other hand, it
may be convenient to clear all contained Python objects, and write the type’s tp_dealloc function to invoke
tp_clear.

More information about Python’s garbage collection scheme can be found in section Supporting Cyclic Garbage
Collection.
Inheritance:
Group: Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC , tp_traverse, tp_clear
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_traverse and the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit: the
flag bit, tp_traverse, and tp_clear are all inherited from the base type if they are all zero in the subtype.

272 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

richcmpfunc PyTypeObject.tp_richcompare
An optional pointer to the rich comparison function, whose signature is:

PyObject *tp_richcompare(PyObject *self, PyObject *other, int op);

The first parameter is guaranteed to be an instance of the type that is defined by PyTypeObject.
The function should return the result of the comparison (usually Py_True or Py_False). If the comparison
is undefined, it must return Py_NotImplemented, if another error occurred it must return NULL and set an
exception condition.
The following constants are defined to be used as the third argument for tp_richcompare and for
PyObject_RichCompare():

Constant Comparison
<
Py_LT

<=
Py_LE

==
Py_EQ

!=
Py_NE

>
Py_GT

>=
Py_GE

The following macro is defined to ease writing rich comparison functions:

Py_RETURN_RICHCOMPARE(VAL_A, VAL_B, op)
Return Py_True or Py_False from the function, depending on the result of a comparison. VAL_A
and VAL_B must be orderable by C comparison operators (for example, they may be C ints or floats).
The third argument specifies the requested operation, as for PyObject_RichCompare().
The returned value is a new strong reference.
On error, sets an exception and returns NULL from the function.
Added in version 3.7.
Inheritance:
Group: tp_hash, tp_richcompare
This field is inherited by subtypes together with tp_hash: a subtype inherits tp_richcompare and tp_hash
when the subtype’s tp_richcompare and tp_hash are both NULL.
Default:
PyBaseObject_Type provides a tp_richcompare implementation, which may be inherited. However, if
only tp_hash is defined, not even the inherited function is used and instances of the type will not be able to
participate in any comparisons.

12.3. Type Object Structures 273

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_ssize_t PyTypeObject.tp_weaklistoffset
While this field is still supported, Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF should be used instead, if at all possible.
If the instances of this type are weakly referenceable, this field is greater than zero and contains the offset in
the instance structure of the weak reference list head (ignoring the GC header, if present); this offset is used by
PyObject_ClearWeakRefs() and the PyWeakref_* functions. The instance structure needs to include a
field of type PyObject* which is initialized to NULL.
Do not confuse this field with tp_weaklist; that is the list head for weak references to the type object itself.
It is an error to set both the Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF bit and tp_weaklistoffset.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes, but see the rules listed below. A subtype may override this offset; this means
that the subtype uses a different weak reference list head than the base type. Since the list head is always found
via tp_weaklistoffset, this should not be a problem.
Default:
If the Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF bit is set in the tp_flags field, then tp_weaklistoffset will
be set to a negative value, to indicate that it is unsafe to use this field.
getiterfunc PyTypeObject.tp_iter
An optional pointer to a function that returns an iterator for the object. Its presence normally signals that the
instances of this type are iterable (although sequences may be iterable without this function).
This function has the same signature as PyObject_GetIter():

PyObject *tp_iter(PyObject *self);

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
iternextfunc PyTypeObject.tp_iternext
An optional pointer to a function that returns the next item in an iterator. The signature is:

PyObject *tp_iternext(PyObject *self);

When the iterator is exhausted, it must return NULL; a StopIteration exception may or may not be set.
When another error occurs, it must return NULL too. Its presence signals that the instances of this type are
iterators.
Iterator types should also define the tp_iter function, and that function should return the iterator instance
itself (not a new iterator instance).
This function has the same signature as PyIter_Next().
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
struct PyMethodDef *PyTypeObject.tp_methods
An optional pointer to a static NULL-terminated array of PyMethodDef structures, declaring regular methods
of this type.
For each entry in the array, an entry is added to the type’s dictionary (see tp_dict below) containing a method
descriptor.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes (methods are inherited through a different mechanism).

274 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

struct PyMemberDef *PyTypeObject.tp_members

An optional pointer to a static NULL-terminated array of PyMemberDef structures, declaring regular data
members (fields or slots) of instances of this type.
For each entry in the array, an entry is added to the type’s dictionary (see tp_dict below) containing a member
descriptor.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes (members are inherited through a different mechanism).
struct PyGetSetDef *PyTypeObject.tp_getset
An optional pointer to a static NULL-terminated array of PyGetSetDef structures, declaring computed at-
tributes of instances of this type.
For each entry in the array, an entry is added to the type’s dictionary (see tp_dict below) containing a getset
descriptor.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes (computed attributes are inherited through a different mechanism).
PyTypeObject *PyTypeObject.tp_base
An optional pointer to a base type from which type properties are inherited. At this level, only single inheritance
is supported; multiple inheritance require dynamically creating a type object by calling the metatype.

® Note

Slot initialization is subject to the rules of initializing globals. C99 requires the initializers to be “address
constants”. Function designators like PyType_GenericNew(), with implicit conversion to a pointer, are
valid C99 address constants.
However, the unary ‘&’ operator applied to a non-static variable like PyBaseObject_Type is not required
to produce an address constant. Compilers may support this (gcc does), MSVC does not. Both compilers
are strictly standard conforming in this particular behavior.
Consequently, tp_base should be set in the extension module’s init function.

Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes (obviously).
Default:
This field defaults to &PyBaseObject_Type (which to Python programmers is known as the type object).
PyObject *PyTypeObject.tp_dict
The type’s dictionary is stored here by PyType_Ready().
This field should normally be initialized to NULL before PyType_Ready is called; it may also be initialized to
a dictionary containing initial attributes for the type. Once PyType_Ready() has initialized the type, extra
attributes for the type may be added to this dictionary only if they don’t correspond to overloaded operations
(like __add__()). Once initialization for the type has finished, this field should be treated as read-only.
Some types may not store their dictionary in this slot. Use PyType_GetDict() to retrieve the dictionary for
an arbitrary type.
Changed in version 3.12: Internals detail: For static builtin types, this is always NULL. Instead, the dict for such
types is stored on PyInterpreterState. Use PyType_GetDict() to get the dict for an arbitrary type.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited by subtypes (though the attributes defined in here are inherited through a different
mechanism).
Default:

12.3. Type Object Structures 275

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

If this field is NULL, PyType_Ready() will assign a new dictionary to it.

Á Warning

It is not safe to use PyDict_SetItem() on or otherwise modify tp_dict with the dictionary C-API.

descrgetfunc PyTypeObject.tp_descr_get
An optional pointer to a “descriptor get” function.
The function signature is:

PyObject * tp_descr_get(PyObject *self, PyObject *obj, PyObject *type);

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
descrsetfunc PyTypeObject.tp_descr_set
An optional pointer to a function for setting and deleting a descriptor’s value.
The function signature is:

int tp_descr_set(PyObject *self, PyObject *obj, PyObject *value);

The value argument is set to NULL to delete the value.

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Py_ssize_t PyTypeObject.tp_dictoffset
While this field is still supported, Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT should be used instead, if at all possible.
If the instances of this type have a dictionary containing instance variables, this field is non-zero and
contains the offset in the instances of the type of the instance variable dictionary; this offset is used by
PyObject_GenericGetAttr().

Do not confuse this field with tp_dict; that is the dictionary for attributes of the type object itself.
The value specifies the offset of the dictionary from the start of the instance structure.
The tp_dictoffset should be regarded as write-only. To get the pointer to the dictionary call
PyObject_GenericGetDict(). Calling PyObject_GenericGetDict() may need to allocate memory
for the dictionary, so it is may be more efficient to call PyObject_GetAttr() when accessing an attribute
on the object.
It is an error to set both the Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT bit and tp_dictoffset.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes. A subtype should not override this offset; doing so could be un-
safe, if C code tries to access the dictionary at the previous offset. To properly support inheritance, use
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT .

Default:
This slot has no default. For static types, if the field is NULL then no __dict__ gets created for instances.
If the Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT bit is set in the tp_dict field, then tp_dictoffset will be set to -1,
to indicate that it is unsafe to use this field.
initproc PyTypeObject.tp_init
An optional pointer to an instance initialization function.

276 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This function corresponds to the __init__() method of classes. Like __init__(), it is possible to create an
instance without calling __init__(), and it is possible to reinitialize an instance by calling its __init__()
method again.
The function signature is:

int tp_init(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds);

The self argument is the instance to be initialized; the args and kwds arguments represent positional and key-
word arguments of the call to __init__().
The tp_init function, if not NULL, is called when an instance is created normally by calling its type, after
the type’s tp_new function has returned an instance of the type. If the tp_new function returns an instance
of some other type that is not a subtype of the original type, no tp_init function is called; if tp_new returns
an instance of a subtype of the original type, the subtype’s tp_init is called.
Returns 0 on success, -1 and sets an exception on error.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Default:
For static types this field does not have a default.
allocfunc PyTypeObject.tp_alloc
An optional pointer to an instance allocation function.
The function signature is:

PyObject *tp_alloc(PyTypeObject *self, Py_ssize_t nitems);

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by static subtypes, but not by dynamic subtypes (subtypes created by a class statement).
Default:
For dynamic subtypes, this field is always set to PyType_GenericAlloc(), to force a standard heap alloca-
tion strategy.
For static subtypes, PyBaseObject_Type uses PyType_GenericAlloc(). That is the recommended value
for all statically defined types.
newfunc PyTypeObject.tp_new
An optional pointer to an instance creation function.
The function signature is:

PyObject *tp_new(PyTypeObject *subtype, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds);

The subtype argument is the type of the object being created; the args and kwds arguments represent positional
and keyword arguments of the call to the type. Note that subtype doesn’t have to equal the type whose tp_new
function is called; it may be a subtype of that type (but not an unrelated type).
The tp_new function should call subtype->tp_alloc(subtype, nitems) to allocate space for the ob-
ject, and then do only as much further initialization as is absolutely necessary. Initialization that can safely be
ignored or repeated should be placed in the tp_init handler. A good rule of thumb is that for immutable
types, all initialization should take place in tp_new , while for mutable types, most initialization should be
deferred to tp_init.
Set the Py_TPFLAGS_DISALLOW_INSTANTIATION flag to disallow creating instances of the type in Python.
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes, except it is not inherited by static types whose tp_base is NULL or
&PyBaseObject_Type.

12.3. Type Object Structures 277

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Default:
For static types this field has no default. This means if the slot is defined as NULL, the type cannot be called to
create new instances; presumably there is some other way to create instances, like a factory function.
freefunc PyTypeObject.tp_free
An optional pointer to an instance deallocation function. Its signature is:

void tp_free(void *self);

An initializer that is compatible with this signature is PyObject_Free().

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by static subtypes, but not by dynamic subtypes (subtypes created by a class statement)
Default:
In dynamic subtypes, this field is set to a deallocator suitable to match PyType_GenericAlloc() and the
value of the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit.
For static subtypes, PyBaseObject_Type uses PyObject_Del().
inquiry PyTypeObject.tp_is_gc
An optional pointer to a function called by the garbage collector.
The garbage collector needs to know whether a particular object is collectible or not. Normally, it is sufficient
to look at the object’s type’s tp_flags field, and check the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag bit. But some types
have a mixture of statically and dynamically allocated instances, and the statically allocated instances are not
collectible. Such types should define this function; it should return 1 for a collectible instance, and 0 for a
non-collectible instance. The signature is:

int tp_is_gc(PyObject *self);

(The only example of this are types themselves. The metatype, PyType_Type, defines this function to distin-
guish between statically and dynamically allocated types.)
Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Default:
This slot has no default. If this field is NULL, Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC is used as the functional equivalent.
PyObject *PyTypeObject.tp_bases
Tuple of base types.
This field should be set to NULL and treated as read-only. Python will fill it in when the type is initialized.
For dynamically created classes, the Py_tp_bases slot can be used instead of the bases argument of
PyType_FromSpecWithBases(). The argument form is preferred.

Á Warning

Multiple inheritance does not work well for statically defined types. If you set tp_bases to a tuple, Python
will not raise an error, but some slots will only be inherited from the first base.

Inheritance:
This field is not inherited.

278 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject *PyTypeObject.tp_mro
Tuple containing the expanded set of base types, starting with the type itself and ending with object, in
Method Resolution Order.
This field should be set to NULL and treated as read-only. Python will fill it in when the type is initialized.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited; it is calculated fresh by PyType_Ready().
PyObject *PyTypeObject.tp_cache
Unused. Internal use only.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited.
void *PyTypeObject.tp_subclasses
A collection of subclasses. Internal use only. May be an invalid pointer.
To get a list of subclasses, call the Python method __subclasses__().
Changed in version 3.12: For some types, this field does not hold a valid PyObject*. The type was changed
to void* to indicate this.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited.
PyObject *PyTypeObject.tp_weaklist
Weak reference list head, for weak references to this type object. Not inherited. Internal use only.
Changed in version 3.12: Internals detail: For the static builtin types this is always NULL, even if weakrefs are
added. Instead, the weakrefs for each are stored on PyInterpreterState. Use the public C-API or the
internal _PyObject_GET_WEAKREFS_LISTPTR() macro to avoid the distinction.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited.
destructor PyTypeObject.tp_del
This field is deprecated. Use tp_finalize instead.
unsigned int PyTypeObject.tp_version_tag
Used to index into the method cache. Internal use only.
Inheritance:
This field is not inherited.
destructor PyTypeObject.tp_finalize
An optional pointer to an instance finalization function. Its signature is:

void tp_finalize(PyObject *self);

If tp_finalize is set, the interpreter calls it once when finalizing an instance. It is called either from the
garbage collector (if the instance is part of an isolated reference cycle) or just before the object is deallocated.
Either way, it is guaranteed to be called before attempting to break reference cycles, ensuring that it finds the
object in a sane state.
tp_finalize should not mutate the current exception status; therefore, a recommended way to write a non-
trivial finalizer is:

static void
local_finalize(PyObject *self)
{
PyObject *error_type, *error_value, *error_traceback;
(continues on next page)

12.3. Type Object Structures 279

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

/* Save the current exception, if any. */

PyErr_Fetch(&error_type, &error_value, &error_traceback);

/* ... */

/* Restore the saved exception. */

PyErr_Restore(error_type, error_value, error_traceback);
}

Inheritance:
This field is inherited by subtypes.
Added in version 3.4.
Changed in version 3.8: Before version 3.8 it was necessary to set the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_FINALIZE flags
bit in order for this field to be used. This is no longer required.

µ See also

“Safe object finalization” (PEP 442)

vectorcallfunc PyTypeObject.tp_vectorcall
Vectorcall function to use for calls of this type object. In other words, it is used to implement vectorcall
for type.__call__. If tp_vectorcall is NULL, the default call implementation using __new__() and
__init__() is used.

Inheritance:
This field is never inherited.
Added in version 3.9: (the field exists since 3.8 but it’s only used since 3.9)
unsigned char PyTypeObject.tp_watched
Internal. Do not use.
Added in version 3.12.

12.3.6 Static Types

Traditionally, types defined in C code are static, that is, a static PyTypeObject structure is defined directly in code
and initialized using PyType_Ready().
This results in types that are limited relative to types defined in Python:
• Static types are limited to one base, i.e. they cannot use multiple inheritance.
• Static type objects (but not necessarily their instances) are immutable. It is not possible to add or modify the
type object’s attributes from Python.
• Static type objects are shared across sub-interpreters, so they should not include any subinterpreter-specific
state.
Also, since PyTypeObject is only part of the Limited API as an opaque struct, any extension modules using static
types must be compiled for a specific Python minor version.

280 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

12.3.7 Heap Types

An alternative to static types is heap-allocated types, or heap types for short, which correspond closely to classes
created by Python’s class statement. Heap types have the Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE flag set.
This is done by filling a PyType_Spec structure and calling PyType_FromSpec(),
PyType_FromSpecWithBases(), PyType_FromModuleAndSpec(), or PyType_FromMetaclass().

12.3.8 Number Object Structures

type PyNumberMethods
This structure holds pointers to the functions which an object uses to implement the number protocol. Each
function is used by the function of similar name documented in the Number Protocol section.
Here is the structure definition:

typedef struct {
binaryfunc nb_add;
binaryfunc nb_subtract;
binaryfunc nb_multiply;
binaryfunc nb_remainder;
binaryfunc nb_divmod;
ternaryfunc nb_power;
unaryfunc nb_negative;
unaryfunc nb_positive;
unaryfunc nb_absolute;
inquiry nb_bool;
unaryfunc nb_invert;
binaryfunc nb_lshift;
binaryfunc nb_rshift;
binaryfunc nb_and;
binaryfunc nb_xor;
binaryfunc nb_or;
unaryfunc nb_int;
void *nb_reserved;
unaryfunc nb_float;

binaryfunc nb_inplace_add;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_subtract;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_multiply;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_remainder;
ternaryfunc nb_inplace_power;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_lshift;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_rshift;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_and;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_xor;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_or;

binaryfunc nb_floor_divide;
binaryfunc nb_true_divide;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_floor_divide;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_true_divide;

unaryfunc nb_index;

binaryfunc nb_matrix_multiply;
binaryfunc nb_inplace_matrix_multiply;
} PyNumberMethods;

12.3. Type Object Structures 281

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

® Note

Binary and ternary functions must check the type of all their operands, and implement the necessary con-
versions (at least one of the operands is an instance of the defined type). If the operation is not defined
for the given operands, binary and ternary functions must return Py_NotImplemented, if another error
occurred they must return NULL and set an exception.

® Note

The nb_reserved field should always be NULL. It was previously called nb_long, and was renamed in
Python 3.0.1.

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_add

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_subtract

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_multiply

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_remainder

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_divmod

ternaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_power

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_negative

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_positive

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_absolute

inquiry PyNumberMethods.nb_bool

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_invert

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_lshift

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_rshift

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_and

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_xor

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_or

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_int

void *PyNumberMethods.nb_reserved

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_float

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_add

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_subtract

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_multiply

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_remainder

ternaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_power

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_lshift

282 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_rshift

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_and

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_xor

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_or

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_floor_divide

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_true_divide

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_floor_divide

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_true_divide

unaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_index

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_matrix_multiply

binaryfunc PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_matrix_multiply

12.3.9 Mapping Object Structures

type PyMappingMethods
This structure holds pointers to the functions which an object uses to implement the mapping protocol. It has
three members:
lenfunc PyMappingMethods.mp_length
This function is used by PyMapping_Size() and PyObject_Size(), and has the same signature. This slot
may be set to NULL if the object has no defined length.
binaryfunc PyMappingMethods.mp_subscript
This function is used by PyObject_GetItem() and PySequence_GetSlice(), and has the same signature
as PyObject_GetItem(). This slot must be filled for the PyMapping_Check() function to return 1, it can
be NULL otherwise.
objobjargproc PyMappingMethods.mp_ass_subscript
This function is used by PyObject_SetItem(), PyObject_DelItem(), PySequence_SetSlice() and
PySequence_DelSlice(). It has the same signature as PyObject_SetItem(), but v can also be set to
NULL to delete an item. If this slot is NULL, the object does not support item assignment and deletion.

12.3.10 Sequence Object Structures

type PySequenceMethods
This structure holds pointers to the functions which an object uses to implement the sequence protocol.
lenfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_length
This function is used by PySequence_Size() and PyObject_Size(), and has the same signature. It is
also used for handling negative indices via the sq_item and the sq_ass_item slots.
binaryfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_concat
This function is used by PySequence_Concat() and has the same signature. It is also used by the + operator,
after trying the numeric addition via the nb_add slot.
ssizeargfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_repeat
This function is used by PySequence_Repeat() and has the same signature. It is also used by the * operator,
after trying numeric multiplication via the nb_multiply slot.

12.3. Type Object Structures 283

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

ssizeargfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_item
This function is used by PySequence_GetItem() and has the same signature. It is also used by
PyObject_GetItem(), after trying the subscription via the mp_subscript slot. This slot must be filled for
the PySequence_Check() function to return 1, it can be NULL otherwise.
Negative indexes are handled as follows: if the sq_length slot is filled, it is called and the sequence length is
used to compute a positive index which is passed to sq_item. If sq_length is NULL, the index is passed as
is to the function.
ssizeobjargproc PySequenceMethods.sq_ass_item
This function is used by PySequence_SetItem() and has the same signature. It is also used by
PyObject_SetItem() and PyObject_DelItem(), after trying the item assignment and deletion via the
mp_ass_subscript slot. This slot may be left to NULL if the object does not support item assignment and
deletion.
objobjproc PySequenceMethods.sq_contains
This function may be used by PySequence_Contains() and has the same signature. This slot may be left
to NULL, in this case PySequence_Contains() simply traverses the sequence until it finds a match.
binaryfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_inplace_concat
This function is used by PySequence_InPlaceConcat() and has the same signature. It should modify its
first operand, and return it. This slot may be left to NULL, in this case PySequence_InPlaceConcat() will
fall back to PySequence_Concat(). It is also used by the augmented assignment +=, after trying numeric
in-place addition via the nb_inplace_add slot.
ssizeargfunc PySequenceMethods.sq_inplace_repeat
This function is used by PySequence_InPlaceRepeat() and has the same signature. It should modify its
first operand, and return it. This slot may be left to NULL, in this case PySequence_InPlaceRepeat() will
fall back to PySequence_Repeat(). It is also used by the augmented assignment *=, after trying numeric
in-place multiplication via the nb_inplace_multiply slot.

12.3.11 Buffer Object Structures

type PyBufferProcs
This structure holds pointers to the functions required by the Buffer protocol. The protocol defines how an
exporter object can expose its internal data to consumer objects.
getbufferproc PyBufferProcs.bf_getbuffer
The signature of this function is:

int (PyObject *exporter, Py_buffer *view, int flags);

Handle a request to exporter to fill in view as specified by flags. Except for point (3), an implementation of this
function MUST take these steps:
(1) Check if the request can be met. If not, raise BufferError, set view->obj to NULL and return -1.
(2) Fill in the requested fields.
(3) Increment an internal counter for the number of exports.
(4) Set view->obj to exporter and increment view->obj.
(5) Return 0.
If exporter is part of a chain or tree of buffer providers, two main schemes can be used:
• Re-export: Each member of the tree acts as the exporting object and sets view->obj to a new reference
to itself.
• Redirect: The buffer request is redirected to the root object of the tree. Here, view->obj will be a new
reference to the root object.

284 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

The individual fields of view are described in section Buffer structure, the rules how an exporter must react to
specific requests are in section Buffer request types.
All memory pointed to in the Py_buffer structure belongs to the exporter and must remain valid until there are
no consumers left. format, shape, strides, suboffsets and internal are read-only for the consumer.
PyBuffer_FillInfo() provides an easy way of exposing a simple bytes buffer while dealing correctly with
all request types.
PyObject_GetBuffer() is the interface for the consumer that wraps this function.

releasebufferproc PyBufferProcs.bf_releasebuffer
The signature of this function is:

void (PyObject *exporter, Py_buffer *view);

Handle a request to release the resources of the buffer. If no resources need to be released, PyBufferProcs.
bf_releasebuffer may be NULL. Otherwise, a standard implementation of this function will take these
optional steps:
(1) Decrement an internal counter for the number of exports.
(2) If the counter is 0, free all memory associated with view.
The exporter MUST use the internal field to keep track of buffer-specific resources. This field is guaranteed
to remain constant, while a consumer MAY pass a copy of the original buffer as the view argument.
This function MUST NOT decrement view->obj, since that is done automatically in PyBuffer_Release()
(this scheme is useful for breaking reference cycles).
PyBuffer_Release() is the interface for the consumer that wraps this function.

