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+
+:mod:`repr` --- Alternate :func:`repr` implementation
+=====================================================
+
+.. module:: repr
+   :synopsis: Alternate repr() implementation with size limits.
+.. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org>
+
+
+The :mod:`repr` module provides a means for producing object representations
+with limits on the size of the resulting strings. This is used in the Python
+debugger and may be useful in other contexts as well.
+
+This module provides a class, an instance, and a function:
+
+
+.. class:: Repr()
+
+   Class which provides formatting services useful in implementing functions
+   similar to the built-in :func:`repr`; size limits for  different object types
+   are added to avoid the generation of representations which are excessively long.
+
+
+.. data:: aRepr
+
+   This is an instance of :class:`Repr` which is used to provide the :func:`repr`
+   function described below.  Changing the attributes of this object will affect
+   the size limits used by :func:`repr` and the Python debugger.
+
+
+.. function:: repr(obj)
+
+   This is the :meth:`repr` method of ``aRepr``.  It returns a string similar to
+   that returned by the built-in function of the same  name, but with limits on
+   most sizes.
+
+
+.. _repr-objects:
+
+Repr Objects
+------------
+
+:class:`Repr` instances provide several members which can be used to provide
+size limits for the representations of different object types,  and methods
+which format specific object types.
+
+
+.. attribute:: Repr.maxlevel
+
+   Depth limit on the creation of recursive representations.  The default is ``6``.
+
+
+.. attribute:: Repr.maxdict
+               Repr.maxlist
+               Repr.maxtuple
+               Repr.maxset
+               Repr.maxfrozenset
+               Repr.maxdeque
+               Repr.maxarray
+
+   Limits on the number of entries represented for the named object type.  The
+   default is ``4`` for :attr:`maxdict`, ``5`` for :attr:`maxarray`, and  ``6`` for
+   the others.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.4
+      :attr:`maxset`, :attr:`maxfrozenset`, and :attr:`set`.
+
+
+.. attribute:: Repr.maxlong
+
+   Maximum number of characters in the representation for a long integer.  Digits
+   are dropped from the middle.  The default is ``40``.
+
+
+.. attribute:: Repr.maxstring
+
+   Limit on the number of characters in the representation of the string.  Note
+   that the "normal" representation of the string is used as the character source:
+   if escape sequences are needed in the representation, these may be mangled when
+   the representation is shortened.  The default is ``30``.
+
+
+.. attribute:: Repr.maxother
+
+   This limit is used to control the size of object types for which no specific
+   formatting method is available on the :class:`Repr` object. It is applied in a
+   similar manner as :attr:`maxstring`.  The default is ``20``.
+
+
+.. method:: Repr.repr(obj)
+
+   The equivalent to the built-in :func:`repr` that uses the formatting imposed by
+   the instance.
+
+
+.. method:: Repr.repr1(obj, level)
+
+   Recursive implementation used by :meth:`repr`.  This uses the type of *obj* to
+   determine which formatting method to call, passing it *obj* and *level*.  The
+   type-specific methods should call :meth:`repr1` to perform recursive formatting,
+   with ``level - 1`` for the value of *level* in the recursive  call.
+
+
+.. method:: Repr.repr_TYPE(obj, level)
+   :noindex:
+
+   Formatting methods for specific types are implemented as methods with a name
+   based on the type name.  In the method name, **TYPE** is replaced by
+   ``string.join(string.split(type(obj).__name__, '_'))``. Dispatch to these
+   methods is handled by :meth:`repr1`. Type-specific methods which need to
+   recursively format a value should call ``self.repr1(subobj, level - 1)``.
+
+
+.. _subclassing-reprs:
+
+Subclassing Repr Objects
+------------------------
+
+The use of dynamic dispatching by :meth:`Repr.repr1` allows subclasses of
+:class:`Repr` to add support for additional built-in object types or to modify
+the handling of types already supported. This example shows how special support
+for file objects could be added::
+
+   import repr
+   import sys
+
+   class MyRepr(repr.Repr):
+       def repr_file(self, obj, level):
+           if obj.name in ['<stdin>', '<stdout>', '<stderr>']:
+               return obj.name
+           else:
+               return `obj`
+
+   aRepr = MyRepr()
+   print aRepr.repr(sys.stdin)          # prints '<stdin>'
+