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authorGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000
committerGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-15 14:28:22 +0000
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+
+:mod:`zipimport` --- Import modules from Zip archives
+=====================================================
+
+.. module:: zipimport
+ :synopsis: support for importing Python modules from ZIP archives.
+.. moduleauthor:: Just van Rossum <just@letterror.com>
+
+
+.. versionadded:: 2.3
+
+This module adds the ability to import Python modules (:file:`\*.py`,
+:file:`\*.py[co]`) and packages from ZIP-format archives. It is usually not
+needed to use the :mod:`zipimport` module explicitly; it is automatically used
+by the builtin :keyword:`import` mechanism for ``sys.path`` items that are paths
+to ZIP archives.
+
+Typically, ``sys.path`` is a list of directory names as strings. This module
+also allows an item of ``sys.path`` to be a string naming a ZIP file archive.
+The ZIP archive can contain a subdirectory structure to support package imports,
+and a path within the archive can be specified to only import from a
+subdirectory. For example, the path :file:`/tmp/example.zip/lib/` would only
+import from the :file:`lib/` subdirectory within the archive.
+
+Any files may be present in the ZIP archive, but only files :file:`.py` and
+:file:`.py[co]` are available for import. ZIP import of dynamic modules
+(:file:`.pyd`, :file:`.so`) is disallowed. Note that if an archive only contains
+:file:`.py` files, Python will not attempt to modify the archive by adding the
+corresponding :file:`.pyc` or :file:`.pyo` file, meaning that if a ZIP archive
+doesn't contain :file:`.pyc` files, importing may be rather slow.
+
+The available attributes of this module are:
+
+
+.. exception:: ZipImportError
+
+ Exception raised by zipimporter objects. It's a subclass of :exc:`ImportError`,
+ so it can be caught as :exc:`ImportError`, too.
+
+
+.. class:: zipimporter
+
+ The class for importing ZIP files. See section :ref:`zipimporter-objects`
+ for constructor details.
+
+
+.. seealso::
+
+ `PKZIP Application Note <http://www.pkware.com/business_and_developers/developer/appnote/>`_
+ Documentation on the ZIP file format by Phil Katz, the creator of the format and
+ algorithms used.
+
+ :pep:`0273` - Import Modules from Zip Archives
+ Written by James C. Ahlstrom, who also provided an implementation. Python 2.3
+ follows the specification in PEP 273, but uses an implementation written by Just
+ van Rossum that uses the import hooks described in PEP 302.
+
+ :pep:`0302` - New Import Hooks
+ The PEP to add the import hooks that help this module work.
+
+
+.. _zipimporter-objects:
+
+zipimporter Objects
+-------------------
+
+
+.. class:: zipimporter(archivepath)
+
+ Create a new zipimporter instance. *archivepath* must be a path to a zipfile.
+ :exc:`ZipImportError` is raised if *archivepath* doesn't point to a valid ZIP
+ archive.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.find_module(fullname[, path])
+
+ Search for a module specified by *fullname*. *fullname* must be the fully
+ qualified (dotted) module name. It returns the zipimporter instance itself if
+ the module was found, or :const:`None` if it wasn't. The optional *path*
+ argument is ignored---it's there for compatibility with the importer protocol.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.get_code(fullname)
+
+ Return the code object for the specified module. Raise :exc:`ZipImportError` if
+ the module couldn't be found.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.get_data(pathname)
+
+ Return the data associated with *pathname*. Raise :exc:`IOError` if the file
+ wasn't found.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.get_source(fullname)
+
+ Return the source code for the specified module. Raise :exc:`ZipImportError` if
+ the module couldn't be found, return :const:`None` if the archive does contain
+ the module, but has no source for it.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.is_package(fullname)
+
+ Return True if the module specified by *fullname* is a package. Raise
+ :exc:`ZipImportError` if the module couldn't be found.
+
+
+.. method:: zipimporter.load_module(fullname)
+
+ Load the module specified by *fullname*. *fullname* must be the fully qualified
+ (dotted) module name. It returns the imported module, or raises
+ :exc:`ZipImportError` if it wasn't found.
+
+
+Examples
+--------
+
+.. _zipimport-examples:
+
+Here is an example that imports a module from a ZIP archive - note that the
+:mod:`zipimport` module is not explicitly used. ::
+
+ $ unzip -l /tmp/example.zip
+ Archive: /tmp/example.zip
+ Length Date Time Name
+ -------- ---- ---- ----
+ 8467 11-26-02 22:30 jwzthreading.py
+ -------- -------
+ 8467 1 file
+ $ ./python
+ Python 2.3 (#1, Aug 1 2003, 19:54:32)
+ >>> import sys
+ >>> sys.path.insert(0, '/tmp/example.zip') # Add .zip file to front of path
+ >>> import jwzthreading
+ >>> jwzthreading.__file__
+ '/tmp/example.zip/jwzthreading.py'
+