12.3.12 Async Object Structures

Added in version 3.5.
type PyAsyncMethods
This structure holds pointers to the functions required to implement awaitable and asynchronous iterator ob-
jects.
Here is the structure definition:

typedef struct {
unaryfunc am_await;
unaryfunc am_aiter;
unaryfunc am_anext;
sendfunc am_send;
} PyAsyncMethods;

unaryfunc PyAsyncMethods.am_await
The signature of this function is:

PyObject *am_await(PyObject *self);

The returned object must be an iterator, i.e. PyIter_Check() must return 1 for it.
This slot may be set to NULL if an object is not an awaitable.
unaryfunc PyAsyncMethods.am_aiter
The signature of this function is:

PyObject *am_aiter(PyObject *self);

12.3. Type Object Structures 285

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Must return an asynchronous iterator object. See __anext__() for details.

This slot may be set to NULL if an object does not implement asynchronous iteration protocol.
unaryfunc PyAsyncMethods.am_anext
The signature of this function is:

PyObject *am_anext(PyObject *self);

Must return an awaitable object. See __anext__() for details. This slot may be set to NULL.
sendfunc PyAsyncMethods.am_send
The signature of this function is:

PySendResult am_send(PyObject *self, PyObject *arg, PyObject **result);

See PyIter_Send() for details. This slot may be set to NULL.

Added in version 3.10.

12.3.13 Slot Type typedefs

typedef PyObject *(*allocfunc)(PyTypeObject *cls, Py_ssize_t nitems)
Part of the Stable ABI. The purpose of this function is to separate memory allocation from memory initial-
ization. It should return a pointer to a block of memory of adequate length for the instance, suitably aligned,
and initialized to zeros, but with ob_refcnt set to 1 and ob_type set to the type argument. If the type’s
tp_itemsize is non-zero, the object’s ob_size field should be initialized to nitems and the length of the
allocated memory block should be tp_basicsize + nitems*tp_itemsize, rounded up to a multiple of
sizeof(void*); otherwise, nitems is not used and the length of the block should be tp_basicsize.

This function should not do any other instance initialization, not even to allocate additional memory; that should
be done by tp_new .
typedef void (*destructor)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef void (*freefunc)(void*)
See tp_free.
typedef PyObject *(*newfunc)(PyTypeObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_new .
typedef int (*initproc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_init.
typedef PyObject *(*reprfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_repr.
typedef PyObject *(*getattrfunc)(PyObject *self, char *attr)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the value of the named attribute for the object.
typedef int (*setattrfunc)(PyObject *self, char *attr, PyObject *value)
Part of the Stable ABI. Set the value of the named attribute for the object. The value argument is set to NULL
to delete the attribute.
typedef PyObject *(*getattrofunc)(PyObject *self, PyObject *attr)
Part of the Stable ABI. Return the value of the named attribute for the object.
See tp_getattro.

286 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

typedef int (*setattrofunc)(PyObject *self, PyObject *attr, PyObject *value)

Part of the Stable ABI. Set the value of the named attribute for the object. The value argument is set to NULL
to delete the attribute.
See tp_setattro.
typedef PyObject *(*descrgetfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_descr_get.
typedef int (*descrsetfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_descr_set.
typedef Py_hash_t (*hashfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_hash.
typedef PyObject *(*richcmpfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, int)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_richcompare.
typedef PyObject *(*getiterfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_iter.
typedef PyObject *(*iternextfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI. See tp_iternext.
typedef Py_ssize_t (*lenfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef int (*getbufferproc)(PyObject*, Py_buffer*, int)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12.
typedef void (*releasebufferproc)(PyObject*, Py_buffer*)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.12.
typedef PyObject *(*unaryfunc)(PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef PyObject *(*binaryfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef PySendResult (*sendfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject**)
See am_send.
typedef PyObject *(*ternaryfunc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef PyObject *(*ssizeargfunc)(PyObject*, Py_ssize_t)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef int (*ssizeobjargproc)(PyObject*, Py_ssize_t, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef int (*objobjproc)(PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.
typedef int (*objobjargproc)(PyObject*, PyObject*, PyObject*)
Part of the Stable ABI.

12.3.14 Examples
The following are simple examples of Python type definitions. They include common usage you may encounter.
Some demonstrate tricky corner cases. For more examples, practical info, and a tutorial, see defining-new-types and
new-types-topics.
A basic static type:

12.3. Type Object Structures 287

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

typedef struct {
PyObject_HEAD
const char *data;
} MyObject;

static PyTypeObject MyObject_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
.tp_name = "mymod.MyObject",
.tp_basicsize = sizeof(MyObject),
.tp_doc = PyDoc_STR("My objects"),
.tp_new = myobj_new,
.tp_dealloc = (destructor)myobj_dealloc,
.tp_repr = (reprfunc)myobj_repr,
};

You may also find older code (especially in the CPython code base) with a more verbose initializer:

static PyTypeObject MyObject_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
"mymod.MyObject", /* tp_name */
sizeof(MyObject), /* tp_basicsize */
0, /* tp_itemsize */
(destructor)myobj_dealloc, /* tp_dealloc */
0, /* tp_vectorcall_offset */
0, /* tp_getattr */
0, /* tp_setattr */
0, /* tp_as_async */
(reprfunc)myobj_repr, /* tp_repr */
0, /* tp_as_number */
0, /* tp_as_sequence */
0, /* tp_as_mapping */
0, /* tp_hash */
0, /* tp_call */
0, /* tp_str */
0, /* tp_getattro */
0, /* tp_setattro */
0, /* tp_as_buffer */
0, /* tp_flags */
PyDoc_STR("My objects"), /* tp_doc */
0, /* tp_traverse */
0, /* tp_clear */
0, /* tp_richcompare */
0, /* tp_weaklistoffset */
0, /* tp_iter */
0, /* tp_iternext */
0, /* tp_methods */
0, /* tp_members */
0, /* tp_getset */
0, /* tp_base */
0, /* tp_dict */
0, /* tp_descr_get */
0, /* tp_descr_set */
0, /* tp_dictoffset */
0, /* tp_init */
0, /* tp_alloc */
myobj_new, /* tp_new */
};

288 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

A type that supports weakrefs, instance dicts, and hashing:

typedef struct {
PyObject_HEAD
const char *data;
} MyObject;

static PyTypeObject MyObject_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
.tp_name = "mymod.MyObject",
.tp_basicsize = sizeof(MyObject),
.tp_doc = PyDoc_STR("My objects"),
.tp_flags = Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE |
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC | Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT |
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF,
.tp_new = myobj_new,
.tp_traverse = (traverseproc)myobj_traverse,
.tp_clear = (inquiry)myobj_clear,
.tp_alloc = PyType_GenericNew,
.tp_dealloc = (destructor)myobj_dealloc,
.tp_repr = (reprfunc)myobj_repr,
.tp_hash = (hashfunc)myobj_hash,
.tp_richcompare = PyBaseObject_Type.tp_richcompare,
};

A str subclass that cannot be subclassed and cannot be called to create instances (e.g. uses a separate factory func)
using Py_TPFLAGS_DISALLOW_INSTANTIATION flag:

typedef struct {
PyUnicodeObject raw;
char *extra;
} MyStr;

static PyTypeObject MyStr_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
.tp_name = "mymod.MyStr",
.tp_basicsize = sizeof(MyStr),
.tp_base = NULL, // set to &PyUnicode_Type in module init
.tp_doc = PyDoc_STR("my custom str"),
.tp_flags = Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT | Py_TPFLAGS_DISALLOW_INSTANTIATION,
.tp_repr = (reprfunc)myobj_repr,
};

The simplest static type with fixed-length instances:

typedef struct {
PyObject_HEAD
} MyObject;

static PyTypeObject MyObject_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
.tp_name = "mymod.MyObject",
};

The simplest static type with variable-length instances:

typedef struct {
PyObject_VAR_HEAD
(continues on next page)

12.3. Type Object Structures 289

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

const char *data[1];
} MyObject;

static PyTypeObject MyObject_Type = {

PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(NULL, 0)
.tp_name = "mymod.MyObject",
.tp_basicsize = sizeof(MyObject) - sizeof(char *),
.tp_itemsize = sizeof(char *),
};

12.4 Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection

Python’s support for detecting and collecting garbage which involves circular references requires support from object
types which are “containers” for other objects which may also be containers. Types which do not store references to
other objects, or which only store references to atomic types (such as numbers or strings), do not need to provide any
explicit support for garbage collection.
To create a container type, the tp_flags field of the type object must include the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC and
provide an implementation of the tp_traverse handler. If instances of the type are mutable, a tp_clear imple-
mentation must also be provided.
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC
Objects with a type with this flag set must conform with the rules documented here. For convenience these
objects will be referred to as container objects.
Constructors for container types must conform to two rules:
1. The memory for the object must be allocated using PyObject_GC_New or PyObject_GC_NewVar.
2. Once all the fields which may contain references to other containers are initialized, it must call
PyObject_GC_Track().

Similarly, the deallocator for the object must conform to a similar pair of rules:
1. Before fields which refer to other containers are invalidated, PyObject_GC_UnTrack() must be called.
2. The object’s memory must be deallocated using PyObject_GC_Del().

Á Warning

If a type adds the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC, then it must implement at least a tp_traverse handler or
explicitly use one from its subclass or subclasses.
When calling PyType_Ready() or some of the APIs that indirectly call it like
PyType_FromSpecWithBases() or PyType_FromSpec() the interpreter will automatically populate
the tp_flags, tp_traverse and tp_clear fields if the type inherits from a class that implements the
garbage collector protocol and the child class does not include the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag.

PyObject_GC_New(TYPE, typeobj)
Analogous to PyObject_New but for container objects with the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag set.
PyObject_GC_NewVar(TYPE, typeobj, size)
Analogous to PyObject_NewVar but for container objects with the Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC flag set.
PyObject *PyUnstable_Object_GC_NewWithExtraData(PyTypeObject *type, size_t extra_size)

290 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Analogous to PyObject_GC_New but allocates extra_size bytes at the end of the object (at offset
tp_basicsize). The allocated memory is initialized to zeros, except for the Python object header.

The extra data will be deallocated with the object, but otherwise it is not managed by Python.

Á Warning

The function is marked as unstable because the final mechanism for reserving extra data after an instance is
not yet decided. For allocating a variable number of fields, prefer using PyVarObject and tp_itemsize
instead.

Added in version 3.12.

PyObject_GC_Resize(TYPE, op, newsize)
Resize an object allocated by PyObject_NewVar. Returns the resized object of type TYPE* (refers to any C
type) or NULL on failure.
op must be of type PyVarObject* and must not be tracked by the collector yet. newsize must be of type
Py_ssize_t.

void PyObject_GC_Track(PyObject *op)

Part of the Stable ABI. Adds the object op to the set of container objects tracked by the collector. The collector
can run at unexpected times so objects must be valid while being tracked. This should be called once all the
fields followed by the tp_traverse handler become valid, usually near the end of the constructor.
int PyObject_IS_GC(PyObject *obj)
Returns non-zero if the object implements the garbage collector protocol, otherwise returns 0.
The object cannot be tracked by the garbage collector if this function returns 0.
int PyObject_GC_IsTracked(PyObject *op)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Returns 1 if the object type of op implements the GC protocol and
op is being currently tracked by the garbage collector and 0 otherwise.
This is analogous to the Python function gc.is_tracked().
Added in version 3.9.
int PyObject_GC_IsFinalized(PyObject *op)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.9. Returns 1 if the object type of op implements the GC protocol and
op has been already finalized by the garbage collector and 0 otherwise.
This is analogous to the Python function gc.is_finalized().
Added in version 3.9.
void PyObject_GC_Del(void *op)
Part of the Stable ABI. Releases memory allocated to an object using PyObject_GC_New or
PyObject_GC_NewVar.

void PyObject_GC_UnTrack(void *op)

Part of the Stable ABI. Remove the object op from the set of container objects tracked by the collector. Note
that PyObject_GC_Track() can be called again on this object to add it back to the set of tracked objects.
The deallocator (tp_dealloc handler) should call this for the object before any of the fields used by the
tp_traverse handler become invalid.

12.4. Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection 291

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Changed in version 3.8: The _PyObject_GC_TRACK() and _PyObject_GC_UNTRACK() macros have been re-
moved from the public C API.
The tp_traverse handler accepts a function parameter of this type:
typedef int (*visitproc)(PyObject *object, void *arg)
Part of the Stable ABI. Type of the visitor function passed to the tp_traverse handler. The function should
be called with an object to traverse as object and the third parameter to the tp_traverse handler as arg. The
Python core uses several visitor functions to implement cyclic garbage detection; it’s not expected that users
will need to write their own visitor functions.
The tp_traverse handler must have the following type:
typedef int (*traverseproc)(PyObject *self, visitproc visit, void *arg)
Part of the Stable ABI. Traversal function for a container object. Implementations must call the visit function
for each object directly contained by self, with the parameters to visit being the contained object and the arg
value passed to the handler. The visit function must not be called with a NULL object argument. If visit returns
a non-zero value that value should be returned immediately.
To simplify writing tp_traverse handlers, a Py_VISIT() macro is provided. In order to use this macro, the
tp_traverse implementation must name its arguments exactly visit and arg:
void Py_VISIT(PyObject *o)
If o is not NULL, call the visit callback, with arguments o and arg. If visit returns a non-zero value, then return
it. Using this macro, tp_traverse handlers look like:

static int
my_traverse(Noddy *self, visitproc visit, void *arg)
{
Py_VISIT(self->foo);
Py_VISIT(self->bar);
return 0;
}

The tp_clear handler must be of the inquiry type, or NULL if the object is immutable.
typedef int (*inquiry)(PyObject *self)
Part of the Stable ABI. Drop references that may have created reference cycles. Immutable objects do not
have to define this method since they can never directly create reference cycles. Note that the object must still
be valid after calling this method (don’t just call Py_DECREF() on a reference). The collector will call this
method if it detects that this object is involved in a reference cycle.

12.4.1 Controlling the Garbage Collector State

The C-API provides the following functions for controlling garbage collection runs.
Py_ssize_t PyGC_Collect(void)
Part of the Stable ABI. Perform a full garbage collection, if the garbage collector is enabled. (Note that gc.
collect() runs it unconditionally.)
Returns the number of collected + unreachable objects which cannot be collected. If the garbage collector
is disabled or already collecting, returns 0 immediately. Errors during garbage collection are passed to sys.
unraisablehook. This function does not raise exceptions.
int PyGC_Enable(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Enable the garbage collector: similar to gc.enable(). Returns the
previous state, 0 for disabled and 1 for enabled.
Added in version 3.10.
int PyGC_Disable(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Disable the garbage collector: similar to gc.disable(). Returns
the previous state, 0 for disabled and 1 for enabled.

292 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Added in version 3.10.

int PyGC_IsEnabled(void)
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10. Query the state of the garbage collector: similar to gc.
isenabled(). Returns the current state, 0 for disabled and 1 for enabled.
Added in version 3.10.

12.4.2 Querying Garbage Collector State

The C-API provides the following interface for querying information about the garbage collector.
void PyUnstable_GC_VisitObjects(gcvisitobjects_t callback, void *arg)

This is Unstable API. It may change without warning in minor releases.

Run supplied callback on all live GC-capable objects. arg is passed through to all invocations of callback.

Á Warning

If new objects are (de)allocated by the callback it is undefined if they will be visited.
Garbage collection is disabled during operation. Explicitly running a collection in the callback may lead
to undefined behaviour e.g. visiting the same objects multiple times or not at all.

Added in version 3.12.

typedef int (*gcvisitobjects_t)(PyObject *object, void *arg)
Type of the visitor function to be passed to PyUnstable_GC_VisitObjects(). arg is the same as the arg
passed to PyUnstable_GC_VisitObjects. Return 0 to continue iteration, return 1 to stop iteration. Other
return values are reserved for now so behavior on returning anything else is undefined.
Added in version 3.12.

12.4. Supporting Cyclic Garbage Collection 293

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

294 Chapter 12. Object Implementation Support

 CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

API AND ABI VERSIONING

CPython exposes its version number in the following macros. Note that these correspond to the version code is built
with, not necessarily the version used at run time.
See C API Stability for a discussion of API and ABI stability across versions.
PY_MAJOR_VERSION
The 3 in 3.4.1a2.
PY_MINOR_VERSION
The 4 in 3.4.1a2.
PY_MICRO_VERSION
The 1 in 3.4.1a2.
PY_RELEASE_LEVEL
The a in 3.4.1a2. This can be 0xA for alpha, 0xB for beta, 0xC for release candidate or 0xF for final.
PY_RELEASE_SERIAL
The 2 in 3.4.1a2. Zero for final releases.
PY_VERSION_HEX
The Python version number encoded in a single integer.
The underlying version information can be found by treating it as a 32 bit number in the following manner:

Bytes Bits (big endian order) Meaning Value for 3.4.1a2

1 1-8 PY_MAJOR_VERSION 0x03
2 9-16 PY_MINOR_VERSION 0x04
3 17-24 PY_MICRO_VERSION 0x01
4 25-28 PY_RELEASE_LEVEL 0xA
29-32 PY_RELEASE_SERIAL 0x2

Thus 3.4.1a2 is hexversion 0x030401a2 and 3.10.0 is hexversion 0x030a00f0.

Use this for numeric comparisons, e.g. #if PY_VERSION_HEX >= ....
This version is also available via the symbol Py_Version.
const unsigned long Py_Version
Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.11. The Python runtime version number encoded in a single constant
integer, with the same format as the PY_VERSION_HEX macro. This contains the Python version used at run
time.
Added in version 3.11.
All the given macros are defined in Include/patchlevel.h.

295
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

296 Chapter 13. API and ABI Versioning

 APPENDIX

GLOSSARY

>>>
The default Python prompt of the interactive shell. Often seen for code examples which can be executed
interactively in the interpreter.
...
Can refer to:
• The default Python prompt of the interactive shell when entering the code for an indented code block,
when within a pair of matching left and right delimiters (parentheses, square brackets, curly braces or
triple quotes), or after specifying a decorator.
• The Ellipsis built-in constant.
2to3
A tool that tries to convert Python 2.x code to Python 3.x code by handling most of the incompatibilities which
can be detected by parsing the source and traversing the parse tree.
2to3 is available in the standard library as lib2to3; a standalone entry point is provided as Tools/scripts/
2to3. See 2to3-reference.
abstract base class
Abstract base classes complement duck-typing by providing a way to define interfaces when other techniques
like hasattr() would be clumsy or subtly wrong (for example with magic methods). ABCs introduce virtual
subclasses, which are classes that don’t inherit from a class but are still recognized by isinstance() and
issubclass(); see the abc module documentation. Python comes with many built-in ABCs for data struc-
tures (in the collections.abc module), numbers (in the numbers module), streams (in the io module),
import finders and loaders (in the importlib.abc module). You can create your own ABCs with the abc
module.
annotation
A label associated with a variable, a class attribute or a function parameter or return value, used by convention
as a type hint.
Annotations of local variables cannot be accessed at runtime, but annotations of global variables, class at-
tributes, and functions are stored in the __annotations__ special attribute of modules, classes, and func-
tions, respectively.
See variable annotation, function annotation, PEP 484 and PEP 526, which describe this functionality. Also
see annotations-howto for best practices on working with annotations.
argument
A value passed to a function (or method) when calling the function. There are two kinds of argument:
• keyword argument: an argument preceded by an identifier (e.g. name=) in a function call or passed as a
value in a dictionary preceded by **. For example, 3 and 5 are both keyword arguments in the following
calls to complex():

complex(real=3, imag=5)
complex(**{'real': 3, 'imag': 5})

297
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• positional argument: an argument that is not a keyword argument. Positional arguments can appear at the
beginning of an argument list and/or be passed as elements of an iterable preceded by *. For example, 3
and 5 are both positional arguments in the following calls:

complex(3, 5)
complex(*(3, 5))

Arguments are assigned to the named local variables in a function body. See the calls section for the rules
governing this assignment. Syntactically, any expression can be used to represent an argument; the evaluated
value is assigned to the local variable.
See also the parameter glossary entry, the FAQ question on the difference between arguments and parameters,
and PEP 362.
asynchronous context manager
An object which controls the environment seen in an async with statement by defining __aenter__() and
__aexit__() methods. Introduced by PEP 492.

asynchronous generator
A function which returns an asynchronous generator iterator. It looks like a coroutine function defined with
async def except that it contains yield expressions for producing a series of values usable in an async
for loop.
Usually refers to an asynchronous generator function, but may refer to an asynchronous generator iterator in
some contexts. In cases where the intended meaning isn’t clear, using the full terms avoids ambiguity.
An asynchronous generator function may contain await expressions as well as async for, and async with
statements.
asynchronous generator iterator
An object created by a asynchronous generator function.
This is an asynchronous iterator which when called using the __anext__() method returns an awaitable object
which will execute the body of the asynchronous generator function until the next yield expression.
Each yield temporarily suspends processing, remembering the execution state (including local variables and
pending try-statements). When the asynchronous generator iterator effectively resumes with another awaitable
returned by __anext__(), it picks up where it left off. See PEP 492 and PEP 525.
asynchronous iterable
An object, that can be used in an async for statement. Must return an asynchronous iterator from its
__aiter__() method. Introduced by PEP 492.

asynchronous iterator
An object that implements the __aiter__() and __anext__() methods. __anext__() must return an
awaitable object. async for resolves the awaitables returned by an asynchronous iterator’s __anext__()
method until it raises a StopAsyncIteration exception. Introduced by PEP 492.
attribute
A value associated with an object which is usually referenced by name using dotted expressions. For example,
if an object o has an attribute a it would be referenced as o.a.
It is possible to give an object an attribute whose name is not an identifier as defined by identifiers, for example
using setattr(), if the object allows it. Such an attribute will not be accessible using a dotted expression,
and would instead need to be retrieved with getattr().
awaitable
An object that can be used in an await expression. Can be a coroutine or an object with an __await__()
method. See also PEP 492.
BDFL
Benevolent Dictator For Life, a.k.a. Guido van Rossum, Python’s creator.
binary file
A file object able to read and write bytes-like objects. Examples of binary files are files opened in binary mode

298 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

('rb', 'wb' or 'rb+'), sys.stdin.buffer, sys.stdout.buffer, and instances of io.BytesIO and

gzip.GzipFile.

See also text file for a file object able to read and write str objects.
borrowed reference
In Python’s C API, a borrowed reference is a reference to an object, where the code using the object does not
own the reference. It becomes a dangling pointer if the object is destroyed. For example, a garbage collection
can remove the last strong reference to the object and so destroy it.
Calling Py_INCREF() on the borrowed reference is recommended to convert it to a strong reference in-place,
except when the object cannot be destroyed before the last usage of the borrowed reference. The Py_NewRef()
function can be used to create a new strong reference.
bytes-like object
An object that supports the Buffer Protocol and can export a C-contiguous buffer. This includes all bytes,
bytearray, and array.array objects, as well as many common memoryview objects. Bytes-like objects
can be used for various operations that work with binary data; these include compression, saving to a binary
file, and sending over a socket.
Some operations need the binary data to be mutable. The documentation often refers to these as “read-write
bytes-like objects”. Example mutable buffer objects include bytearray and a memoryview of a bytearray.
Other operations require the binary data to be stored in immutable objects (“read-only bytes-like objects”);
examples of these include bytes and a memoryview of a bytes object.
bytecode
Python source code is compiled into bytecode, the internal representation of a Python program in the CPython
interpreter. The bytecode is also cached in .pyc files so that executing the same file is faster the second time
(recompilation from source to bytecode can be avoided). This “intermediate language” is said to run on a
virtual machine that executes the machine code corresponding to each bytecode. Do note that bytecodes are
not expected to work between different Python virtual machines, nor to be stable between Python releases.
A list of bytecode instructions can be found in the documentation for the dis module.
callable
A callable is an object that can be called, possibly with a set of arguments (see argument), with the following
syntax:

callable(argument1, argument2, argumentN)

A function, and by extension a method, is a callable. An instance of a class that implements the __call__()
method is also a callable.
callback
A subroutine function which is passed as an argument to be executed at some point in the future.
class
A template for creating user-defined objects. Class definitions normally contain method definitions which
operate on instances of the class.
class variable
A variable defined in a class and intended to be modified only at class level (i.e., not in an instance of the class).
complex number
An extension of the familiar real number system in which all numbers are expressed as a sum of a real part and
an imaginary part. Imaginary numbers are real multiples of the imaginary unit (the square root of -1), often
written i in mathematics or j in engineering. Python has built-in support for complex numbers, which are
written with this latter notation; the imaginary part is written with a j suffix, e.g., 3+1j. To get access to com-
plex equivalents of the math module, use cmath. Use of complex numbers is a fairly advanced mathematical
feature. If you’re not aware of a need for them, it’s almost certain you can safely ignore them.
context manager
An object which controls the environment seen in a with statement by defining __enter__() and
__exit__() methods. See PEP 343.

299
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

context variable
A variable which can have different values depending on its context. This is similar to Thread-Local Storage in
which each execution thread may have a different value for a variable. However, with context variables, there
may be several contexts in one execution thread and the main usage for context variables is to keep track of
variables in concurrent asynchronous tasks. See contextvars.
contiguous
A buffer is considered contiguous exactly if it is either C-contiguous or Fortran contiguous. Zero-dimensional
buffers are C and Fortran contiguous. In one-dimensional arrays, the items must be laid out in memory next
to each other, in order of increasing indexes starting from zero. In multidimensional C-contiguous arrays, the
last index varies the fastest when visiting items in order of memory address. However, in Fortran contiguous
arrays, the first index varies the fastest.
coroutine
Coroutines are a more generalized form of subroutines. Subroutines are entered at one point and exited at
another point. Coroutines can be entered, exited, and resumed at many different points. They can be imple-
mented with the async def statement. See also PEP 492.
coroutine function
A function which returns a coroutine object. A coroutine function may be defined with the async def state-
ment, and may contain await, async for, and async with keywords. These were introduced by PEP
492.
CPython
The canonical implementation of the Python programming language, as distributed on python.org. The term
“CPython” is used when necessary to distinguish this implementation from others such as Jython or IronPython.
decorator
A function returning another function, usually applied as a function transformation using the @wrapper syntax.
Common examples for decorators are classmethod() and staticmethod().
The decorator syntax is merely syntactic sugar, the following two function definitions are semantically equiv-
alent:

def f(arg):
...
f = staticmethod(f)

@staticmethod
def f(arg):
...

The same concept exists for classes, but is less commonly used there. See the documentation for function
definitions and class definitions for more about decorators.
descriptor
Any object which defines the methods __get__(), __set__(), or __delete__(). When a class attribute
is a descriptor, its special binding behavior is triggered upon attribute lookup. Normally, using a.b to get,
set or delete an attribute looks up the object named b in the class dictionary for a, but if b is a descriptor,
the respective descriptor method gets called. Understanding descriptors is a key to a deep understanding of
Python because they are the basis for many features including functions, methods, properties, class methods,
static methods, and reference to super classes.
For more information about descriptors’ methods, see descriptors or the Descriptor How To Guide.
dictionary
An associative array, where arbitrary keys are mapped to values. The keys can be any object with __hash__()
and __eq__() methods. Called a hash in Perl.
dictionary comprehension
A compact way to process all or part of the elements in an iterable and return a dictionary with the re-
sults. results = {n: n ** 2 for n in range(10)} generates a dictionary containing key n mapped
to value n ** 2. See comprehensions.

300 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

dictionary view
The objects returned from dict.keys(), dict.values(), and dict.items() are called dictionary views.
They provide a dynamic view on the dictionary’s entries, which means that when the dictionary changes, the
view reflects these changes. To force the dictionary view to become a full list use list(dictview). See
dict-views.
docstring
A string literal which appears as the first expression in a class, function or module. While ignored when the
suite is executed, it is recognized by the compiler and put into the __doc__ attribute of the enclosing class,
function or module. Since it is available via introspection, it is the canonical place for documentation of the
object.
duck-typing
A programming style which does not look at an object’s type to determine if it has the right interface; instead,
the method or attribute is simply called or used (“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be
a duck.”) By emphasizing interfaces rather than specific types, well-designed code improves its flexibility
by allowing polymorphic substitution. Duck-typing avoids tests using type() or isinstance(). (Note,
however, that duck-typing can be complemented with abstract base classes.) Instead, it typically employs
hasattr() tests or EAFP programming.
EAFP
Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. This common Python coding style assumes the existence of
valid keys or attributes and catches exceptions if the assumption proves false. This clean and fast style is
characterized by the presence of many try and except statements. The technique contrasts with the LBYL
style common to many other languages such as C.
expression
A piece of syntax which can be evaluated to some value. In other words, an expression is an accumulation of
expression elements like literals, names, attribute access, operators or function calls which all return a value. In
contrast to many other languages, not all language constructs are expressions. There are also statements which
cannot be used as expressions, such as while. Assignments are also statements, not expressions.
extension module
A module written in C or C++, using Python’s C API to interact with the core and with user code.
f-string
String literals prefixed with 'f' or 'F' are commonly called “f-strings” which is short for formatted string
literals. See also PEP 498.
file object
An object exposing a file-oriented API (with methods such as read() or write()) to an underlying resource.
Depending on the way it was created, a file object can mediate access to a real on-disk file or to another type of
storage or communication device (for example standard input/output, in-memory buffers, sockets, pipes, etc.).
File objects are also called file-like objects or streams.
There are actually three categories of file objects: raw binary files, buffered binary files and text files. Their
interfaces are defined in the io module. The canonical way to create a file object is by using the open()
function.
file-like object
A synonym for file object.
filesystem encoding and error handler
Encoding and error handler used by Python to decode bytes from the operating system and encode Unicode to
the operating system.
The filesystem encoding must guarantee to successfully decode all bytes below 128. If the file system encoding
fails to provide this guarantee, API functions can raise UnicodeError.
The sys.getfilesystemencoding() and sys.getfilesystemencodeerrors() functions can be
used to get the filesystem encoding and error handler.
The filesystem encoding and error handler are configured at Python startup by the PyConfig_Read() func-
tion: see filesystem_encoding and filesystem_errors members of PyConfig .

301
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

See also the locale encoding.

finder
An object that tries to find the loader for a module that is being imported.
There are two types of finder: meta path finders for use with sys.meta_path, and path entry finders for use
with sys.path_hooks.
See finders-and-loaders and importlib for much more detail.
floor division
Mathematical division that rounds down to nearest integer. The floor division operator is //. For example, the
expression 11 // 4 evaluates to 2 in contrast to the 2.75 returned by float true division. Note that (-11)
// 4 is -3 because that is -2.75 rounded downward. See PEP 238.

function
A series of statements which returns some value to a caller. It can also be passed zero or more arguments which
may be used in the execution of the body. See also parameter, method, and the function section.
function annotation
An annotation of a function parameter or return value.
Function annotations are usually used for type hints: for example, this function is expected to take two int
arguments and is also expected to have an int return value:

def sum_two_numbers(a: int, b: int) -> int:

return a + b

Function annotation syntax is explained in section function.

See variable annotation and PEP 484, which describe this functionality. Also see annotations-howto for best
practices on working with annotations.
__future__
A future statement, from __future__ import <feature>, directs the compiler to compile the current
module using syntax or semantics that will become standard in a future release of Python. The __future__
module documents the possible values of feature. By importing this module and evaluating its variables, you
can see when a new feature was first added to the language and when it will (or did) become the default:

>>> import __future__

>>> __future__.division
_Feature((2, 2, 0, 'alpha', 2), (3, 0, 0, 'alpha', 0), 8192)

garbage collection
The process of freeing memory when it is not used anymore. Python performs garbage collection via reference
counting and a cyclic garbage collector that is able to detect and break reference cycles. The garbage collector
can be controlled using the gc module.
generator
A function which returns a generator iterator. It looks like a normal function except that it contains yield
expressions for producing a series of values usable in a for-loop or that can be retrieved one at a time with the
next() function.

Usually refers to a generator function, but may refer to a generator iterator in some contexts. In cases where
the intended meaning isn’t clear, using the full terms avoids ambiguity.
generator iterator
An object created by a generator function.
Each yield temporarily suspends processing, remembering the execution state (including local variables and
pending try-statements). When the generator iterator resumes, it picks up where it left off (in contrast to
functions which start fresh on every invocation).
generator expression
An expression that returns an iterator. It looks like a normal expression followed by a for clause defining a

302 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

loop variable, range, and an optional if clause. The combined expression generates values for an enclosing
function:

>>> sum(i*i for i in range(10)) # sum of squares 0, 1, 4, ... 81

285

generic function
A function composed of multiple functions implementing the same operation for different types. Which im-
plementation should be used during a call is determined by the dispatch algorithm.
See also the single dispatch glossary entry, the functools.singledispatch() decorator, and PEP 443.
generic type
A type that can be parameterized; typically a container class such as list or dict. Used for type hints and
annotations.
For more details, see generic alias types, PEP 483, PEP 484, PEP 585, and the typing module.
GIL
See global interpreter lock.
global interpreter lock
The mechanism used by the CPython interpreter to assure that only one thread executes Python bytecode at
a time. This simplifies the CPython implementation by making the object model (including critical built-in
types such as dict) implicitly safe against concurrent access. Locking the entire interpreter makes it easier
for the interpreter to be multi-threaded, at the expense of much of the parallelism afforded by multi-processor
machines.
However, some extension modules, either standard or third-party, are designed so as to release the GIL when
doing computationally intensive tasks such as compression or hashing. Also, the GIL is always released when
doing I/O.
Past efforts to create a “free-threaded” interpreter (one which locks shared data at a much finer granularity)
have not been successful because performance suffered in the common single-processor case. It is believed
that overcoming this performance issue would make the implementation much more complicated and therefore
costlier to maintain.
hash-based pyc
A bytecode cache file that uses the hash rather than the last-modified time of the corresponding source file to
determine its validity. See pyc-invalidation.
hashable
An object is hashable if it has a hash value which never changes during its lifetime (it needs a __hash__()
method), and can be compared to other objects (it needs an __eq__() method). Hashable objects which
compare equal must have the same hash value.
Hashability makes an object usable as a dictionary key and a set member, because these data structures use the
hash value internally.
Most of Python’s immutable built-in objects are hashable; mutable containers (such as lists or dictionaries)
are not; immutable containers (such as tuples and frozensets) are only hashable if their elements are hashable.
Objects which are instances of user-defined classes are hashable by default. They all compare unequal (except
with themselves), and their hash value is derived from their id().
IDLE
An Integrated Development and Learning Environment for Python. idle is a basic editor and interpreter envi-
ronment which ships with the standard distribution of Python.
immortal
Immortal objects are a CPython implementation detail introduced in PEP 683.
If an object is immortal, its reference count is never modified, and therefore it is never deallocated while the
interpreter is running. For example, True and None are immortal in CPython.
immutable
An object with a fixed value. Immutable objects include numbers, strings and tuples. Such an object cannot

303
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

be altered. A new object has to be created if a different value has to be stored. They play an important role in
places where a constant hash value is needed, for example as a key in a dictionary.
import path
A list of locations (or path entries) that are searched by the path based finder for modules to import. During
import, this list of locations usually comes from sys.path, but for subpackages it may also come from the
parent package’s __path__ attribute.
importing
The process by which Python code in one module is made available to Python code in another module.
importer
An object that both finds and loads a module; both a finder and loader object.
interactive
Python has an interactive interpreter which means you can enter statements and expressions at the interpreter
prompt, immediately execute them and see their results. Just launch python with no arguments (possibly
by selecting it from your computer’s main menu). It is a very powerful way to test out new ideas or inspect
modules and packages (remember help(x)).
interpreted
Python is an interpreted language, as opposed to a compiled one, though the distinction can be blurry because
of the presence of the bytecode compiler. This means that source files can be run directly without explicitly
creating an executable which is then run. Interpreted languages typically have a shorter development/debug
cycle than compiled ones, though their programs generally also run more slowly. See also interactive.
interpreter shutdown
When asked to shut down, the Python interpreter enters a special phase where it gradually releases all allocated
resources, such as modules and various critical internal structures. It also makes several calls to the garbage
collector. This can trigger the execution of code in user-defined destructors or weakref callbacks. Code exe-
cuted during the shutdown phase can encounter various exceptions as the resources it relies on may not function
anymore (common examples are library modules or the warnings machinery).
The main reason for interpreter shutdown is that the __main__ module or the script being run has finished
executing.
iterable
An object capable of returning its members one at a time. Examples of iterables include all sequence types
(such as list, str, and tuple) and some non-sequence types like dict, file objects, and objects of any
classes you define with an __iter__() method or with a __getitem__() method that implements sequence
semantics.
Iterables can be used in a for loop and in many other places where a sequence is needed (zip(), map(),
…). When an iterable object is passed as an argument to the built-in function iter(), it returns an iterator
for the object. This iterator is good for one pass over the set of values. When using iterables, it is usually not
necessary to call iter() or deal with iterator objects yourself. The for statement does that automatically for
you, creating a temporary unnamed variable to hold the iterator for the duration of the loop. See also iterator,
sequence, and generator.
iterator
An object representing a stream of data. Repeated calls to the iterator’s __next__() method (or passing
it to the built-in function next()) return successive items in the stream. When no more data are available a
StopIteration exception is raised instead. At this point, the iterator object is exhausted and any further calls
to its __next__() method just raise StopIteration again. Iterators are required to have an __iter__()
method that returns the iterator object itself so every iterator is also iterable and may be used in most places
where other iterables are accepted. One notable exception is code which attempts multiple iteration passes. A
container object (such as a list) produces a fresh new iterator each time you pass it to the iter() function
or use it in a for loop. Attempting this with an iterator will just return the same exhausted iterator object used
in the previous iteration pass, making it appear like an empty container.
More information can be found in typeiter.
CPython implementation detail: CPython does not consistently apply the requirement that an iterator define
__iter__().

304 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

key function
A key function or collation function is a callable that returns a value used for sorting or ordering. For example,
locale.strxfrm() is used to produce a sort key that is aware of locale specific sort conventions.

A number of tools in Python accept key functions to control how elements are ordered or grouped. They
include min(), max(), sorted(), list.sort(), heapq.merge(), heapq.nsmallest(), heapq.
nlargest(), and itertools.groupby().

There are several ways to create a key function. For example. the str.lower() method can serve as a
key function for case insensitive sorts. Alternatively, a key function can be built from a lambda expression
such as lambda r: (r[0], r[2]). Also, operator.attrgetter(), operator.itemgetter(), and
operator.methodcaller() are three key function constructors. See the Sorting HOW TO for examples
of how to create and use key functions.
keyword argument
See argument.
lambda
An anonymous inline function consisting of a single expression which is evaluated when the function is called.
The syntax to create a lambda function is lambda [parameters]: expression
LBYL
Look before you leap. This coding style explicitly tests for pre-conditions before making calls or lookups. This
style contrasts with the EAFP approach and is characterized by the presence of many if statements.
In a multi-threaded environment, the LBYL approach can risk introducing a race condition between “the
looking” and “the leaping”. For example, the code, if key in mapping: return mapping[key] can
fail if another thread removes key from mapping after the test, but before the lookup. This issue can be solved
with locks or by using the EAFP approach.
lexical analyzer
Formal name for the tokenizer; see token.
list
A built-in Python sequence. Despite its name it is more akin to an array in other languages than to a linked list
since access to elements is O(1).
list comprehension
A compact way to process all or part of the elements in a sequence and return a list with the results. result
= ['{:#04x}'.format(x) for x in range(256) if x % 2 == 0] generates a list of strings con-
taining even hex numbers (0x..) in the range from 0 to 255. The if clause is optional. If omitted, all elements
in range(256) are processed.
loader
An object that loads a module. It must define the exec_module() and create_module() methods to
implement the Loader interface. A loader is typically returned by a finder. See also:
• finders-and-loaders
• importlib.abc.Loader
• PEP 302
locale encoding
On Unix, it is the encoding of the LC_CTYPE locale. It can be set with locale.setlocale(locale.
LC_CTYPE, new_locale).
On Windows, it is the ANSI code page (ex: "cp1252").
On Android and VxWorks, Python uses "utf-8" as the locale encoding.
locale.getencoding() can be used to get the locale encoding.

See also the filesystem encoding and error handler.

magic method
An informal synonym for special method.

305
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

mapping
A container object that supports arbitrary key lookups and implements the methods specified in the
collections.abc.Mapping or collections.abc.MutableMapping abstract base classes. Exam-
ples include dict, collections.defaultdict, collections.OrderedDict and collections.
Counter.

meta path finder

A finder returned by a search of sys.meta_path. Meta path finders are related to, but different from path
entry finders.
See importlib.abc.MetaPathFinder for the methods that meta path finders implement.
metaclass
The class of a class. Class definitions create a class name, a class dictionary, and a list of base classes. The
metaclass is responsible for taking those three arguments and creating the class. Most object oriented pro-
gramming languages provide a default implementation. What makes Python special is that it is possible to
create custom metaclasses. Most users never need this tool, but when the need arises, metaclasses can provide
powerful, elegant solutions. They have been used for logging attribute access, adding thread-safety, tracking
object creation, implementing singletons, and many other tasks.
More information can be found in metaclasses.
method
A function which is defined inside a class body. If called as an attribute of an instance of that class, the method
will get the instance object as its first argument (which is usually called self). See function and nested scope.
method resolution order
Method Resolution Order is the order in which base classes are searched for a member during lookup. See
python_2.3_mro for details of the algorithm used by the Python interpreter since the 2.3 release.
module
An object that serves as an organizational unit of Python code. Modules have a namespace containing arbitrary
Python objects. Modules are loaded into Python by the process of importing.
See also package.
module spec
A namespace containing the import-related information used to load a module. An instance of importlib.
machinery.ModuleSpec.

See also module-specs.

MRO
See method resolution order.
mutable
Mutable objects can change their value but keep their id(). See also immutable.
named tuple
The term “named tuple” applies to any type or class that inherits from tuple and whose indexable elements are
also accessible using named attributes. The type or class may have other features as well.
Several built-in types are named tuples, including the values returned by time.localtime() and os.
stat(). Another example is sys.float_info:

>>> sys.float_info[1] # indexed access

1024
>>> sys.float_info.max_exp # named field access
1024
>>> isinstance(sys.float_info, tuple) # kind of tuple
True

Some named tuples are built-in types (such as the above examples). Alternatively, a named tuple can be
created from a regular class definition that inherits from tuple and that defines named fields. Such a class
can be written by hand, or it can be created by inheriting typing.NamedTuple, or with the factory function

306 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

collections.namedtuple(). The latter techniques also add some extra methods that may not be found
in hand-written or built-in named tuples.
namespace
The place where a variable is stored. Namespaces are implemented as dictionaries. There are the local,
global and built-in namespaces as well as nested namespaces in objects (in methods). Namespaces support
modularity by preventing naming conflicts. For instance, the functions builtins.open and os.open() are
distinguished by their namespaces. Namespaces also aid readability and maintainability by making it clear
which module implements a function. For instance, writing random.seed() or itertools.islice()
makes it clear that those functions are implemented by the random and itertools modules, respectively.
namespace package
A package which serves only as a container for subpackages. Namespace packages may have no physical
representation, and specifically are not like a regular package because they have no __init__.py file.
Namespace packages allow several individually installable packages to have a common parent package. Oth-
erwise, it is recommended to use a regular package.
For more information, see PEP 420 and reference-namespace-package.
See also module.
nested scope
The ability to refer to a variable in an enclosing definition. For instance, a function defined inside another
function can refer to variables in the outer function. Note that nested scopes by default work only for reference
and not for assignment. Local variables both read and write in the innermost scope. Likewise, global variables
read and write to the global namespace. The nonlocal allows writing to outer scopes.
new-style class
Old name for the flavor of classes now used for all class objects. In earlier Python versions, only
new-style classes could use Python’s newer, versatile features like __slots__, descriptors, properties,
__getattribute__(), class methods, and static methods.

object
Any data with state (attributes or value) and defined behavior (methods). Also the ultimate base class of any
new-style class.
package
A Python module which can contain submodules or recursively, subpackages. Technically, a package is a
Python module with a __path__ attribute.
See also regular package and namespace package.
parameter
A named entity in a function (or method) definition that specifies an argument (or in some cases, arguments)
that the function can accept. There are five kinds of parameter:
• positional-or-keyword: specifies an argument that can be passed either positionally or as a keyword argu-
ment. This is the default kind of parameter, for example foo and bar in the following:

def func(foo, bar=None): ...

• positional-only: specifies an argument that can be supplied only by position. Positional-only parameters
can be defined by including a / character in the parameter list of the function definition after them, for
example posonly1 and posonly2 in the following:

def func(posonly1, posonly2, /, positional_or_keyword): ...

• keyword-only: specifies an argument that can be supplied only by keyword. Keyword-only parameters
can be defined by including a single var-positional parameter or bare * in the parameter list of the function
definition before them, for example kw_only1 and kw_only2 in the following:

def func(arg, *, kw_only1, kw_only2): ...

307
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

• var-positional: specifies that an arbitrary sequence of positional arguments can be provided (in addition
to any positional arguments already accepted by other parameters). Such a parameter can be defined by
prepending the parameter name with *, for example args in the following:

def func(*args, **kwargs): ...

• var-keyword: specifies that arbitrarily many keyword arguments can be provided (in addition to any key-
word arguments already accepted by other parameters). Such a parameter can be defined by prepending
the parameter name with **, for example kwargs in the example above.
Parameters can specify both optional and required arguments, as well as default values for some optional
arguments.
See also the argument glossary entry, the FAQ question on the difference between arguments and parameters,
the inspect.Parameter class, the function section, and PEP 362.
path entry
A single location on the import path which the path based finder consults to find modules for importing.
path entry finder
A finder returned by a callable on sys.path_hooks (i.e. a path entry hook) which knows how to locate
modules given a path entry.
See importlib.abc.PathEntryFinder for the methods that path entry finders implement.
path entry hook
A callable on the sys.path_hooks list which returns a path entry finder if it knows how to find modules on
a specific path entry.
path based finder
One of the default meta path finders which searches an import path for modules.
path-like object
An object representing a file system path. A path-like object is either a str or bytes object representing
a path, or an object implementing the os.PathLike protocol. An object that supports the os.PathLike
protocol can be converted to a str or bytes file system path by calling the os.fspath() function; os.
fsdecode() and os.fsencode() can be used to guarantee a str or bytes result instead, respectively.
Introduced by PEP 519.
PEP
Python Enhancement Proposal. A PEP is a design document providing information to the Python community,
or describing a new feature for Python or its processes or environment. PEPs should provide a concise technical
specification and a rationale for proposed features.
PEPs are intended to be the primary mechanisms for proposing major new features, for collecting community
input on an issue, and for documenting the design decisions that have gone into Python. The PEP author is
responsible for building consensus within the community and documenting dissenting opinions.
See PEP 1.
portion
A set of files in a single directory (possibly stored in a zip file) that contribute to a namespace package, as
defined in PEP 420.
positional argument
See argument.
provisional API
A provisional API is one which has been deliberately excluded from the standard library’s backwards com-
patibility guarantees. While major changes to such interfaces are not expected, as long as they are marked
provisional, backwards incompatible changes (up to and including removal of the interface) may occur if
deemed necessary by core developers. Such changes will not be made gratuitously – they will occur only if
serious fundamental flaws are uncovered that were missed prior to the inclusion of the API.
Even for provisional APIs, backwards incompatible changes are seen as a “solution of last resort” - every
attempt will still be made to find a backwards compatible resolution to any identified problems.

308 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

This process allows the standard library to continue to evolve over time, without locking in problematic design
errors for extended periods of time. See PEP 411 for more details.
provisional package
See provisional API.
Python 3000
Nickname for the Python 3.x release line (coined long ago when the release of version 3 was something in the
distant future.) This is also abbreviated “Py3k”.
Pythonic
An idea or piece of code which closely follows the most common idioms of the Python language, rather than
implementing code using concepts common to other languages. For example, a common idiom in Python is
to loop over all elements of an iterable using a for statement. Many other languages don’t have this type of
construct, so people unfamiliar with Python sometimes use a numerical counter instead:

for i in range(len(food)):
print(food[i])

As opposed to the cleaner, Pythonic method:

for piece in food:

print(piece)

qualified name
A dotted name showing the “path” from a module’s global scope to a class, function or method defined in that
module, as defined in PEP 3155. For top-level functions and classes, the qualified name is the same as the
object’s name:

>>> class C:
... class D:
... def meth(self):
... pass
...
>>> C.__qualname__
'C'
>>> C.D.__qualname__
'C.D'
>>> C.D.meth.__qualname__
'C.D.meth'

When used to refer to modules, the fully qualified name means the entire dotted path to the module, including
any parent packages, e.g. email.mime.text:

>>> import email.mime.text

>>> email.mime.text.__name__
'email.mime.text'

reference count
The number of references to an object. When the reference count of an object drops to zero, it is deallocated.
Some objects are “immortal” and have reference counts that are never modified, and therefore the objects are
never deallocated. Reference counting is generally not visible to Python code, but it is a key element of the
CPython implementation. Programmers can call the sys.getrefcount() function to return the reference
count for a particular object.
regular package
A traditional package, such as a directory containing an __init__.py file.
See also namespace package.
__slots__
A declaration inside a class that saves memory by pre-declaring space for instance attributes and eliminating

309
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

instance dictionaries. Though popular, the technique is somewhat tricky to get right and is best reserved for
rare cases where there are large numbers of instances in a memory-critical application.
sequence
An iterable which supports efficient element access using integer indices via the __getitem__() special
method and defines a __len__() method that returns the length of the sequence. Some built-in sequence
types are list, str, tuple, and bytes. Note that dict also supports __getitem__() and __len__(),
but is considered a mapping rather than a sequence because the lookups use arbitrary hashable keys rather
than integers.
The collections.abc.Sequence abstract base class defines a much richer interface that goes beyond just
__getitem__() and __len__(), adding count(), index(), __contains__(), and __reversed__().
Types that implement this expanded interface can be registered explicitly using register(). For more
documentation on sequence methods generally, see Common Sequence Operations.
set comprehension
A compact way to process all or part of the elements in an iterable and return a set with the results. results
= {c for c in 'abracadabra' if c not in 'abc'} generates the set of strings {'r', 'd'}. See
comprehensions.
single dispatch
A form of generic function dispatch where the implementation is chosen based on the type of a single argument.
slice
An object usually containing a portion of a sequence. A slice is created using the subscript notation, [] with
colons between numbers when several are given, such as in variable_name[1:3:5]. The bracket (sub-
script) notation uses slice objects internally.
soft deprecated
A soft deprecated API should not be used in new code, but it is safe for already existing code to use it. The
API remains documented and tested, but will not be enhanced further.
Soft deprecation, unlike normal deprecation, does not plan on removing the API and will not emit warnings.
See PEP 387: Soft Deprecation.
special method
A method that is called implicitly by Python to execute a certain operation on a type, such as addition. Such
methods have names starting and ending with double underscores. Special methods are documented in spe-
cialnames.
statement
A statement is part of a suite (a “block” of code). A statement is either an expression or one of several constructs
with a keyword, such as if, while or for.
static type checker
An external tool that reads Python code and analyzes it, looking for issues such as incorrect types. See also
type hints and the typing module.
strong reference
In Python’s C API, a strong reference is a reference to an object which is owned by the code holding the
reference. The strong reference is taken by calling Py_INCREF() when the reference is created and released
with Py_DECREF() when the reference is deleted.
The Py_NewRef() function can be used to create a strong reference to an object. Usually, the Py_DECREF()
function must be called on the strong reference before exiting the scope of the strong reference, to avoid leaking
one reference.
See also borrowed reference.
text encoding
A string in Python is a sequence of Unicode code points (in range U+0000–U+10FFFF). To store or transfer
a string, it needs to be serialized as a sequence of bytes.
Serializing a string into a sequence of bytes is known as “encoding”, and recreating the string from the sequence
of bytes is known as “decoding”.

310 Appendix A. Glossary

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

There are a variety of different text serialization codecs, which are collectively referred to as “text encodings”.
text file
A file object able to read and write str objects. Often, a text file actually accesses a byte-oriented datastream
and handles the text encoding automatically. Examples of text files are files opened in text mode ('r' or 'w'),
sys.stdin, sys.stdout, and instances of io.StringIO.

See also binary file for a file object able to read and write bytes-like objects.
token
A small unit of source code, generated by the lexical analyzer (also called the tokenizer). Names, numbers,
strings, operators, newlines and similar are represented by tokens.
The tokenize module exposes Python’s lexical analyzer. The token module contains information on the
various types of tokens.
triple-quoted string
A string which is bound by three instances of either a quotation mark (”) or an apostrophe (‘). While they don’t
provide any functionality not available with single-quoted strings, they are useful for a number of reasons.
They allow you to include unescaped single and double quotes within a string and they can span multiple lines
without the use of the continuation character, making them especially useful when writing docstrings.
type
The type of a Python object determines what kind of object it is; every object has a type. An object’s type is
accessible as its __class__ attribute or can be retrieved with type(obj).
type alias
A synonym for a type, created by assigning the type to an identifier.
Type aliases are useful for simplifying type hints. For example:

def remove_gray_shades(
colors: list[tuple[int, int, int]]) -> list[tuple[int, int, int]]:
pass

could be made more readable like this:

Color = tuple[int, int, int]

def remove_gray_shades(colors: list[Color]) -> list[Color]:

pass

See typing and PEP 484, which describe this functionality.

type hint
An annotation that specifies the expected type for a variable, a class attribute, or a function parameter or return
value.
Type hints are optional and are not enforced by Python but they are useful to static type checkers. They can
also aid IDEs with code completion and refactoring.
Type hints of global variables, class attributes, and functions, but not local variables, can be accessed using
typing.get_type_hints().

See typing and PEP 484, which describe this functionality.

universal newlines
A manner of interpreting text streams in which all of the following are recognized as ending a line: the Unix
end-of-line convention '\n', the Windows convention '\r\n', and the old Macintosh convention '\r'. See
PEP 278 and PEP 3116, as well as bytes.splitlines() for an additional use.
variable annotation
An annotation of a variable or a class attribute.
When annotating a variable or a class attribute, assignment is optional:

311
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

class C:
field: 'annotation'

Variable annotations are usually used for type hints: for example this variable is expected to take int values:

count: int = 0

Variable annotation syntax is explained in section annassign.

See function annotation, PEP 484 and PEP 526, which describe this functionality. Also see annotations-howto
for best practices on working with annotations.
virtual environment
A cooperatively isolated runtime environment that allows Python users and applications to install and upgrade
Python distribution packages without interfering with the behaviour of other Python applications running on
the same system.
See also venv.
virtual machine
A computer defined entirely in software. Python’s virtual machine executes the bytecode emitted by the byte-
code compiler.
Zen of Python
Listing of Python design principles and philosophies that are helpful in understanding and using the language.
The listing can be found by typing “import this” at the interactive prompt.

312 Appendix A. Glossary

 APPENDIX

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENTATION

Python’s documentation is generated from reStructuredText sources using Sphinx, a documentation generator origi-
nally created for Python and now maintained as an independent project.
Development of the documentation and its toolchain is an entirely volunteer effort, just like Python itself. If you
want to contribute, please take a look at the reporting-bugs page for information on how to do so. New volunteers
are always welcome!
Many thanks go to:
• Fred L. Drake, Jr., the creator of the original Python documentation toolset and author of much of the content;
• the Docutils project for creating reStructuredText and the Docutils suite;
• Fredrik Lundh for his Alternative Python Reference project from which Sphinx got many good ideas.

B.1 Contributors to the Python documentation

Many people have contributed to the Python language, the Python standard library, and the Python documentation.
See Misc/ACKS in the Python source distribution for a partial list of contributors.
It is only with the input and contributions of the Python community that Python has such wonderful documentation
– Thank You!

313
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

314 Appendix B. About this documentation

 APPENDIX

HISTORY AND LICENSE

C.1 History of the software

Python was created in the early 1990s by Guido van Rossum at Stichting Mathematisch Centrum (CWI, see https:
//www.cwi.nl) in the Netherlands as a successor of a language called ABC. Guido remains Python’s principal author,
although it includes many contributions from others.
In 1995, Guido continued his work on Python at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI, see https:
//www.cnri.reston.va.us) in Reston, Virginia where he released several versions of the software.
In May 2000, Guido and the Python core development team moved to BeOpen.com to form the BeOpen PythonLabs
team. In October of the same year, the PythonLabs team moved to Digital Creations, which became Zope Corpo-
ration. In 2001, the Python Software Foundation (PSF, see https://www.python.org/psf/) was formed, a non-profit
organization created specifically to own Python-related Intellectual Property. Zope Corporation was a sponsoring
member of the PSF.
All Python releases are Open Source (see https://opensource.org for the Open Source Definition). Historically, most,
but not all, Python releases have also been GPL-compatible; the table below summarizes the various releases.

Release Derived from Year Owner GPL-compatible? (1)

0.9.0 thru 1.2 n/a 1991-1995 CWI yes
1.3 thru 1.5.2 1.2 1995-1999 CNRI yes
1.6 1.5.2 2000 CNRI no
2.0 1.6 2000 BeOpen.com no
1.6.1 1.6 2001 CNRI yes (2)
2.1 2.0+1.6.1 2001 PSF no
2.0.1 2.0+1.6.1 2001 PSF yes
2.1.1 2.1+2.0.1 2001 PSF yes
2.1.2 2.1.1 2002 PSF yes
2.1.3 2.1.2 2002 PSF yes
2.2 and above 2.1.1 2001-now PSF yes

® Note

(1) GPL-compatible doesn’t mean that we’re distributing Python under the GPL. All Python licenses, unlike
the GPL, let you distribute a modified version without making your changes open source. The GPL-
compatible licenses make it possible to combine Python with other software that is released under the
GPL; the others don’t.
(2) According to Richard Stallman, 1.6.1 is not GPL-compatible, because its license has a choice of law clause.
According to CNRI, however, Stallman’s lawyer has told CNRI’s lawyer that 1.6.1 is “not incompatible”
with the GPL.

Thanks to the many outside volunteers who have worked under Guido’s direction to make these releases possible.

315
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.2 Terms and conditions for accessing or otherwise using Python

Python software and documentation are licensed under the Python Software Foundation License Version 2.
Starting with Python 3.8.6, examples, recipes, and other code in the documentation are dual licensed under the PSF
License Version 2 and the Zero-Clause BSD license.
Some software incorporated into Python is under different licenses. The licenses are listed with code falling under
that license. See Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software for an incomplete list of these licenses.

C.2.1 PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE VERSION 2

1. This LICENSE AGREEMENT is between the Python Software Foundation ("PSF"), and
the Individual or Organization ("Licensee") accessing and otherwise using this
software ("Python") in source or binary form and its associated documentation.

2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, PSF hereby
grants Licensee a nonexclusive, royalty-free, world-wide license to reproduce,
analyze, test, perform and/or display publicly, prepare derivative works,
distribute, and otherwise use Python alone or in any derivative
version, provided, however, that PSF's License Agreement and PSF's notice of
copyright, i.e., "Copyright © 2001-2023 Python Software Foundation; All Rights
Reserved" are retained in Python alone or in any derivative version
prepared by Licensee.

3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on or

incorporates Python or any part thereof, and wants to make the
derivative work available to others as provided herein, then Licensee hereby
agrees to include in any such work a brief summary of the changes made to␣
,→Python.

4. PSF is making Python available to Licensee on an "AS IS" basis.

PSF MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BY WAY OF
EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PSF MAKES NO AND DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR
WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE
USE OF PYTHON WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

5. PSF SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER USERS OF PYTHON

FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS AS A RESULT OF
MODIFYING, DISTRIBUTING, OR OTHERWISE USING PYTHON, OR ANY DERIVATIVE
THEREOF, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.

6. This License Agreement will automatically terminate upon a material breach of

its terms and conditions.

7. Nothing in this License Agreement shall be deemed to create any relationship

of agency, partnership, or joint venture between PSF and Licensee. This License
Agreement does not grant permission to use PSF trademarks or trade name in a
trademark sense to endorse or promote products or services of Licensee, or any
third party.

8. By copying, installing or otherwise using Python, Licensee agrees

to be bound by the terms and conditions of this License Agreement.

316 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.2.2 BEOPEN.COM LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 2.0

BEOPEN PYTHON OPEN SOURCE LICENSE AGREEMENT VERSION 1

1. This LICENSE AGREEMENT is between BeOpen.com ("BeOpen"), having an office at

160 Saratoga Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95051, and the Individual or Organization
("Licensee") accessing and otherwise using this software in source or binary
form and its associated documentation ("the Software").

2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this BeOpen Python License Agreement,
BeOpen hereby grants Licensee a non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide license
to reproduce, analyze, test, perform and/or display publicly, prepare derivative
works, distribute, and otherwise use the Software alone or in any derivative
version, provided, however, that the BeOpen Python License is retained in the
Software, alone or in any derivative version prepared by Licensee.

3. BeOpen is making the Software available to Licensee on an "AS IS" basis.

BEOPEN MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BY WAY OF
EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, BEOPEN MAKES NO AND DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR
WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE
USE OF THE SOFTWARE WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

4. BEOPEN SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER USERS OF THE SOFTWARE FOR
ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS AS A RESULT OF USING,
MODIFYING OR DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE, OR ANY DERIVATIVE THEREOF, EVEN IF
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.

5. This License Agreement will automatically terminate upon a material breach of

its terms and conditions.

6. This License Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in all respects

by the law of the State of California, excluding conflict of law provisions.
Nothing in this License Agreement shall be deemed to create any relationship of
agency, partnership, or joint venture between BeOpen and Licensee. This License
Agreement does not grant permission to use BeOpen trademarks or trade names in a
trademark sense to endorse or promote products or services of Licensee, or any
third party. As an exception, the "BeOpen Python" logos available at
http://www.pythonlabs.com/logos.html may be used according to the permissions
granted on that web page.

7. By copying, installing or otherwise using the software, Licensee agrees to be

bound by the terms and conditions of this License Agreement.

C.2.3 CNRI LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 1.6.1

1. This LICENSE AGREEMENT is between the Corporation for National Research
Initiatives, having an office at 1895 Preston White Drive, Reston, VA 20191
("CNRI"), and the Individual or Organization ("Licensee") accessing and
otherwise using Python 1.6.1 software in source or binary form and its
associated documentation.

2. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, CNRI hereby
grants Licensee a nonexclusive, royalty-free, world-wide license to reproduce,
analyze, test, perform and/or display publicly, prepare derivative works,
distribute, and otherwise use Python 1.6.1 alone or in any derivative version,
provided, however, that CNRI's License Agreement and CNRI's notice of copyright,
i.e., "Copyright © 1995-2001 Corporation for National Research Initiatives; All
(continues on next page)

C.2. Terms and conditions for accessing or otherwise using Python 317
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

Rights Reserved" are retained in Python 1.6.1 alone or in any derivative version
prepared by Licensee. Alternately, in lieu of CNRI's License Agreement,
Licensee may substitute the following text (omitting the quotes): "Python 1.6.1
is made available subject to the terms and conditions in CNRI's License
Agreement. This Agreement together with Python 1.6.1 may be located on the
internet using the following unique, persistent identifier (known as a handle):
1895.22/1013. This Agreement may also be obtained from a proxy server on the
internet using the following URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1895.22/1013".

3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on or

incorporates Python 1.6.1 or any part thereof, and wants to make the derivative
work available to others as provided herein, then Licensee hereby agrees to
include in any such work a brief summary of the changes made to Python 1.6.1.

4. CNRI is making Python 1.6.1 available to Licensee on an "AS IS" basis. CNRI
MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE,
BUT NOT LIMITATION, CNRI MAKES NO AND DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY
OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF
PYTHON 1.6.1 WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.

5. CNRI SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO LICENSEE OR ANY OTHER USERS OF PYTHON 1.6.1 FOR
ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS AS A RESULT OF
MODIFYING, DISTRIBUTING, OR OTHERWISE USING PYTHON 1.6.1, OR ANY DERIVATIVE
THEREOF, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF.

6. This License Agreement will automatically terminate upon a material breach of

its terms and conditions.

7. This License Agreement shall be governed by the federal intellectual property

law of the United States, including without limitation the federal copyright
law, and, to the extent such U.S. federal law does not apply, by the law of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, excluding Virginia's conflict of law provisions.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, with regard to derivative works based on Python
1.6.1 that incorporate non-separable material that was previously distributed
under the GNU General Public License (GPL), the law of the Commonwealth of
Virginia shall govern this License Agreement only as to issues arising under or
with respect to Paragraphs 4, 5, and 7 of this License Agreement. Nothing in
this License Agreement shall be deemed to create any relationship of agency,
partnership, or joint venture between CNRI and Licensee. This License Agreement
does not grant permission to use CNRI trademarks or trade name in a trademark
sense to endorse or promote products or services of Licensee, or any third
party.

8. By clicking on the "ACCEPT" button where indicated, or by copying, installing

or otherwise using Python 1.6.1, Licensee agrees to be bound by the terms and
conditions of this License Agreement.

C.2.4 CWI LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR PYTHON 0.9.0 THROUGH 1.2

Copyright © 1991 - 1995, Stichting Mathematisch Centrum Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. All rights reserved.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that
the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright
(continues on next page)

318 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that
the name of Stichting Mathematisch Centrum or CWI not be used in advertising or
publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
prior permission.

STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS

SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO
EVENT SHALL STICHTING MATHEMATISCH CENTRUM BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT
OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE,
DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS
SOFTWARE.

C.2.5 ZERO-CLAUSE BSD LICENSE FOR CODE IN THE PYTHON DOCUMENTA-

TION
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is hereby granted.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH
REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT,
INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM
LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR
OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

C.3 Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software

This section is an incomplete, but growing list of licenses and acknowledgements for third-party software incorporated
in the Python distribution.

C.3.1 Mersenne Twister

The _random C extension underlying the random module includes code based on a download from http://www.math.
sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/MT2002/emt19937ar.html. The following are the verbatim comments from the
original code:

A C-program for MT19937, with initialization improved 2002/1/26.

Coded by Takuji Nishimura and Makoto Matsumoto.

Before using, initialize the state by using init_genrand(seed)

or init_by_array(init_key, key_length).

Copyright (C) 1997 - 2002, Makoto Matsumoto and Takuji Nishimura,

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright

notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

(continues on next page)

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 319

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. The names of its contributors may not be used to endorse or promote

products derived from this software without specific prior written
permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Any feedback is very welcome.

http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/emt.html
email: m-mat @ math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp (remove space)

C.3.2 Sockets
The socket module uses the functions, getaddrinfo(), and getnameinfo(), which are coded in separate source
files from the WIDE Project, https://www.wide.ad.jp/.

Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998 WIDE Project.

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the project nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE PROJECT AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE PROJECT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

320 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.3.3 Asynchronous socket services

The test.support.asynchat and test.support.asyncore modules contain the following notice:
Copyright 1996 by Sam Rushing

All Rights Reserved

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and

its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all
copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Sam
Rushing not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to
distribution of the software without specific, written prior
permission.

SAM RUSHING DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE,

INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN
NO EVENT SHALL SAM RUSHING BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS
OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

C.3.4 Cookie management

The http.cookies module contains the following notice:
Copyright 2000 by Timothy O'Malley <[email protected]>

All Rights Reserved

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software

and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all
copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of
Timothy O'Malley not be used in advertising or publicity
pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
prior permission.

Timothy O'Malley DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS

SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL Timothy O'Malley BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

C.3.5 Execution tracing

The trace module contains the following notice:
portions copyright 2001, Autonomous Zones Industries, Inc., all rights...
err... reserved and offered to the public under the terms of the
Python 2.2 license.
(continues on next page)

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 321

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

Author: Zooko O'Whielacronx
http://zooko.com/
mailto:[email protected]

Copyright 2000, Mojam Media, Inc., all rights reserved.

Author: Skip Montanaro

Copyright 1999, Bioreason, Inc., all rights reserved.

Author: Andrew Dalke

Copyright 1995-1997, Automatrix, Inc., all rights reserved.

Author: Skip Montanaro

Copyright 1991-1995, Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, all rights reserved.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this Python software and
its associated documentation for any purpose without fee is hereby
granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies,
and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation, and that the name of neither Automatrix,
Bioreason or Mojam Media be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to
distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.

C.3.6 UUencode and UUdecode functions

The uu module contains the following notice:

Copyright 1994 by Lance Ellinghouse

Cathedral City, California Republic, United States of America.
All Rights Reserved
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that
both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
supporting documentation, and that the name of Lance Ellinghouse
not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution
of the software without specific, written prior permission.
LANCE ELLINGHOUSE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO
THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL LANCE ELLINGHOUSE CENTRUM BE LIABLE
FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT
OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Modified by Jack Jansen, CWI, July 1995:

- Use binascii module to do the actual line-by-line conversion
between ascii and binary. This results in a 1000-fold speedup. The C
version is still 5 times faster, though.
- Arguments more compliant with Python standard

322 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.3.7 XML Remote Procedure Calls

The xmlrpc.client module contains the following notice:

The XML-RPC client interface is

Copyright (c) 1999-2002 by Secret Labs AB

Copyright (c) 1999-2002 by Fredrik Lundh

By obtaining, using, and/or copying this software and/or its

associated documentation, you agree that you have read, understood,
and will comply with the following terms and conditions:

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and

its associated documentation for any purpose and without fee is
hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in
all copies, and that both that copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of
Secret Labs AB or the author not be used in advertising or publicity
pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
prior permission.

SECRET LABS AB AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD
TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-
ABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL SECRET LABS AB OR THE AUTHOR
BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY
DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE
OF THIS SOFTWARE.

C.3.8 test_epoll
The test.test_epoll module contains the following notice:

Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Twisted Matrix Laboratories.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be

included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 323

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.3.9 Select kqueue

The select module contains the following notice for the kqueue interface:

Copyright (c) 2000 Doug White, 2006 James Knight, 2007 Christian Heimes
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

C.3.10 SipHash24
The file Python/pyhash.c contains Marek Majkowski’ implementation of Dan Bernstein’s SipHash24 algorithm.
It contains the following note:

<MIT License>
Copyright (c) 2013 Marek Majkowski <[email protected]>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy

of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
</MIT License>

Original location:
https://github.com/majek/csiphash/

Solution inspired by code from:

Samuel Neves (supercop/crypto_auth/siphash24/little)
djb (supercop/crypto_auth/siphash24/little2)
Jean-Philippe Aumasson (https://131002.net/siphash/siphash24.c)

324 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.3.11 strtod and dtoa

The file Python/dtoa.c, which supplies C functions dtoa and strtod for conversion of C doubles to and from strings,
is derived from the file of the same name by David M. Gay, currently available from https://web.archive.org/web/
20220517033456/http://www.netlib.org/fp/dtoa.c. The original file, as retrieved on March 16, 2009, contains the
following copyright and licensing notice:

/****************************************************************
*
* The author of this software is David M. Gay.
*
* Copyright (c) 1991, 2000, 2001 by Lucent Technologies.
*
* Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
* purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this entire notice
* is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy
* or modification of this software and in all copies of the supporting
* documentation for such software.
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
* WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR LUCENT MAKES ANY
* REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MERCHANTABILITY
* OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
*
***************************************************************/

C.3.12 OpenSSL
The modules hashlib, posix, ssl, crypt use the OpenSSL library for added performance if made available by the
operating system. Additionally, the Windows and macOS installers for Python may include a copy of the OpenSSL
libraries, so we include a copy of the OpenSSL license here. For the OpenSSL 3.0 release, and later releases derived
from that, the Apache License v2 applies:

Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
https://www.apache.org/licenses/

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

1. Definitions.

"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

"Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by

the copyright owner that is granting the License.

"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
"control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

"You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity

exercising permissions granted by this License.

(continues on next page)

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 325

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
including but not limited to software source code, documentation
source, and configuration files.

"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical

transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
and conversions to other media types.

"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or

Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
(an example is provided in the Appendix below).

"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object

form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including

the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity

on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
subsequently incorporated within the Work.

2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of

this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of

this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
(continues on next page)

326 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
as of the date such litigation is filed.

4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the

Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
meet the following conditions:

(a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or

Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

(b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that You changed the files; and

(c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
the Derivative Works; and

(d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its

distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
as modifying the License.

You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
the conditions stated in this License.

5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,

any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

(continues on next page)

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 327

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or

agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,

whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing

the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

C.3.13 expat
The pyexpat extension is built using an included copy of the expat sources unless the build is configured
--with-system-expat:

Copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000 Thai Open Source Software Center Ltd
and Clark Cooper

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

(continues on next page)

328 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

C.3.14 libffi
The _ctypes C extension underlying the ctypes module is built using an included copy of the libffi sources unless
the build is configured --with-system-libffi:
Copyright (c) 1996-2008 Red Hat, Inc and others.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

C.3.15 zlib
The zlib extension is built using an included copy of the zlib sources if the zlib version found on the system is too
old to be used for the build:

Copyright (C) 1995-2011 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied

warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,

including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
(continues on next page)

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 329

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

appreciated but is not required.

2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original software.

3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Jean-loup Gailly Mark Adler

[email protected] [email protected]

C.3.16 cfuhash
The implementation of the hash table used by the tracemalloc is based on the cfuhash project:
Copyright (c) 2005 Don Owens
All rights reserved.

This code is released under the BSD license:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

* Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright

notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above

copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
with the distribution.

* Neither the name of the author nor the names of its

contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

C.3.17 libmpdec
The _decimal C extension underlying the decimal module is built using an included copy of the libmpdec library
unless the build is configured --with-system-libmpdec:
Copyright (c) 2008-2020 Stefan Krah. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

(continues on next page)

330 Appendix C. History and License

 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

(continued from previous page)

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright

notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright

notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

C.3.18 W3C C14N test suite

The C14N 2.0 test suite in the test package (Lib/test/xmltestdata/c14n-20/) was retrieved from the W3C
website at https://www.w3.org/TR/xml-c14n2-testcases/ and is distributed under the 3-clause BSD license:

Copyright (c) 2013 W3C(R) (MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang),

All Rights Reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

* Redistributions of works must retain the original copyright notice,

this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the original copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* Neither the name of the W3C nor the names of its contributors may be
used to endorse or promote products derived from this work without
specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

C.3. Licenses and Acknowledgements for Incorporated Software 331

The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

C.3.19 Audioop
The audioop module uses the code base in g771.c file of the SoX project. https://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/files/
sox/12.17.7/sox-12.17.7.tar.gz
This source code is a product of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is provided for unrestricted use. Users may
copy or modify this source code without charge.
SUN SOURCE CODE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITH NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND INCLUD-
ING THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-
LAR PURPOSE, OR ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE OR TRADE PRAC-
TICE.
Sun source code is provided with no support and without any obligation on the part of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. to assist in its use, correction, modification or enhancement.
SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE IN-
FRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHTS, TRADE SECRETS OR ANY PATENTS BY THIS SOFTWARE
OR ANY PART THEREOF.
In no event will Sun Microsystems, Inc. be liable for any lost revenue or profits or other special, indirect
and consequential damages, even if Sun has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Sun Microsystems, Inc. 2550 Garcia Avenue Mountain View, California 94043

C.3.20 asyncio
Parts of the asyncio module are incorporated from uvloop 0.16, which is distributed under the MIT license:

Copyright (c) 2015-2021 MagicStack Inc. http://magic.io

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be

included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

332 Appendix C. History and License

 APPENDIX

COPYRIGHT

Python and this documentation is:

Copyright © 2001-2023 Python Software Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2000 BeOpen.com. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995-2000 Corporation for National Research Initiatives. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1991-1995 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum. All rights reserved.

See History and License for complete license and permissions information.

333
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

334 Appendix D. Copyright

 INDEX

Non-alphabetical _PyTuple_Resize (C function), 147

..., 297 _thread
2to3, 297 module, 198
>>>, 297
__all__ (package variable), 68
A
__dict__ (module attribute), 164 abort (C function), 68
__doc__ (module attribute), 164 abs
__file__ (module attribute), 164, 165 built-in function, 98
__future__, 302 abstract base class, 297
__import__ allocfunc (C type), 286
built-in function, 68 annotation, 297
__loader__ (module attribute), 164 argument, 297
__main__ argv (in module sys), 195
module, 12, 191, 204, 205 ascii
__name__ (module attribute), 164, 165 built-in function, 89
__package__ (module attribute), 164 asynchronous context manager, 298
__PYVENV_LAUNCHER__, 220, 226 asynchronous generator, 298
__slots__, 309 asynchronous generator iterator, 298
_frozen (C struct), 71 asynchronous iterable, 298
_inittab (C struct), 71 asynchronous iterator, 298
_inittab.initfunc (C member), 71 attribute, 298
_inittab.name (C member), 71 awaitable, 298
_Py_c_diff (C function), 125
_Py_c_neg (C function), 125 B
_Py_c_pow (C function), 125 BDFL, 298
_Py_c_prod (C function), 125 binary file, 298
_Py_c_quot (C function), 125 binaryfunc (C type), 287
_Py_c_sum (C function), 125 borrowed reference, 299
_Py_InitializeMain (C function), 233 buffer interface
_Py_NoneStruct (C var), 245 (see buffer protocol), 104
_PyBytes_Resize (C function), 128 buffer object
_PyCFunctionFast (C type), 248 (see buffer protocol), 104
_PyCFunctionFastWithKeywords (C type), 248 buffer protocol, 104
_PyCode_GetExtra (C function), 162 built-in function
_PyCode_SetExtra (C function), 163 __import__, 68
_PyEval_RequestCodeExtraIndex (C function), abs, 98
162 ascii, 89
_PyFrameEvalFunction (C type), 201 bytes, 90
_PyInterpreterFrame (C struct), 179 classmethod, 250
_PyInterpreterState_GetEvalFrameFunc (C compile, 69
function), 201 divmod, 97
_PyInterpreterState_SetEvalFrameFunc (C float, 99
function), 202 hash, 90, 265
_PyObject_GetDictPtr (C function), 89 int, 99
_PyObject_New (C function), 245 len, 91, 100, 102, 149, 152, 155
_PyObject_NewVar (C function), 245 pow, 97, 99

335
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

repr, 89, 264 E

staticmethod, 250 EAFP, 301
tuple, 101, 150 environment variable
type, 91 __PYVENV_LAUNCHER__, 220, 226
builtins PATH, 12
module, 12, 191, 204, 205 PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE, 231
bytearray PYTHONDEBUG, 188, 225
object, 128 PYTHONDEVMODE, 221
bytecode, 299 PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE, 188, 228
bytes PYTHONDUMPREFS, 221, 261
built-in function, 90 PYTHONEXECUTABLE, 226
object, 126 PYTHONFAULTHANDLER, 222
bytes-like object, 299 PYTHONHASHSEED, 189, 223
PYTHONHOME, 12, 189, 195, 196, 223
C PYTHONINSPECT, 189, 223
callable, 299 PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS, 223
callback, 299 PYTHONIOENCODING, 192, 227
calloc (C function), 235 PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING, 189, 217
Capsule PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO, 190, 224
object, 176 PYTHONMALLOC, 236, 239, 241, 243
C-contiguous, 107, 300 PYTHONMALLOCSTATS, 224, 236
class, 299 PYTHONNODEBUGRANGES, 221
class variable, 299 PYTHONNOUSERSITE, 190, 228
classmethod PYTHONOPTIMIZE, 190, 225
built-in function, 250 PYTHONPATH, 12, 189, 224
cleanup functions, 68 PYTHONPERFSUPPORT, 227
close (in module os), 205 PYTHONPLATLIBDIR, 224
CO_FUTURE_DIVISION (C var), 43 PYTHONPROFILEIMPORTTIME, 223
code object, 159 PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX, 226
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures PYTHONSAFEPATH, 220
CVE 2008-5983, 195 PYTHONTRACEMALLOC, 227
compile PYTHONUNBUFFERED, 190, 220
built-in function, 69 PYTHONUTF8, 217, 231
complex number, 299 PYTHONVERBOSE, 191, 228
object, 125 PYTHONWARNINGS, 228
context manager, 299 EOFError (built-in exception), 163
context variable, 300 exc_info (in module sys), 10
contiguous, 107, 300 executable (in module sys), 193
copyright (in module sys), 194 exit (C function), 68
coroutine, 300 expression, 301
coroutine function, 300 extension module, 301
CPython, 300
F
D f-string, 301
decorator, 300 file
descrgetfunc (C type), 287 object, 163
descriptor, 300 file object, 301
descrsetfunc (C type), 287 file-like object, 301
destructor (C type), 286 filesystem encoding and error handler, 301
dictionary, 300 finder, 302
object, 150 float
dictionary comprehension, 300 built-in function, 99
dictionary view, 301 floating-point
divmod object, 123
built-in function, 97 floor division, 302
docstring, 301 Fortran contiguous, 107, 300
duck-typing, 301 free (C function), 235
freefunc (C type), 286

336 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

freeze utility, 71 L
frozenset lambda, 305
object, 154 LBYL, 305
function, 302 len
object, 156 built-in function, 91, 100, 102, 149, 152,
function annotation, 302 155
lenfunc (C type), 287
G lexical analyzer, 305
garbage collection, 302 list, 305
gcvisitobjects_t (C type), 293 object, 149
generator, 302 list comprehension, 305
generator expression, 302 loader, 305
generator iterator, 302 locale encoding, 305
generic function, 303 lock, interpreter, 196
generic type, 303 long integer
getattrfunc (C type), 286 object, 119
getattrofunc (C type), 286 LONG_MAX (C macro), 120
getbufferproc (C type), 287
getiterfunc (C type), 287 M
getter (C type), 254 magic
GIL, 303 method, 305
global interpreter lock, 196, 303 magic method, 305
main(), 192, 195
H malloc (C function), 235
hash mapping, 306
built-in function, 90, 265 object, 150
hash-based pyc, 303 memoryview
hashable, 303 object, 174
hashfunc (C type), 287 meta path finder, 306
metaclass, 306
I METH_CLASS (C macro), 250
IDLE, 303 METH_COEXIST (C macro), 250
immortal, 303 METH_FASTCALL (C macro), 249
immutable, 303 METH_KEYWORDS (C macro), 249
import path, 304 METH_METHOD (C macro), 249
importer, 304 METH_NOARGS (C macro), 249
importing, 304 METH_O (C macro), 250
incr_item(), 11 METH_STATIC (C macro), 250
initproc (C type), 286 METH_VARARGS (C macro), 249
inquiry (C type), 292 method, 306
instancemethod magic, 305
object, 158 object, 158
int special, 310
built-in function, 99 method resolution order, 306
integer MethodType (in module types), 156, 158
object, 119 module, 306
interactive, 304 __main__, 12, 191, 204, 205
interpreted, 304 _thread, 198
interpreter lock, 196 builtins, 12, 191, 204, 205
interpreter shutdown, 304 object, 164
iterable, 304 search path, 12, 191, 193, 194
iterator, 304 signal, 56, 57
iternextfunc (C type), 287 sys, 12, 191, 204, 205
module spec, 306
K modules (in module sys), 68, 191
key function, 305 ModuleType (in module types), 164
KeyboardInterrupt (built-in exception), 56, 57 MRO, 306
keyword argument, 305 mutable, 306

Index 337
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

N portion, 308
named tuple, 306 positional argument, 308
namespace, 307 pow
namespace package, 307 built-in function, 97, 99
nested scope, 307 provisional API, 308
new-style class, 307 provisional package, 309
newfunc (C type), 286 Py_ABS (C macro), 4
None Py_AddPendingCall (C function), 206
object, 119 Py_ALWAYS_INLINE (C macro), 4
numeric Py_AtExit (C function), 68
object, 119 Py_AUDIT_READ (C macro), 252
Py_AuditHookFunction (C type), 68
O Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS (C macro), 196, 199
Py_BLOCK_THREADS (C macro), 200
object, 307
Py_buffer (C type), 104
bytearray, 128
Py_buffer.buf (C member), 104
bytes, 126
Py_buffer.format (C member), 105
Capsule, 176
Py_buffer.internal (C member), 106
code, 159
Py_buffer.itemsize (C member), 105
complex number, 125
Py_buffer.len (C member), 105
dictionary, 150
Py_buffer.ndim (C member), 105
file, 163
Py_buffer.obj (C member), 105
floating-point, 123
Py_buffer.readonly (C member), 105
frozenset, 154
Py_buffer.shape (C member), 105
function, 156
Py_buffer.strides (C member), 105
instancemethod, 158
Py_buffer.suboffsets (C member), 106
integer, 119
Py_BuildValue (C function), 78
list, 149
Py_BytesMain (C function), 39
long integer, 119
Py_BytesWarningFlag (C var), 188
mapping, 150
Py_CHARMASK (C macro), 5
memoryview, 174
Py_CLEANUP_SUPPORTED (C macro), 76
method, 158
Py_CLEAR (C function), 46
module, 164
Py_CompileString (C function), 41, 42
None, 119
Py_CompileStringExFlags (C function), 41
numeric, 119
Py_CompileStringFlags (C function), 41
sequence, 126
Py_CompileStringObject (C function), 41
set, 154
Py_complex (C type), 125
tuple, 146
Py_complex.imag (C member), 125
type, 6, 113
Py_complex.real (C member), 125
objobjargproc (C type), 287
Py_DEBUG (C macro), 12
objobjproc (C type), 287
Py_DebugFlag (C var), 188
OverflowError (built-in exception), 120, 121
Py_DecodeLocale (C function), 64
P Py_DECREF (C function), 7, 46
Py_DecRef (C function), 46
package, 307
Py_DEPRECATED (C macro), 5
package variable
Py_DontWriteBytecodeFlag (C var), 188
__all__, 68
Py_Ellipsis (C var), 174
parameter, 307
Py_EncodeLocale (C function), 65
PATH, 12
Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS (C macro), 196, 200
path
Py_EndInterpreter (C function), 205
module search, 12, 191, 193, 194
Py_EnterRecursiveCall (C function), 60
path (in module sys), 12, 191, 193, 194
Py_EQ (C macro), 273
path based finder, 308
Py_eval_input (C var), 42
path entry, 308
Py_Exit (C function), 68
path entry finder, 308
Py_ExitStatusException (C function), 215
path entry hook, 308
Py_False (C var), 123
path-like object, 308
Py_FatalError (C function), 68
PEP, 308
Py_FatalError(), 195
platform (in module sys), 194

338 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_FdIsInteractive (C function), 63 Py_MOD_MULTIPLE_INTERPRETERS_NOT_SUPPORTED

Py_file_input (C var), 42 (C macro), 168
Py_Finalize (C function), 192 Py_MOD_MULTIPLE_INTERPRETERS_SUPPORTED (C
Py_FinalizeEx (C function), 68, 191, 205 macro), 168
Py_FrozenFlag (C var), 188 Py_MOD_PER_INTERPRETER_GIL_SUPPORTED (C
Py_GE (C macro), 273 macro), 168
Py_GenericAlias (C function), 185 Py_NE (C macro), 273
Py_GenericAliasType (C var), 186 Py_NewInterpreter (C function), 205
Py_GetArgcArgv (C function), 232 Py_NewInterpreterFromConfig (C function), 204
Py_GetBuildInfo (C function), 194 Py_NewRef (C function), 45
Py_GetCompiler (C function), 194 Py_NO_INLINE (C macro), 5
Py_GetCopyright (C function), 194 Py_None (C var), 119
Py_GETENV (C macro), 5 Py_NoSiteFlag (C var), 190
Py_GetExecPrefix (C function), 12, 193 Py_NotImplemented (C var), 87
Py_GetPath (C function), 12, 193 Py_NoUserSiteDirectory (C var), 190
Py_GetPath(), 192, 194 Py_OpenCodeHookFunction (C type), 163
Py_GetPlatform (C function), 194 Py_OptimizeFlag (C var), 190
Py_GetPrefix (C function), 12, 192 Py_PreInitialize (C function), 217
Py_GetProgramFullPath (C function), 12, 193 Py_PreInitializeFromArgs (C function), 217
Py_GetProgramName (C function), 192 Py_PreInitializeFromBytesArgs (C function),
Py_GetPythonHome (C function), 196 217
Py_GetVersion (C function), 194 Py_PRINT_RAW (C macro), 87, 164
Py_GT (C macro), 273 Py_QuietFlag (C var), 190
Py_hash_t (C type), 82 Py_READONLY (C macro), 252
Py_HashRandomizationFlag (C var), 188 Py_REFCNT (C function), 45
Py_IgnoreEnvironmentFlag (C var), 189 Py_RELATIVE_OFFSET (C macro), 252
Py_INCREF (C function), 7, 45 PY_RELEASE_LEVEL (C macro), 295
Py_IncRef (C function), 46 PY_RELEASE_SERIAL (C macro), 295
Py_Initialize (C function), 12, 191, 205 Py_ReprEnter (C function), 60
Py_Initialize(), 192 Py_ReprLeave (C function), 60
Py_InitializeEx (C function), 191 Py_RETURN_FALSE (C macro), 123
Py_InitializeFromConfig (C function), 229 Py_RETURN_NONE (C macro), 119
Py_InspectFlag (C var), 189 Py_RETURN_NOTIMPLEMENTED (C macro), 87
Py_InteractiveFlag (C var), 189 Py_RETURN_RICHCOMPARE (C macro), 273
Py_Is (C function), 246 Py_RETURN_TRUE (C macro), 123
Py_IS_TYPE (C function), 247 Py_RunMain (C function), 232
Py_IsFalse (C function), 247 Py_SET_REFCNT (C function), 45
Py_IsInitialized (C function), 12, 191 Py_SET_SIZE (C function), 247
Py_IsNone (C function), 246 Py_SET_TYPE (C function), 247
Py_IsolatedFlag (C var), 189 Py_SetPath (C function), 193
Py_IsTrue (C function), 246 Py_SetPath(), 193
Py_LE (C macro), 273 Py_SetProgramName (C function), 12, 192
Py_LeaveRecursiveCall (C function), 60 Py_SetProgramName(), 191193
Py_LegacyWindowsFSEncodingFlag (C var), 189 Py_SetPythonHome (C function), 195
Py_LegacyWindowsStdioFlag (C var), 189 Py_SETREF (C macro), 47
Py_LIMITED_API (C macro), 13 Py_SetStandardStreamEncoding (C function), 192
Py_LT (C macro), 273 Py_single_input (C var), 42
Py_Main (C function), 39 Py_SIZE (C function), 247
PY_MAJOR_VERSION (C macro), 295 Py_ssize_t (C type), 10
Py_MAX (C macro), 5 PY_SSIZE_T_MAX (C macro), 121
Py_MEMBER_SIZE (C macro), 5 Py_STRINGIFY (C macro), 5
PY_MICRO_VERSION (C macro), 295 Py_T_BOOL (C macro), 253
Py_MIN (C macro), 5 Py_T_BYTE (C macro), 253
PY_MINOR_VERSION (C macro), 295 Py_T_CHAR (C macro), 253
Py_mod_create (C macro), 167 Py_T_DOUBLE (C macro), 253
Py_mod_exec (C macro), 168 Py_T_FLOAT (C macro), 253
Py_mod_multiple_interpreters (C macro), 168 Py_T_INT (C macro), 253
Py_T_LONG (C macro), 253

Index 339
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

Py_T_LONGLONG (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_ISNUMERIC (C function), 132

Py_T_OBJECT_EX (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_ISPRINTABLE (C function), 132
Py_T_PYSSIZET (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE (C function), 131
Py_T_SHORT (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_ISTITLE (C function), 131
Py_T_STRING (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_ISUPPER (C function), 131
Py_T_STRING_INPLACE (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_JOIN_SURROGATES (C function), 132
Py_T_UBYTE (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_TODECIMAL (C function), 132
Py_T_UINT (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_TODIGIT (C function), 132
Py_T_ULONG (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_TOLOWER (C function), 132
Py_T_ULONGLONG (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_TONUMERIC (C function), 132
Py_T_USHORT (C macro), 253 Py_UNICODE_TOTITLE (C function), 132
Py_TPFLAGS_BASE_EXC_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 Py_UNICODE_TOUPPER (C function), 132
Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE (C macro), 267 Py_UNREACHABLE (C macro), 5
Py_TPFLAGS_BYTES_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 Py_UNUSED (C macro), 6
Py_TPFLAGS_DEFAULT (C macro), 268 Py_VaBuildValue (C function), 80
Py_TPFLAGS_DICT_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PY_VECTORCALL_ARGUMENTS_OFFSET (C macro), 93
Py_TPFLAGS_DISALLOW_INSTANTIATION (C macro), Py_VerboseFlag (C var), 190
269 Py_Version (C var), 295
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_FINALIZE (C macro), 269 PY_VERSION_HEX (C macro), 295
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_GC (C macro), 267 Py_VISIT (C function), 292
Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_VECTORCALL (C macro), 269 Py_XDECREF (C function), 11, 46
Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE (C macro), 267 Py_XINCREF (C function), 45
Py_TPFLAGS_IMMUTABLETYPE (C macro), 269 Py_XNewRef (C function), 46
Py_TPFLAGS_ITEMS_AT_END (C macro), 268 Py_XSETREF (C macro), 47
Py_TPFLAGS_LIST_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PyAIter_Check (C function), 103
Py_TPFLAGS_LONG_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PyAnySet_Check (C function), 154
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_DICT (C macro), 268 PyAnySet_CheckExact (C function), 155
Py_TPFLAGS_MANAGED_WEAKREF (C macro), 268 PyArg_Parse (C function), 78
Py_TPFLAGS_MAPPING (C macro), 270 PyArg_ParseTuple (C function), 77
Py_TPFLAGS_METHOD_DESCRIPTOR (C macro), 268 PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords (C function), 77
Py_TPFLAGS_READY (C macro), 267 PyArg_UnpackTuple (C function), 78
Py_TPFLAGS_READYING (C macro), 267 PyArg_ValidateKeywordArguments (C function),
Py_TPFLAGS_SEQUENCE (C macro), 270 78
Py_TPFLAGS_TUPLE_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PyArg_VaParse (C function), 77
Py_TPFLAGS_TYPE_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PyArg_VaParseTupleAndKeywords (C function), 77
Py_TPFLAGS_UNICODE_SUBCLASS (C macro), 269 PyASCIIObject (C type), 130
Py_TPFLAGS_VALID_VERSION_TAG (C macro), 270 PyAsyncMethods (C type), 285
Py_tracefunc (C type), 207 PyAsyncMethods.am_aiter (C member), 285
Py_True (C var), 123 PyAsyncMethods.am_anext (C member), 286
Py_tss_NEEDS_INIT (C macro), 209 PyAsyncMethods.am_await (C member), 285
Py_tss_t (C type), 209 PyAsyncMethods.am_send (C member), 286
Py_TYPE (C function), 247 PyBaseObject_Type (C var), 246
Py_UCS1 (C type), 129 PyBool_Check (C function), 123
Py_UCS2 (C type), 129 PyBool_FromLong (C function), 123
Py_UCS4 (C type), 129 PyBool_Type (C var), 123
Py_uhash_t (C type), 82 PyBUF_ANY_CONTIGUOUS (C macro), 107
Py_UNBLOCK_THREADS (C macro), 200 PyBUF_C_CONTIGUOUS (C macro), 107
Py_UnbufferedStdioFlag (C var), 190 PyBUF_CONTIG (C macro), 108
Py_UNICODE (C type), 130 PyBUF_CONTIG_RO (C macro), 108
Py_UNICODE_IS_HIGH_SURROGATE (C function), 132 PyBUF_F_CONTIGUOUS (C macro), 107
Py_UNICODE_IS_LOW_SURROGATE (C function), 132 PyBUF_FORMAT (C macro), 106
Py_UNICODE_IS_SURROGATE (C function), 132 PyBUF_FULL (C macro), 108
Py_UNICODE_ISALNUM (C function), 132 PyBUF_FULL_RO (C macro), 108
Py_UNICODE_ISALPHA (C function), 132 PyBUF_INDIRECT (C macro), 107
Py_UNICODE_ISDECIMAL (C function), 132 PyBUF_MAX_NDIM (C macro), 106
Py_UNICODE_ISDIGIT (C function), 132 PyBUF_ND (C macro), 107
Py_UNICODE_ISLINEBREAK (C function), 131 PyBUF_READ (C macro), 174
Py_UNICODE_ISLOWER (C function), 131 PyBUF_RECORDS (C macro), 108

340 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyBUF_RECORDS_RO (C macro), 108 PyCapsule_GetName (C function), 177

PyBUF_SIMPLE (C macro), 107 PyCapsule_GetPointer (C function), 176
PyBUF_STRIDED (C macro), 108 PyCapsule_Import (C function), 177
PyBUF_STRIDED_RO (C macro), 108 PyCapsule_IsValid (C function), 177
PyBUF_STRIDES (C macro), 107 PyCapsule_New (C function), 176
PyBUF_WRITABLE (C macro), 106 PyCapsule_SetContext (C function), 177
PyBUF_WRITE (C macro), 174 PyCapsule_SetDestructor (C function), 177
PyBuffer_FillContiguousStrides (C function), PyCapsule_SetName (C function), 177
110 PyCapsule_SetPointer (C function), 177
PyBuffer_FillInfo (C function), 110 PyCell_Check (C function), 159
PyBuffer_FromContiguous (C function), 110 PyCell_GET (C function), 159
PyBuffer_GetPointer (C function), 110 PyCell_Get (C function), 159
PyBuffer_IsContiguous (C function), 110 PyCell_New (C function), 159
PyBuffer_Release (C function), 109 PyCell_SET (C function), 159
PyBuffer_SizeFromFormat (C function), 110 PyCell_Set (C function), 159
PyBuffer_ToContiguous (C function), 110 PyCell_Type (C var), 159
PyBufferProcs (C type), 104, 284 PyCellObject (C type), 159
PyBufferProcs.bf_getbuffer (C member), 284 PyCFunction (C type), 247
PyBufferProcs.bf_releasebuffer (C member), PyCFunction_New (C function), 250
285 PyCFunction_NewEx (C function), 250
PyByteArray_AS_STRING (C function), 129 PyCFunctionWithKeywords (C type), 248
PyByteArray_AsString (C function), 129 PyCMethod (C type), 248
PyByteArray_Check (C function), 128 PyCMethod_New (C function), 250
PyByteArray_CheckExact (C function), 128 PyCode_Addr2Line (C function), 160
PyByteArray_Concat (C function), 129 PyCode_Addr2Location (C function), 160
PyByteArray_FromObject (C function), 129 PyCode_AddWatcher (C function), 161
PyByteArray_FromStringAndSize (C function), PyCode_Check (C function), 159
129 PyCode_ClearWatcher (C function), 161
PyByteArray_GET_SIZE (C function), 129 PyCode_GetCellvars (C function), 161
PyByteArray_Resize (C function), 129 PyCode_GetCode (C function), 161
PyByteArray_Size (C function), 129 PyCode_GetFirstFree (C function), 159
PyByteArray_Type (C var), 128 PyCode_GetFreevars (C function), 161
PyByteArrayObject (C type), 128 PyCode_GetNumFree (C function), 159
PyBytes_AS_STRING (C function), 128 PyCode_GetVarnames (C function), 161
PyBytes_AsString (C function), 127 PyCode_New (C function), 160
PyBytes_AsStringAndSize (C function), 128 PyCode_NewEmpty (C function), 160
PyBytes_Check (C function), 126 PyCode_NewWithPosOnlyArgs (C function), 160
PyBytes_CheckExact (C function), 127 PyCode_Type (C var), 159
PyBytes_Concat (C function), 128 PyCode_WatchCallback (C type), 161
PyBytes_ConcatAndDel (C function), 128 PyCodec_BackslashReplaceErrors (C function),
PyBytes_FromFormat (C function), 127 85
PyBytes_FromFormatV (C function), 127 PyCodec_Decode (C function), 84
PyBytes_FromObject (C function), 127 PyCodec_Decoder (C function), 84
PyBytes_FromString (C function), 127 PyCodec_Encode (C function), 84
PyBytes_FromStringAndSize (C function), 127 PyCodec_Encoder (C function), 84
PyBytes_GET_SIZE (C function), 127 PyCodec_IgnoreErrors (C function), 85
PyBytes_Size (C function), 127 PyCodec_IncrementalDecoder (C function), 84
PyBytes_Type (C var), 126 PyCodec_IncrementalEncoder (C function), 84
PyBytesObject (C type), 126 PyCodec_KnownEncoding (C function), 84
PyCallable_Check (C function), 97 PyCodec_LookupError (C function), 85
PyCallIter_Check (C function), 172 PyCodec_NameReplaceErrors (C function), 85
PyCallIter_New (C function), 172 PyCodec_Register (C function), 83
PyCallIter_Type (C var), 172 PyCodec_RegisterError (C function), 84
PyCapsule (C type), 176 PyCodec_ReplaceErrors (C function), 85
PyCapsule_CheckExact (C function), 176 PyCodec_StreamReader (C function), 84
PyCapsule_Destructor (C type), 176 PyCodec_StreamWriter (C function), 84
PyCapsule_GetContext (C function), 177 PyCodec_StrictErrors (C function), 85
PyCapsule_GetDestructor (C function), 176 PyCodec_Unregister (C function), 83

Index 341
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyCodec_XMLCharRefReplaceErrors (C function), PyConfig.module_search_paths_set (C mem-

85 ber), 224
PyCodeEvent (C type), 161 PyConfig.optimization_level (C member), 225
PyCodeObject (C type), 159 PyConfig.orig_argv (C member), 225
PyCompactUnicodeObject (C type), 130 PyConfig.parse_argv (C member), 225
PyCompilerFlags (C struct), 42 PyConfig.parser_debug (C member), 225
PyCompilerFlags.cf_feature_version (C mem- PyConfig.pathconfig_warnings (C member), 225
ber), 42 PyConfig.perf_profiling (C member), 227
PyCompilerFlags.cf_flags (C member), 42 PyConfig.platlibdir (C member), 224
PyComplex_AsCComplex (C function), 126 PyConfig.prefix (C member), 225
PyComplex_Check (C function), 126 PyConfig.program_name (C member), 225
PyComplex_CheckExact (C function), 126 PyConfig.pycache_prefix (C member), 226
PyComplex_FromCComplex (C function), 126 PyConfig.pythonpath_env (C member), 224
PyComplex_FromDoubles (C function), 126 PyConfig.quiet (C member), 226
PyComplex_ImagAsDouble (C function), 126 PyConfig.run_command (C member), 226
PyComplex_RealAsDouble (C function), 126 PyConfig.run_filename (C member), 226
PyComplex_Type (C var), 126 PyConfig.run_module (C member), 226
PyComplexObject (C type), 126 PyConfig.safe_path (C member), 220
PyConfig (C type), 218 PyConfig.show_ref_count (C member), 226
PyConfig_Clear (C function), 219 PyConfig.site_import (C member), 226
PyConfig_InitIsolatedConfig (C function), 218 PyConfig.skip_source_first_line (C member),
PyConfig_InitPythonConfig (C function), 218 227
PyConfig_Read (C function), 219 PyConfig.stdio_encoding (C member), 227
PyConfig_SetArgv (C function), 219 PyConfig.stdio_errors (C member), 227
PyConfig_SetBytesArgv (C function), 219 PyConfig.tracemalloc (C member), 227
PyConfig_SetBytesString (C function), 218 PyConfig.use_environment (C member), 227
PyConfig_SetString (C function), 218 PyConfig.use_hash_seed (C member), 222
PyConfig_SetWideStringList (C function), 219 PyConfig.user_site_directory (C member), 228
PyConfig.argv (C member), 219 PyConfig.verbose (C member), 228
PyConfig.base_exec_prefix (C member), 220 PyConfig.warn_default_encoding (C member),
PyConfig.base_executable (C member), 220 221
PyConfig.base_prefix (C member), 220 PyConfig.warnoptions (C member), 228
PyConfig.buffered_stdio (C member), 220 PyConfig.write_bytecode (C member), 228
PyConfig.bytes_warning (C member), 220 PyConfig.xoptions (C member), 228
PyConfig.check_hash_pycs_mode (C member), PyContext (C type), 180
221 PyContext_CheckExact (C function), 181
PyConfig.code_debug_ranges (C member), 221 PyContext_Copy (C function), 181
PyConfig.configure_c_stdio (C member), 221 PyContext_CopyCurrent (C function), 181
PyConfig.dev_mode (C member), 221 PyContext_Enter (C function), 181
PyConfig.dump_refs (C member), 221 PyContext_Exit (C function), 181
PyConfig.exec_prefix (C member), 221 PyContext_New (C function), 181
PyConfig.executable (C member), 222 PyContext_Type (C var), 181
PyConfig.faulthandler (C member), 222 PyContextToken (C type), 181
PyConfig.filesystem_encoding (C member), 222 PyContextToken_CheckExact (C function), 181
PyConfig.filesystem_errors (C member), 222 PyContextToken_Type (C var), 181
PyConfig.hash_seed (C member), 222 PyContextVar (C type), 181
PyConfig.home (C member), 223 PyContextVar_CheckExact (C function), 181
PyConfig.import_time (C member), 223 PyContextVar_Get (C function), 181
PyConfig.inspect (C member), 223 PyContextVar_New (C function), 181
PyConfig.install_signal_handlers (C mem- PyContextVar_Reset (C function), 182
ber), 223 PyContextVar_Set (C function), 182
PyConfig.int_max_str_digits (C member), 223 PyContextVar_Type (C var), 181
PyConfig.interactive (C member), 223 PyCoro_CheckExact (C function), 180
PyConfig.isolated (C member), 223 PyCoro_New (C function), 180
PyConfig.legacy_windows_stdio (C member), PyCoro_Type (C var), 180
224 PyCoroObject (C type), 180
PyConfig.malloc_stats (C member), 224 PyDate_Check (C function), 182
PyConfig.module_search_paths (C member), 224 PyDate_CheckExact (C function), 183

342 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyDate_FromDate (C function), 183 PyDict_GetItemString (C function), 151

PyDate_FromTimestamp (C function), 185 PyDict_GetItemWithError (C function), 151
PyDateTime_Check (C function), 183 PyDict_Items (C function), 152
PyDateTime_CheckExact (C function), 183 PyDict_Keys (C function), 152
PyDateTime_Date (C type), 182 PyDict_Merge (C function), 153
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_FOLD (C function), 184 PyDict_MergeFromSeq2 (C function), 153
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_HOUR (C function), 184 PyDict_New (C function), 150
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_MICROSECOND (C function), PyDict_Next (C function), 152
184 PyDict_SetDefault (C function), 152
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_MINUTE (C function), 184 PyDict_SetItem (C function), 151
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_SECOND (C function), 184 PyDict_SetItemString (C function), 151
PyDateTime_DATE_GET_TZINFO (C function), 184 PyDict_Size (C function), 152
PyDateTime_DateTime (C type), 182 PyDict_Type (C var), 150
PyDateTime_DateTimeType (C var), 182 PyDict_Unwatch (C function), 153
PyDateTime_DateType (C var), 182 PyDict_Update (C function), 153
PyDateTime_Delta (C type), 182 PyDict_Values (C function), 152
PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_DAYS (C function), 185 PyDict_Watch (C function), 153
PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_MICROSECONDS (C func- PyDict_WatchCallback (C type), 154
tion), 185 PyDict_WatchEvent (C type), 153
PyDateTime_DELTA_GET_SECONDS (C function), 185 PyDictObject (C type), 150
PyDateTime_DeltaType (C var), 182 PyDictProxy_New (C function), 150
PyDateTime_FromDateAndTime (C function), 183 PyDoc_STR (C macro), 6
PyDateTime_FromDateAndTimeAndFold (C func- PyDoc_STRVAR (C macro), 6
tion), 183 PyEllipsis_Type (C var), 174
PyDateTime_FromTimestamp (C function), 185 PyErr_BadArgument (C function), 50
PyDateTime_GET_DAY (C function), 184 PyErr_BadInternalCall (C function), 52
PyDateTime_GET_MONTH (C function), 184 PyErr_CheckSignals (C function), 56
PyDateTime_GET_YEAR (C function), 184 PyErr_Clear (C function), 10, 11, 49
PyDateTime_Time (C type), 182 PyErr_DisplayException (C function), 50
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_FOLD (C function), 185 PyErr_ExceptionMatches (C function), 11, 53
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_HOUR (C function), 184 PyErr_Fetch (C function), 54
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_MICROSECOND (C function), PyErr_Format (C function), 50
184 PyErr_FormatV (C function), 50
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_MINUTE (C function), 184 PyErr_GetExcInfo (C function), 56
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_SECOND (C function), 184 PyErr_GetHandledException (C function), 55
PyDateTime_TIME_GET_TZINFO (C function), 185 PyErr_GetRaisedException (C function), 54
PyDateTime_TimeType (C var), 182 PyErr_GivenExceptionMatches (C function), 53
PyDateTime_TimeZone_UTC (C var), 182 PyErr_NewException (C function), 57
PyDateTime_TZInfoType (C var), 182 PyErr_NewExceptionWithDoc (C function), 57
PyDelta_Check (C function), 183 PyErr_NoMemory (C function), 50
PyDelta_CheckExact (C function), 183 PyErr_NormalizeException (C function), 55
PyDelta_FromDSU (C function), 183 PyErr_Occurred (C function), 10, 53
PyDescr_IsData (C function), 173 PyErr_Print (C function), 49
PyDescr_NewClassMethod (C function), 173 PyErr_PrintEx (C function), 49
PyDescr_NewGetSet (C function), 172 PyErr_ResourceWarning (C function), 53
PyDescr_NewMember (C function), 172 PyErr_Restore (C function), 55
PyDescr_NewMethod (C function), 172 PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErr (C function), 51
PyDescr_NewWrapper (C function), 172 PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilename (C
PyDict_AddWatcher (C function), 153 function), 52
PyDict_Check (C function), 150 PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObject
PyDict_CheckExact (C function), 150 (C function), 51
PyDict_Clear (C function), 151 PyErr_SetExcFromWindowsErrWithFilenameObjects
PyDict_ClearWatcher (C function), 153 (C function), 51
PyDict_Contains (C function), 151 PyErr_SetExcInfo (C function), 56
PyDict_Copy (C function), 151 PyErr_SetFromErrno (C function), 50
PyDict_DelItem (C function), 151 PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilename (C function),
PyDict_DelItemString (C function), 151 51
PyDict_GetItem (C function), 151

Index 343
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObject (C PyExc_BufferError (C var), 60

function), 51 PyExc_BytesWarning (C var), 62
PyErr_SetFromErrnoWithFilenameObjects (C PyExc_ChildProcessError (C var), 60
function), 51 PyExc_ConnectionAbortedError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr (C function), 51 PyExc_ConnectionError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetFromWindowsErrWithFilename (C PyExc_ConnectionRefusedError (C var), 60
function), 51 PyExc_ConnectionResetError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetHandledException (C function), 55 PyExc_DeprecationWarning (C var), 62
PyErr_SetImportError (C function), 52 PyExc_EnvironmentError (C var), 62
PyErr_SetImportErrorSubclass (C function), 52 PyExc_EOFError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetInterrupt (C function), 57 PyExc_Exception (C var), 60
PyErr_SetInterruptEx (C function), 57 PyExc_FileExistsError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetNone (C function), 50 PyExc_FileNotFoundError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetObject (C function), 50 PyExc_FloatingPointError (C var), 60
PyErr_SetRaisedException (C function), 54 PyExc_FutureWarning (C var), 62
PyErr_SetString (C function), 10, 50 PyExc_GeneratorExit (C var), 60
PyErr_SyntaxLocation (C function), 52 PyExc_ImportError (C var), 60
PyErr_SyntaxLocationEx (C function), 52 PyExc_ImportWarning (C var), 62
PyErr_SyntaxLocationObject (C function), 52 PyExc_IndentationError (C var), 60
PyErr_WarnEx (C function), 52 PyExc_IndexError (C var), 60
PyErr_WarnExplicit (C function), 53 PyExc_InterruptedError (C var), 60
PyErr_WarnExplicitObject (C function), 53 PyExc_IOError (C var), 62
PyErr_WarnFormat (C function), 53 PyExc_IsADirectoryError (C var), 60
PyErr_WriteUnraisable (C function), 49 PyExc_KeyboardInterrupt (C var), 60
PyEval_AcquireLock (C function), 202 PyExc_KeyError (C var), 60
PyEval_AcquireThread (C function), 202 PyExc_LookupError (C var), 60
PyEval_AcquireThread(), 198 PyExc_MemoryError (C var), 60
PyEval_EvalCode (C function), 42 PyExc_ModuleNotFoundError (C var), 60
PyEval_EvalCodeEx (C function), 42 PyExc_NameError (C var), 60
PyEval_EvalFrame (C function), 42 PyExc_NotADirectoryError (C var), 60
PyEval_EvalFrameEx (C function), 42 PyExc_NotImplementedError (C var), 60
PyEval_GetBuiltins (C function), 83 PyExc_OSError (C var), 60
PyEval_GetFrame (C function), 83 PyExc_OverflowError (C var), 60
PyEval_GetFuncDesc (C function), 83 PyExc_PendingDeprecationWarning (C var), 62
PyEval_GetFuncName (C function), 83 PyExc_PermissionError (C var), 60
PyEval_GetGlobals (C function), 83 PyExc_ProcessLookupError (C var), 60
PyEval_GetLocals (C function), 83 PyExc_RecursionError (C var), 60
PyEval_InitThreads (C function), 198 PyExc_ReferenceError (C var), 60
PyEval_InitThreads(), 191 PyExc_ResourceWarning (C var), 62
PyEval_MergeCompilerFlags (C function), 42 PyExc_RuntimeError (C var), 60
PyEval_ReleaseLock (C function), 203 PyExc_RuntimeWarning (C var), 62
PyEval_ReleaseThread (C function), 202 PyExc_StopAsyncIteration (C var), 60
PyEval_ReleaseThread(), 198 PyExc_StopIteration (C var), 60
PyEval_RestoreThread (C function), 196, 198 PyExc_SyntaxError (C var), 60
PyEval_RestoreThread(), 198 PyExc_SyntaxWarning (C var), 62
PyEval_SaveThread (C function), 196, 198 PyExc_SystemError (C var), 60
PyEval_SaveThread(), 198 PyExc_SystemExit (C var), 60
PyEval_SetProfile (C function), 208 PyExc_TabError (C var), 60
PyEval_SetProfileAllThreads (C function), 208 PyExc_TimeoutError (C var), 60
PyEval_SetTrace (C function), 208 PyExc_TypeError (C var), 60
PyEval_SetTraceAllThreads (C function), 208 PyExc_UnboundLocalError (C var), 60
PyEval_ThreadsInitialized (C function), 198 PyExc_UnicodeDecodeError (C var), 60
PyExc_ArithmeticError (C var), 60 PyExc_UnicodeEncodeError (C var), 60
PyExc_AssertionError (C var), 60 PyExc_UnicodeError (C var), 60
PyExc_AttributeError (C var), 60 PyExc_UnicodeTranslateError (C var), 60
PyExc_BaseException (C var), 60 PyExc_UnicodeWarning (C var), 62
PyExc_BlockingIOError (C var), 60 PyExc_UserWarning (C var), 62
PyExc_BrokenPipeError (C var), 60 PyExc_ValueError (C var), 60

344 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyExc_Warning (C var), 62 PyFunction_GetModule (C function), 156

PyExc_WindowsError (C var), 62 PyFunction_New (C function), 156
PyExc_ZeroDivisionError (C var), 60 PyFunction_NewWithQualName (C function), 156
PyException_GetArgs (C function), 58 PyFunction_SetAnnotations (C function), 157
PyException_GetCause (C function), 58 PyFunction_SetClosure (C function), 157
PyException_GetContext (C function), 58 PyFunction_SetDefaults (C function), 156
PyException_GetTraceback (C function), 58 PyFunction_SetVectorcall (C function), 156
PyException_SetArgs (C function), 58 PyFunction_Type (C var), 156
PyException_SetCause (C function), 58 PyFunction_WatchCallback (C type), 157
PyException_SetContext (C function), 58 PyFunction_WatchEvent (C type), 157
PyException_SetTraceback (C function), 58 PyFunctionObject (C type), 156
PyFile_FromFd (C function), 163 PyGC_Collect (C function), 292
PyFile_GetLine (C function), 163 PyGC_Disable (C function), 292
PyFile_SetOpenCodeHook (C function), 163 PyGC_Enable (C function), 292
PyFile_WriteObject (C function), 164 PyGC_IsEnabled (C function), 293
PyFile_WriteString (C function), 164 PyGen_Check (C function), 180
PyFloat_AS_DOUBLE (C function), 124 PyGen_CheckExact (C function), 180
PyFloat_AsDouble (C function), 123 PyGen_New (C function), 180
PyFloat_Check (C function), 123 PyGen_NewWithQualName (C function), 180
PyFloat_CheckExact (C function), 123 PyGen_Type (C var), 180
PyFloat_FromDouble (C function), 123 PyGenObject (C type), 179
PyFloat_FromString (C function), 123 PyGetSetDef (C type), 254
PyFloat_GetInfo (C function), 124 PyGetSetDef.closure (C member), 254
PyFloat_GetMax (C function), 124 PyGetSetDef.doc (C member), 254
PyFloat_GetMin (C function), 124 PyGetSetDef.get (C member), 254
PyFloat_Pack2 (C function), 124 PyGetSetDef.name (C member), 254
PyFloat_Pack4 (C function), 124 PyGetSetDef.set (C member), 254
PyFloat_Pack8 (C function), 124 PyGILState_Check (C function), 199
PyFloat_Type (C var), 123 PyGILState_Ensure (C function), 199
PyFloat_Unpack2 (C function), 125 PyGILState_GetThisThreadState (C function),
PyFloat_Unpack4 (C function), 125 199
PyFloat_Unpack8 (C function), 125 PyGILState_Release (C function), 199
PyFloatObject (C type), 123 PyHash_FuncDef (C type), 82
PyFrame_Check (C function), 178 PyHash_FuncDef.hash_bits (C member), 83
PyFrame_GetBack (C function), 178 PyHash_FuncDef.name (C member), 82
PyFrame_GetBuiltins (C function), 178 PyHash_FuncDef.seed_bits (C member), 83
PyFrame_GetCode (C function), 178 PyHash_GetFuncDef (C function), 83
PyFrame_GetGenerator (C function), 178 PyImport_AddModule (C function), 69
PyFrame_GetGlobals (C function), 178 PyImport_AddModuleObject (C function), 69
PyFrame_GetLasti (C function), 178 PyImport_AppendInittab (C function), 71
PyFrame_GetLineNumber (C function), 179 PyImport_ExecCodeModule (C function), 69
PyFrame_GetLocals (C function), 179 PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx (C function), 70
PyFrame_GetVar (C function), 178 PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject (C function), 70
PyFrame_GetVarString (C function), 178 PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames (C
PyFrame_Type (C var), 178 function), 70
PyFrameObject (C type), 177 PyImport_ExtendInittab (C function), 71
PyFrozenSet_Check (C function), 154 PyImport_FrozenModules (C var), 71
PyFrozenSet_CheckExact (C function), 155 PyImport_GetImporter (C function), 71
PyFrozenSet_New (C function), 155 PyImport_GetMagicNumber (C function), 70
PyFrozenSet_Type (C var), 154 PyImport_GetMagicTag (C function), 70
PyFunction_AddWatcher (C function), 157 PyImport_GetModule (C function), 70
PyFunction_Check (C function), 156 PyImport_GetModuleDict (C function), 70
PyFunction_ClearWatcher (C function), 157 PyImport_Import (C function), 69
PyFunction_GetAnnotations (C function), 157 PyImport_ImportFrozenModule (C function), 71
PyFunction_GetClosure (C function), 156 PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject (C func-
PyFunction_GetCode (C function), 156 tion), 71
PyFunction_GetDefaults (C function), 156 PyImport_ImportModule (C function), 68
PyFunction_GetGlobals (C function), 156 PyImport_ImportModuleEx (C function), 68

Index 345
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyImport_ImportModuleLevel (C function), 69 PyList_SetItem (C function), 7, 149

PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject (C func- PyList_SetSlice (C function), 150
tion), 68 PyList_Size (C function), 149
PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock (C function), 68 PyList_Sort (C function), 150
PyImport_ReloadModule (C function), 69 PyList_Type (C var), 149
PyIndex_Check (C function), 100 PyListObject (C type), 149
PyInstanceMethod_Check (C function), 158 PyLong_AS_LONG (C function), 120
PyInstanceMethod_Function (C function), 158 PyLong_AsDouble (C function), 122
PyInstanceMethod_GET_FUNCTION (C function), PyLong_AsLong (C function), 120
158 PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow (C function), 120
PyInstanceMethod_New (C function), 158 PyLong_AsLongLong (C function), 120
PyInstanceMethod_Type (C var), 158 PyLong_AsLongLongAndOverflow (C function), 121
PyInterpreterConfig (C type), 203 PyLong_AsSize_t (C function), 121
PyInterpreterConfig_DEFAULT_GIL (C macro), PyLong_AsSsize_t (C function), 121
204 PyLong_AsUnsignedLong (C function), 121
PyInterpreterConfig_OWN_GIL (C macro), 204 PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong (C function), 121
PyInterpreterConfig_SHARED_GIL (C macro), PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLongMask (C function),
204 121
PyInterpreterConfig.allow_daemon_threads PyLong_AsUnsignedLongMask (C function), 121
(C member), 203 PyLong_AsVoidPtr (C function), 122
PyInterpreterConfig.allow_exec (C member), PyLong_Check (C function), 119
203 PyLong_CheckExact (C function), 119
PyInterpreterConfig.allow_fork (C member), PyLong_FromDouble (C function), 119
203 PyLong_FromLong (C function), 119
PyInterpreterConfig.allow_threads (C mem- PyLong_FromLongLong (C function), 119
ber), 203 PyLong_FromSize_t (C function), 119
PyLong_FromSsize_t (C function), 119
PyInterpreterConfig.check_multi_interp_extensions
(C member), 204 PyLong_FromString (C function), 120
PyInterpreterConfig.gil (C member), 204 PyLong_FromUnicodeObject (C function), 120
PyInterpreterConfig.use_main_obmalloc (C PyLong_FromUnsignedLong (C function), 119
member), 203 PyLong_FromUnsignedLongLong (C function), 119
PyInterpreterState (C type), 198 PyLong_FromVoidPtr (C function), 120
PyInterpreterState_Clear (C function), 200 PyLong_GetInfo (C function), 122
PyInterpreterState_Delete (C function), 200 PyLong_Type (C var), 119
PyInterpreterState_Get (C function), 201 PyLongObject (C type), 119
PyInterpreterState_GetDict (C function), 201 PyMapping_Check (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_GetID (C function), 201 PyMapping_DelItem (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_Head (C function), 208 PyMapping_DelItemString (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_Main (C function), 208 PyMapping_GetItemString (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_New (C function), 200 PyMapping_HasKey (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_Next (C function), 208 PyMapping_HasKeyString (C function), 102
PyInterpreterState_ThreadHead (C function), PyMapping_Items (C function), 103
208 PyMapping_Keys (C function), 102
PyIter_Check (C function), 103 PyMapping_Length (C function), 102
PyIter_Next (C function), 103 PyMapping_SetItemString (C function), 102
PyIter_Send (C function), 103 PyMapping_Size (C function), 102
PyList_Append (C function), 150 PyMapping_Values (C function), 102
PyList_AsTuple (C function), 150 PyMappingMethods (C type), 283
PyList_Check (C function), 149 PyMappingMethods.mp_ass_subscript (C mem-
PyList_CheckExact (C function), 149 ber), 283
PyList_GET_ITEM (C function), 149 PyMappingMethods.mp_length (C member), 283
PyList_GET_SIZE (C function), 149 PyMappingMethods.mp_subscript (C member),
PyList_GetItem (C function), 9, 149 283
PyList_GetSlice (C function), 150 PyMarshal_ReadLastObjectFromFile (C func-
PyList_Insert (C function), 150 tion), 72
PyList_New (C function), 149 PyMarshal_ReadLongFromFile (C function), 72
PyList_Reverse (C function), 150 PyMarshal_ReadObjectFromFile (C function), 72
PyList_SET_ITEM (C function), 149

346 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyMarshal_ReadObjectFromString (C function), PyModule_AddStringConstant (C function), 171

72 PyModule_AddStringMacro (C macro), 171
PyMarshal_ReadShortFromFile (C function), 72 PyModule_AddType (C function), 171
PyMarshal_WriteLongToFile (C function), 72 PyModule_Check (C function), 164
PyMarshal_WriteObjectToFile (C function), 72 PyModule_CheckExact (C function), 164
PyMarshal_WriteObjectToString (C function), 72 PyModule_Create (C function), 166
PyMem_Calloc (C function), 237 PyModule_Create2 (C function), 166
PyMem_Del (C function), 238 PyModule_ExecDef (C function), 169
PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM (C macro), 240 PyModule_FromDefAndSpec (C function), 168
PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ (C macro), 240 PyModule_FromDefAndSpec2 (C function), 168
PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW (C macro), 240 PyModule_GetDef (C function), 165
PyMem_Free (C function), 237 PyModule_GetDict (C function), 164
PyMem_GetAllocator (C function), 240 PyModule_GetFilename (C function), 165
PyMem_Malloc (C function), 237 PyModule_GetFilenameObject (C function), 165
PyMem_New (C macro), 238 PyModule_GetName (C function), 165
PyMem_RawCalloc (C function), 236 PyModule_GetNameObject (C function), 164
PyMem_RawFree (C function), 237 PyModule_GetState (C function), 165
PyMem_RawMalloc (C function), 236 PyModule_New (C function), 164
PyMem_RawRealloc (C function), 236 PyModule_NewObject (C function), 164
PyMem_Realloc (C function), 237 PyModule_SetDocString (C function), 169
PyMem_Resize (C macro), 238 PyModule_Type (C var), 164
PyMem_SetAllocator (C function), 240 PyModuleDef (C type), 165
PyMem_SetupDebugHooks (C function), 241 PyModuleDef_Init (C function), 167
PyMemAllocatorDomain (C type), 240 PyModuleDef_Slot (C type), 167
PyMemAllocatorEx (C type), 240 PyModuleDef_Slot.slot (C member), 167
PyMember_GetOne (C function), 251 PyModuleDef_Slot.value (C member), 167
PyMember_SetOne (C function), 251 PyModuleDef.m_base (C member), 165
PyMemberDef (C type), 251 PyModuleDef.m_clear (C member), 166
PyMemberDef.doc (C member), 251 PyModuleDef.m_doc (C member), 165
PyMemberDef.flags (C member), 251 PyModuleDef.m_free (C member), 166
PyMemberDef.name (C member), 251 PyModuleDef.m_methods (C member), 166
PyMemberDef.offset (C member), 251 PyModuleDef.m_name (C member), 165
PyMemberDef.type (C member), 251 PyModuleDef.m_size (C member), 165
PyMemoryView_Check (C function), 175 PyModuleDef.m_slots (C member), 166
PyMemoryView_FromBuffer (C function), 174 PyModuleDef.m_slots.m_reload (C member), 166
PyMemoryView_FromMemory (C function), 174 PyModuleDef.m_traverse (C member), 166
PyMemoryView_FromObject (C function), 174 PyNumber_Absolute (C function), 98
PyMemoryView_GET_BASE (C function), 175 PyNumber_Add (C function), 97
PyMemoryView_GET_BUFFER (C function), 175 PyNumber_And (C function), 98
PyMemoryView_GetContiguous (C function), 175 PyNumber_AsSsize_t (C function), 99
PyMethod_Check (C function), 158 PyNumber_Check (C function), 97
PyMethod_Function (C function), 158 PyNumber_Divmod (C function), 97
PyMethod_GET_FUNCTION (C function), 158 PyNumber_Float (C function), 99
PyMethod_GET_SELF (C function), 159 PyNumber_FloorDivide (C function), 97
PyMethod_New (C function), 158 PyNumber_Index (C function), 99
PyMethod_Self (C function), 158 PyNumber_InPlaceAdd (C function), 98
PyMethod_Type (C var), 158 PyNumber_InPlaceAnd (C function), 99
PyMethodDef (C type), 248 PyNumber_InPlaceFloorDivide (C function), 98
PyMethodDef.ml_doc (C member), 249 PyNumber_InPlaceLshift (C function), 99
PyMethodDef.ml_flags (C member), 248 PyNumber_InPlaceMatrixMultiply (C function),
PyMethodDef.ml_meth (C member), 248 98
PyMethodDef.ml_name (C member), 248 PyNumber_InPlaceMultiply (C function), 98
PyMODINIT_FUNC (C macro), 4 PyNumber_InPlaceOr (C function), 99
PyModule_AddFunctions (C function), 169 PyNumber_InPlacePower (C function), 99
PyModule_AddIntConstant (C function), 171 PyNumber_InPlaceRemainder (C function), 99
PyModule_AddIntMacro (C macro), 171 PyNumber_InPlaceRshift (C function), 99
PyModule_AddObject (C function), 170 PyNumber_InPlaceSubtract (C function), 98
PyModule_AddObjectRef (C function), 169 PyNumber_InPlaceTrueDivide (C function), 98

Index 347
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyNumber_InPlaceXor (C function), 99 PyNumberMethods.nb_negative (C member), 282

PyNumber_Invert (C function), 98 PyNumberMethods.nb_or (C member), 282
PyNumber_Long (C function), 99 PyNumberMethods.nb_positive (C member), 282
PyNumber_Lshift (C function), 98 PyNumberMethods.nb_power (C member), 282
PyNumber_MatrixMultiply (C function), 97 PyNumberMethods.nb_remainder (C member), 282
PyNumber_Multiply (C function), 97 PyNumberMethods.nb_reserved (C member), 282
PyNumber_Negative (C function), 97 PyNumberMethods.nb_rshift (C member), 282
PyNumber_Or (C function), 98 PyNumberMethods.nb_subtract (C member), 282
PyNumber_Positive (C function), 97 PyNumberMethods.nb_true_divide (C member),
PyNumber_Power (C function), 97 283
PyNumber_Remainder (C function), 97 PyNumberMethods.nb_xor (C member), 282
PyNumber_Rshift (C function), 98 PyObject (C type), 246
PyNumber_Subtract (C function), 97 PyObject_AsCharBuffer (C function), 111
PyNumber_ToBase (C function), 99 PyObject_ASCII (C function), 89
PyNumber_TrueDivide (C function), 97 PyObject_AsFileDescriptor (C function), 163
PyNumber_Xor (C function), 98 PyObject_AsReadBuffer (C function), 111
PyNumberMethods (C type), 281 PyObject_AsWriteBuffer (C function), 111
PyNumberMethods.nb_absolute (C member), 282 PyObject_Bytes (C function), 90
PyNumberMethods.nb_add (C member), 282 PyObject_Call (C function), 94
PyNumberMethods.nb_and (C member), 282 PyObject_CallFunction (C function), 95
PyNumberMethods.nb_bool (C member), 282 PyObject_CallFunctionObjArgs (C function), 95
PyNumberMethods.nb_divmod (C member), 282 PyObject_CallMethod (C function), 95
PyNumberMethods.nb_float (C member), 282 PyObject_CallMethodNoArgs (C function), 96
PyNumberMethods.nb_floor_divide (C member), PyObject_CallMethodObjArgs (C function), 96
283 PyObject_CallMethodOneArg (C function), 96
PyNumberMethods.nb_index (C member), 283 PyObject_CallNoArgs (C function), 95
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_add (C member), PyObject_CallObject (C function), 95
282 PyObject_Calloc (C function), 239
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_and (C member), PyObject_CallOneArg (C function), 95
283 PyObject_CheckBuffer (C function), 109
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_floor_divide PyObject_CheckReadBuffer (C function), 111
(C member), 283 PyObject_ClearWeakRefs (C function), 176
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_lshift (C mem- PyObject_CopyData (C function), 110
ber), 282 PyObject_Del (C function), 245
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_matrix_multiply PyObject_DelAttr (C function), 88
(C member), 283 PyObject_DelAttrString (C function), 88
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_multiply (C PyObject_DelItem (C function), 91
member), 282 PyObject_DelItemString (C function), 91
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_or (C member), PyObject_Dir (C function), 91
283 PyObject_Format (C function), 89
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_power (C mem- PyObject_Free (C function), 239
ber), 282 PyObject_GC_Del (C function), 291
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_remainder (C PyObject_GC_IsFinalized (C function), 291
member), 282 PyObject_GC_IsTracked (C function), 291
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_rshift (C mem- PyObject_GC_New (C macro), 290
ber), 282 PyObject_GC_NewVar (C macro), 290
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_subtract (C PyObject_GC_Resize (C macro), 291
member), 282 PyObject_GC_Track (C function), 291
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_true_divide (C PyObject_GC_UnTrack (C function), 291
member), 283 PyObject_GenericGetAttr (C function), 88
PyNumberMethods.nb_inplace_xor (C member), PyObject_GenericGetDict (C function), 88
283 PyObject_GenericSetAttr (C function), 88
PyNumberMethods.nb_int (C member), 282 PyObject_GenericSetDict (C function), 89
PyNumberMethods.nb_invert (C member), 282 PyObject_GetAIter (C function), 91
PyNumberMethods.nb_lshift (C member), 282 PyObject_GetArenaAllocator (C function), 243
PyNumberMethods.nb_matrix_multiply (C mem- PyObject_GetAttr (C function), 88
ber), 283 PyObject_GetAttrString (C function), 88
PyNumberMethods.nb_multiply (C member), 282 PyObject_GetBuffer (C function), 109

348 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyObject_GetItem (C function), 91 PyOS_stricmp (C function), 82

PyObject_GetItemData (C function), 92 PyOS_string_to_double (C function), 81
PyObject_GetIter (C function), 91 PyOS_strnicmp (C function), 82
PyObject_GetTypeData (C function), 92 PyOS_strtol (C function), 81
PyObject_HasAttr (C function), 87 PyOS_strtoul (C function), 81
PyObject_HasAttrString (C function), 87 PyOS_vsnprintf (C function), 81
PyObject_Hash (C function), 90 PyPreConfig (C type), 216
PyObject_HashNotImplemented (C function), 90 PyPreConfig_InitIsolatedConfig (C function),
PyObject_HEAD (C macro), 246 216
PyObject_HEAD_INIT (C macro), 247 PyPreConfig_InitPythonConfig (C function), 216
PyObject_Init (C function), 245 PyPreConfig.allocator (C member), 216
PyObject_InitVar (C function), 245 PyPreConfig.coerce_c_locale (C member), 216
PyObject_IS_GC (C function), 291 PyPreConfig.coerce_c_locale_warn (C mem-
PyObject_IsInstance (C function), 90 ber), 216
PyObject_IsSubclass (C function), 90 PyPreConfig.configure_locale (C member), 216
PyObject_IsTrue (C function), 90 PyPreConfig.dev_mode (C member), 216
PyObject_Length (C function), 91 PyPreConfig.isolated (C member), 216
PyObject_LengthHint (C function), 91 PyPreConfig.legacy_windows_fs_encoding (C
PyObject_Malloc (C function), 238 member), 217
PyObject_New (C macro), 245 PyPreConfig.parse_argv (C member), 217
PyObject_NewVar (C macro), 245 PyPreConfig.use_environment (C member), 217
PyObject_Not (C function), 90 PyPreConfig.utf8_mode (C member), 217
PyObject._ob_next (C member), 261 PyProperty_Type (C var), 172
PyObject._ob_prev (C member), 261 PyRun_AnyFile (C function), 39
PyObject_Print (C function), 87 PyRun_AnyFileEx (C function), 39
PyObject_Realloc (C function), 239 PyRun_AnyFileExFlags (C function), 39
PyObject_Repr (C function), 89 PyRun_AnyFileFlags (C function), 39
PyObject_RichCompare (C function), 89 PyRun_File (C function), 41
PyObject_RichCompareBool (C function), 89 PyRun_FileEx (C function), 41
PyObject_SelfIter (C function), 91 PyRun_FileExFlags (C function), 41
PyObject_SetArenaAllocator (C function), 243 PyRun_FileFlags (C function), 41
PyObject_SetAttr (C function), 88 PyRun_InteractiveLoop (C function), 40
PyObject_SetAttrString (C function), 88 PyRun_InteractiveLoopFlags (C function), 40
PyObject_SetItem (C function), 91 PyRun_InteractiveOne (C function), 40
PyObject_Size (C function), 91 PyRun_InteractiveOneFlags (C function), 40
PyObject_Str (C function), 89 PyRun_SimpleFile (C function), 40
PyObject_Type (C function), 90 PyRun_SimpleFileEx (C function), 40
PyObject_TypeCheck (C function), 91 PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags (C function), 40
PyObject_VAR_HEAD (C macro), 246 PyRun_SimpleString (C function), 39
PyObject_Vectorcall (C function), 96 PyRun_SimpleStringFlags (C function), 39
PyObject_VectorcallDict (C function), 96 PyRun_String (C function), 41
PyObject_VectorcallMethod (C function), 96 PyRun_StringFlags (C function), 41
PyObjectArenaAllocator (C type), 243 PySendResult (C type), 103
PyObject.ob_refcnt (C member), 260 PySeqIter_Check (C function), 172
PyObject.ob_type (C member), 260 PySeqIter_New (C function), 172
PyOS_AfterFork (C function), 64 PySeqIter_Type (C var), 172
PyOS_AfterFork_Child (C function), 64 PySequence_Check (C function), 100
PyOS_AfterFork_Parent (C function), 63 PySequence_Concat (C function), 100
PyOS_BeforeFork (C function), 63 PySequence_Contains (C function), 101
PyOS_CheckStack (C function), 64 PySequence_Count (C function), 101
PyOS_double_to_string (C function), 82 PySequence_DelItem (C function), 100
PyOS_FSPath (C function), 63 PySequence_DelSlice (C function), 101
PyOS_getsig (C function), 64 PySequence_Fast (C function), 101
PyOS_InputHook (C var), 40 PySequence_Fast_GET_ITEM (C function), 101
PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer (C var), 40 PySequence_Fast_GET_SIZE (C function), 101
PyOS_setsig (C function), 64 PySequence_Fast_ITEMS (C function), 101
PyOS_sighandler_t (C type), 64 PySequence_GetItem (C function), 9, 100
PyOS_snprintf (C function), 81 PySequence_GetSlice (C function), 100

Index 349
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PySequence_Index (C function), 101 PyStructSequence_Desc (C type), 148

PySequence_InPlaceConcat (C function), 100 PyStructSequence_Desc.doc (C member), 148
PySequence_InPlaceRepeat (C function), 100 PyStructSequence_Desc.fields (C member), 148
PySequence_ITEM (C function), 101 PyStructSequence_Desc.n_in_sequence (C
PySequence_Length (C function), 100 member), 148
PySequence_List (C function), 101 PyStructSequence_Desc.name (C member), 148
PySequence_Repeat (C function), 100 PyStructSequence_Field (C type), 148
PySequence_SetItem (C function), 100 PyStructSequence_Field.doc (C member), 148
PySequence_SetSlice (C function), 101 PyStructSequence_Field.name (C member), 148
PySequence_Size (C function), 100 PyStructSequence_GET_ITEM (C function), 148
PySequence_Tuple (C function), 101 PyStructSequence_GetItem (C function), 148
PySequenceMethods (C type), 283 PyStructSequence_InitType (C function), 147
PySequenceMethods.sq_ass_item (C member), PyStructSequence_InitType2 (C function), 148
284 PyStructSequence_New (C function), 148
PySequenceMethods.sq_concat (C member), 283 PyStructSequence_NewType (C function), 147
PySequenceMethods.sq_contains (C member), PyStructSequence_SET_ITEM (C function), 148
284 PyStructSequence_SetItem (C function), 148
PySequenceMethods.sq_inplace_concat (C PyStructSequence_UnnamedField (C var), 148
member), 284 PySys_AddAuditHook (C function), 67
PySequenceMethods.sq_inplace_repeat (C PySys_AddWarnOption (C function), 66
member), 284 PySys_AddWarnOptionUnicode (C function), 66
PySequenceMethods.sq_item (C member), 283 PySys_AddXOption (C function), 67
PySequenceMethods.sq_length (C member), 283 PySys_Audit (C function), 67
PySequenceMethods.sq_repeat (C member), 283 PySys_FormatStderr (C function), 67
PySet_Add (C function), 155 PySys_FormatStdout (C function), 66
PySet_Check (C function), 154 PySys_GetObject (C function), 66
PySet_CheckExact (C function), 155 PySys_GetXOptions (C function), 67
PySet_Clear (C function), 155 PySys_ResetWarnOptions (C function), 66
PySet_Contains (C function), 155 PySys_SetArgv (C function), 191, 195
PySet_Discard (C function), 155 PySys_SetArgvEx (C function), 191, 195
PySet_GET_SIZE (C function), 155 PySys_SetObject (C function), 66
PySet_New (C function), 155 PySys_SetPath (C function), 66
PySet_Pop (C function), 155 PySys_WriteStderr (C function), 66
PySet_Size (C function), 155 PySys_WriteStdout (C function), 66
PySet_Type (C var), 154 Python 3000, 309
PySetObject (C type), 154 Python Enhancement Proposals
PySignal_SetWakeupFd (C function), 57 PEP 1, 308
PySlice_AdjustIndices (C function), 174 PEP 7, 3, 6
PySlice_Check (C function), 173 PEP 238, 43, 302
PySlice_GetIndices (C function), 173 PEP 278, 311
PySlice_GetIndicesEx (C function), 173 PEP 302, 305
PySlice_New (C function), 173 PEP 343, 299
PySlice_Type (C var), 173 PEP 353, 10
PySlice_Unpack (C function), 174 PEP 362, 298, 308
PyState_AddModule (C function), 171 PEP 383, 136, 137
PyState_FindModule (C function), 171 PEP 387, 13, 14
PyState_RemoveModule (C function), 172 PEP 393, 129
PyStatus (C type), 214 PEP 411, 309
PyStatus_Error (C function), 215 PEP 420, 307, 308
PyStatus_Exception (C function), 215 PEP 432, 232, 233
PyStatus_Exit (C function), 215 PEP 442, 280
PyStatus_IsError (C function), 215 PEP 443, 303
PyStatus_IsExit (C function), 215 PEP 451, 167
PyStatus_NoMemory (C function), 215 PEP 456, 83
PyStatus_Ok (C function), 215 PEP 483, 303
PyStatus.err_msg (C member), 214 PEP 484, 297, 302, 303, 311, 312
PyStatus.exitcode (C member), 214 PEP 489, 168, 204
PyStatus.func (C member), 214 PEP 492, 298, 300

350 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PEP 498, 301 PyThread_create_key (C function), 210

PEP 519, 308 PyThread_delete_key (C function), 210
PEP 523, 179, 202 PyThread_delete_key_value (C function), 211
PEP 525, 298 PyThread_get_key_value (C function), 211
PEP 526, 297, 312 PyThread_ReInitTLS (C function), 211
PEP 528, 190, 224 PyThread_set_key_value (C function), 210
PEP 529, 137, 189 PyThread_tss_alloc (C function), 209
PEP 538, 231 PyThread_tss_create (C function), 210
PEP 539, 209 PyThread_tss_delete (C function), 210
PEP 540, 231 PyThread_tss_free (C function), 209
PEP 552, 221 PyThread_tss_get (C function), 210
PEP 554, 205 PyThread_tss_is_created (C function), 210
PEP 578, 67 PyThread_tss_set (C function), 210
PEP 585, 303 PyThreadState (C type), 196, 198
PEP 587, 213 PyThreadState_Clear (C function), 200
PEP 590, 92 PyThreadState_Delete (C function), 200
PEP 623, 129 PyThreadState_DeleteCurrent (C function), 200
PEP 0626#out-of-process-debuggers-and-profilers ,
PyThreadState_EnterTracing (C function), 201
160 PyThreadState_Get (C function), 198
PEP 634, 270 PyThreadState_GetDict (C function), 202
PEP 0683, 45, 46, 303 PyThreadState_GetFrame (C function), 200
PEP 3116, 311 PyThreadState_GetID (C function), 201
PEP 3119, 90 PyThreadState_GetInterpreter (C function), 201
PEP 3121, 166 PyThreadState_LeaveTracing (C function), 201
PEP 3147, 70 PyThreadState_New (C function), 200
PEP 3151, 61 PyThreadState_Next (C function), 209
PEP 3155, 309 PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc (C function), 202
PYTHONCOERCECLOCALE, 231 PyThreadState_Swap (C function), 199
PYTHONDEBUG, 188, 225 PyThreadState.interp (C member), 198
PYTHONDEVMODE, 221 PyTime_Check (C function), 183
PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE, 188, 228 PyTime_CheckExact (C function), 183
PYTHONDUMPREFS, 221, 261 PyTime_FromTime (C function), 183
PYTHONEXECUTABLE, 226 PyTime_FromTimeAndFold (C function), 183
PYTHONFAULTHANDLER, 222 PyTimeZone_FromOffset (C function), 184
PYTHONHASHSEED, 189, 223 PyTimeZone_FromOffsetAndName (C function), 184
PYTHONHOME, 12, 189, 195, 196, 223 PyTrace_C_CALL (C var), 207
Pythonic, 309 PyTrace_C_EXCEPTION (C var), 207
PYTHONINSPECT, 189, 223 PyTrace_C_RETURN (C var), 207
PYTHONINTMAXSTRDIGITS, 223 PyTrace_CALL (C var), 207
PYTHONIOENCODING, 192, 227 PyTrace_EXCEPTION (C var), 207
PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSFSENCODING, 189, 217 PyTrace_LINE (C var), 207
PYTHONLEGACYWINDOWSSTDIO, 190, 224 PyTrace_OPCODE (C var), 208
PYTHONMALLOC, 236, 239, 241, 243 PyTrace_RETURN (C var), 207
PYTHONMALLOCSTATS, 224, 236 PyTraceMalloc_Track (C function), 243
PYTHONNODEBUGRANGES, 221 PyTraceMalloc_Untrack (C function), 243
PYTHONNOUSERSITE, 190, 228 PyTuple_Check (C function), 146
PYTHONOPTIMIZE, 190, 225 PyTuple_CheckExact (C function), 146
PYTHONPATH, 12, 189, 224 PyTuple_GET_ITEM (C function), 147
PYTHONPERFSUPPORT, 227 PyTuple_GET_SIZE (C function), 146
PYTHONPLATLIBDIR, 224 PyTuple_GetItem (C function), 147
PYTHONPROFILEIMPORTTIME, 223 PyTuple_GetSlice (C function), 147
PYTHONPYCACHEPREFIX, 226 PyTuple_New (C function), 146
PYTHONSAFEPATH, 220 PyTuple_Pack (C function), 146
PYTHONTRACEMALLOC, 227 PyTuple_SET_ITEM (C function), 147
PYTHONUNBUFFERED, 190, 220 PyTuple_SetItem (C function), 7, 147
PYTHONUTF8, 217, 231 PyTuple_Size (C function), 146
PYTHONVERBOSE, 191, 228 PyTuple_Type (C var), 146
PYTHONWARNINGS, 228 PyTupleObject (C type), 146

Index 351
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyType_AddWatcher (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_flags (C member), 266

PyType_Check (C function), 113 PyTypeObject.tp_free (C member), 278
PyType_CheckExact (C function), 113 PyTypeObject.tp_getattr (C member), 264
PyType_ClearCache (C function), 113 PyTypeObject.tp_getattro (C member), 266
PyType_ClearWatcher (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_getset (C member), 275
PyType_FromMetaclass (C function), 116 PyTypeObject.tp_hash (C member), 265
PyType_FromModuleAndSpec (C function), 117 PyTypeObject.tp_init (C member), 276
PyType_FromSpec (C function), 117 PyTypeObject.tp_is_gc (C member), 278
PyType_FromSpecWithBases (C function), 117 PyTypeObject.tp_itemsize (C member), 262
PyType_GenericAlloc (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_iter (C member), 274
PyType_GenericNew (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_iternext (C member), 274
PyType_GetDict (C function), 113 PyTypeObject.tp_members (C member), 274
PyType_GetFlags (C function), 113 PyTypeObject.tp_methods (C member), 274
PyType_GetModule (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_mro (C member), 278
PyType_GetModuleByDef (C function), 116 PyTypeObject.tp_name (C member), 261
PyType_GetModuleState (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_new (C member), 277
PyType_GetName (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_repr (C member), 264
PyType_GetQualName (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_richcompare (C member), 272
PyType_GetSlot (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_setattr (C member), 264
PyType_GetTypeDataSize (C function), 92 PyTypeObject.tp_setattro (C member), 266
PyType_HasFeature (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_str (C member), 265
PyType_IS_GC (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_subclasses (C member), 279
PyType_IsSubtype (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_traverse (C member), 271
PyType_Modified (C function), 114 PyTypeObject.tp_vectorcall (C member), 280
PyType_Ready (C function), 115 PyTypeObject.tp_vectorcall_offset (C mem-
PyType_Slot (C type), 118 ber), 263
PyType_Slot.pfunc (C member), 118 PyTypeObject.tp_version_tag (C member), 279
PyType_Slot.slot (C member), 118 PyTypeObject.tp_watched (C member), 280
PyType_Spec (C type), 117 PyTypeObject.tp_weaklist (C member), 279
PyType_Spec.basicsize (C member), 117 PyTypeObject.tp_weaklistoffset (C member),
PyType_Spec.flags (C member), 118 273
PyType_Spec.itemsize (C member), 117 PyTZInfo_Check (C function), 183
PyType_Spec.name (C member), 117 PyTZInfo_CheckExact (C function), 183
PyType_Spec.slots (C member), 118 PyUnicode_1BYTE_DATA (C function), 130
PyType_Type (C var), 113 PyUnicode_1BYTE_KIND (C macro), 130
PyType_Watch (C function), 114 PyUnicode_2BYTE_DATA (C function), 130
PyType_WatchCallback (C type), 114 PyUnicode_2BYTE_KIND (C macro), 130
PyTypeObject (C type), 113 PyUnicode_4BYTE_DATA (C function), 130
PyTypeObject.tp_alloc (C member), 277 PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND (C macro), 130
PyTypeObject.tp_as_async (C member), 264 PyUnicode_AsASCIIString (C function), 142
PyTypeObject.tp_as_buffer (C member), 266 PyUnicode_AsCharmapString (C function), 143
PyTypeObject.tp_as_mapping (C member), 265 PyUnicode_AsEncodedString (C function), 139
PyTypeObject.tp_as_number (C member), 265 PyUnicode_AsLatin1String (C function), 142
PyTypeObject.tp_as_sequence (C member), 265 PyUnicode_AsMBCSString (C function), 143
PyTypeObject.tp_base (C member), 275 PyUnicode_AsRawUnicodeEscapeString (C func-
PyTypeObject.tp_bases (C member), 278 tion), 142
PyTypeObject.tp_basicsize (C member), 262 PyUnicode_AsUCS4 (C function), 136
PyTypeObject.tp_cache (C member), 279 PyUnicode_AsUCS4Copy (C function), 136
PyTypeObject.tp_call (C member), 265 PyUnicode_AsUnicodeEscapeString (C function),
PyTypeObject.tp_clear (C member), 272 142
PyTypeObject.tp_dealloc (C member), 263 PyUnicode_AsUTF8 (C function), 140
PyTypeObject.tp_del (C member), 279 PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize (C function), 140
PyTypeObject.tp_descr_get (C member), 276 PyUnicode_AsUTF8String (C function), 140
PyTypeObject.tp_descr_set (C member), 276 PyUnicode_AsUTF16String (C function), 141
PyTypeObject.tp_dict (C member), 275 PyUnicode_AsUTF32String (C function), 141
PyTypeObject.tp_dictoffset (C member), 276 PyUnicode_AsWideChar (C function), 138
PyTypeObject.tp_doc (C member), 271 PyUnicode_AsWideCharString (C function), 139
PyTypeObject.tp_finalize (C member), 279 PyUnicode_Check (C function), 130

352 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyUnicode_CheckExact (C function), 130 PyUnicode_InternInPlace (C function), 146

PyUnicode_Compare (C function), 145 PyUnicode_IsIdentifier (C function), 131
PyUnicode_CompareWithASCIIString (C func- PyUnicode_Join (C function), 145
tion), 145 PyUnicode_KIND (C function), 131
PyUnicode_Concat (C function), 144 PyUnicode_MAX_CHAR_VALUE (C function), 131
PyUnicode_Contains (C function), 145 PyUnicode_New (C function), 133
PyUnicode_CopyCharacters (C function), 135 PyUnicode_Partition (C function), 144
PyUnicode_Count (C function), 145 PyUnicode_READ (C function), 131
PyUnicode_DATA (C function), 131 PyUnicode_READ_CHAR (C function), 131
PyUnicode_Decode (C function), 139 PyUnicode_ReadChar (C function), 136
PyUnicode_DecodeASCII (C function), 142 PyUnicode_READY (C function), 130
PyUnicode_DecodeCharmap (C function), 143 PyUnicode_Replace (C function), 145
PyUnicode_DecodeCodePageStateful (C func- PyUnicode_RichCompare (C function), 145
tion), 143 PyUnicode_RPartition (C function), 144
PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefault (C function), 138 PyUnicode_RSplit (C function), 144
PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefaultAndSize (C func- PyUnicode_Split (C function), 144
tion), 138 PyUnicode_Splitlines (C function), 144
PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1 (C function), 142 PyUnicode_Substring (C function), 136
PyUnicode_DecodeLocale (C function), 137 PyUnicode_Tailmatch (C function), 145
PyUnicode_DecodeLocaleAndSize (C function), PyUnicode_Translate (C function), 143
136 PyUnicode_Type (C var), 130
PyUnicode_DecodeMBCS (C function), 143 PyUnicode_WRITE (C function), 131
PyUnicode_DecodeMBCSStateful (C function), 143 PyUnicode_WriteChar (C function), 136
PyUnicode_DecodeRawUnicodeEscape (C func- PyUnicodeDecodeError_Create (C function), 59
tion), 142 PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEncoding (C func-
PyUnicode_DecodeUnicodeEscape (C function), tion), 59
142 PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetEnd (C function), 59
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7 (C function), 141 PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetObject (C function),
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF7Stateful (C function), 142 59
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8 (C function), 139 PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetReason (C function),
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8Stateful (C function), 139 59
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16 (C function), 141 PyUnicodeDecodeError_GetStart (C function), 59
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF16Stateful (C function), PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetEnd (C function), 59
141 PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetReason (C function),
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32 (C function), 140 59
PyUnicode_DecodeUTF32Stateful (C function), PyUnicodeDecodeError_SetStart (C function), 59
141 PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEncoding (C func-
PyUnicode_EncodeCodePage (C function), 144 tion), 59
PyUnicode_EncodeFSDefault (C function), 138 PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetEnd (C function), 59
PyUnicode_EncodeLocale (C function), 137 PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetObject (C function),
PyUnicode_Fill (C function), 136 59
PyUnicode_Find (C function), 145 PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetReason (C function),
PyUnicode_FindChar (C function), 145 59
PyUnicode_Format (C function), 145 PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetStart (C function), 59
PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject (C function), 135 PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetEnd (C function), 59
PyUnicode_FromFormat (C function), 133 PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetReason (C function),
PyUnicode_FromFormatV (C function), 135 59
PyUnicode_FromKindAndData (C function), 133 PyUnicodeEncodeError_SetStart (C function), 59
PyUnicode_FromObject (C function), 135 PyUnicodeObject (C type), 130
PyUnicode_FromString (C function), 133 PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetEnd (C function),
PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize (C function), 133 59
PyUnicode_FromWideChar (C function), 138 PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetObject (C func-
PyUnicode_FSConverter (C function), 137 tion), 59
PyUnicode_FSDecoder (C function), 137 PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetReason (C func-
PyUnicode_GET_LENGTH (C function), 130 tion), 59
PyUnicode_GetDefaultEncoding (C function), 135 PyUnicodeTranslateError_GetStart (C func-
PyUnicode_GetLength (C function), 135 tion), 59
PyUnicode_InternFromString (C function), 146

Index 353
The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetEnd (C function), realloc (C function), 235

59 reference count, 309
PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetReason (C func- regular package, 309
tion), 59 releasebufferproc (C type), 287
PyUnicodeTranslateError_SetStart (C func- repr
tion), 59 built-in function, 89, 264
PyUnstable, 13 reprfunc (C type), 286
PyUnstable_Code_GetExtra (C function), 162 RESTRICTED (C macro), 252
PyUnstable_Code_New (C function), 160 richcmpfunc (C type), 287
PyUnstable_Code_NewWithPosOnlyArgs (C func-
tion), 160 S
PyUnstable_Code_SetExtra (C function), 162 sdterr
PyUnstable_Eval_RequestCodeExtraIndex (C stdin stdout, 192
function), 162 search
PyUnstable_Exc_PrepReraiseStar (C function), path, module, 12, 191, 193, 194
58 sendfunc (C type), 287
PyUnstable_GC_VisitObjects (C function), 293 sequence, 310
PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetCode (C object, 126
function), 179 set
PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetLasti (C object, 154
function), 179 set comprehension, 310
PyUnstable_InterpreterFrame_GetLine (C set_all(), 8
function), 179 setattrfunc (C type), 286
PyUnstable_Long_CompactValue (C function), 122 setattrofunc (C type), 286
PyUnstable_Long_IsCompact (C function), 122 setswitchinterval (in module sys), 196
PyUnstable_Object_GC_NewWithExtraData (C setter (C type), 254
function), 290 SIGINT (C macro), 56, 57
PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Fini (C function), 86 signal
PyUnstable_PerfMapState_Init (C function), 85 module, 56, 57
PyUnstable_Type_AssignVersionTag (C func- single dispatch, 310
tion), 116 SIZE_MAX (C macro), 121
PyUnstable_WritePerfMapEntry (C function), 85 slice, 310
PyVarObject (C type), 246 soft deprecated, 310
PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT (C macro), 247 special
PyVarObject.ob_size (C member), 261 method, 310
PyVectorcall_Call (C function), 94 special method, 310
PyVectorcall_Function (C function), 94 ssizeargfunc (C type), 287
PyVectorcall_NARGS (C function), 94 ssizeobjargproc (C type), 287
PyWeakref_Check (C function), 175 statement, 310
PyWeakref_CheckProxy (C function), 175 static type checker, 310
PyWeakref_CheckRef (C function), 175 staticmethod
PyWeakref_GET_OBJECT (C function), 176 built-in function, 250
PyWeakref_GetObject (C function), 175 stderr (in module sys), 204, 205
PyWeakref_NewProxy (C function), 175 stdin
PyWeakref_NewRef (C function), 175 stdout sdterr, 192
PyWideStringList (C type), 214 stdin (in module sys), 204, 205
PyWideStringList_Append (C function), 214 stdout
PyWideStringList_Insert (C function), 214 sdterr, stdin, 192
PyWideStringList.items (C member), 214 stdout (in module sys), 204, 205
PyWideStringList.length (C member), 214 strerror (C function), 51
PyWrapper_New (C function), 173 string
PyObject_Str (C function), 89
Q strong reference, 310
qualified name, 309 structmember.h, 254
sum_list(), 9
R sum_sequence(), 9, 10
READ_RESTRICTED (C macro), 252 sys
READONLY (C macro), 252 module, 12, 191, 204, 205

354 Index
 The Python/C API, Release 3.12.9

SystemError (built-in exception), 165

T
T_BOOL (C macro), 254
T_BYTE (C macro), 254
T_CHAR (C macro), 254
T_DOUBLE (C macro), 254
T_FLOAT (C macro), 254
T_INT (C macro), 254
T_LONG (C macro), 254
T_LONGLONG (C macro), 254
T_NONE (C macro), 254
T_OBJECT (C macro), 254
T_OBJECT_EX (C macro), 254
T_PYSSIZET (C macro), 254
T_SHORT (C macro), 254
T_STRING (C macro), 254
T_STRING_INPLACE (C macro), 254
T_UBYTE (C macro), 254
T_UINT (C macro), 254
T_ULONG (C macro), 254
T_ULONGULONG (C macro), 254
T_USHORT (C macro), 254
ternaryfunc (C type), 287
text encoding, 310
text file, 311
token, 311
traverseproc (C type), 292
triple-quoted string, 311
tuple
built-in function, 101, 150
object, 146
type, 311
built-in function, 91
object, 6, 113
type alias, 311
type hint, 311

U
ULONG_MAX (C macro), 121
unaryfunc (C type), 287
universal newlines, 311
USE_STACKCHECK (C macro), 64

V
variable annotation, 311
vectorcallfunc (C type), 93
version (in module sys), 194, 195
virtual environment, 312
virtual machine, 312
visitproc (C type), 292

W
WRITE_RESTRICTED (C macro), 252

Z
Zen of Python, 312

Index 355