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1:mod:`site` --- Site-specific configuration hook
2================================================
3
4.. module:: site
5   :synopsis: Module responsible for site-specific configuration.
6
7**Source code:** :source:`Lib/site.py`
8
9--------------
10
11.. highlightlang:: none
12
13**This module is automatically imported during initialization.** The automatic
14import can be suppressed using the interpreter's :option:`-S` option.
15
16.. index:: triple: module; search; path
17
18Importing this module will append site-specific paths to the module search path
19and add a few builtins.
20
21.. index::
22   pair: site-python; directory
23   pair: site-packages; directory
24
25It starts by constructing up to four directories from a head and a tail part.
26For the head part, it uses ``sys.prefix`` and ``sys.exec_prefix``; empty heads
27are skipped.  For the tail part, it uses the empty string and then
28:file:`lib/site-packages` (on Windows) or
29:file:`lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` and then :file:`lib/site-python` (on
30Unix and Macintosh).  For each of the distinct head-tail combinations, it sees
31if it refers to an existing directory, and if so, adds it to ``sys.path`` and
32also inspects the newly added path for configuration files.
33
34A path configuration file is a file whose name has the form :file:`{name}.pth`
35and exists in one of the four directories mentioned above; its contents are
36additional items (one per line) to be added to ``sys.path``.  Non-existing items
37are never added to ``sys.path``, and no check is made that the item refers to a
38directory rather than a file.  No item is added to ``sys.path`` more than
39once.  Blank lines and lines beginning with ``#`` are skipped.  Lines starting
40with ``import`` (followed by space or tab) are executed.
41
42.. versionchanged:: 2.6
43   A space or tab is now required after the import keyword.
44
45.. index::
46   single: package
47   triple: path; configuration; file
48
49For example, suppose ``sys.prefix`` and ``sys.exec_prefix`` are set to
50:file:`/usr/local`.  The Python X.Y library is then installed in
51:file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}`.  Suppose this has
52a subdirectory :file:`/usr/local/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` with three
53subsubdirectories, :file:`foo`, :file:`bar` and :file:`spam`, and two path
54configuration files, :file:`foo.pth` and :file:`bar.pth`.  Assume
55:file:`foo.pth` contains the following::
56
57   # foo package configuration
58
59   foo
60   bar
61   bletch
62
63and :file:`bar.pth` contains::
64
65   # bar package configuration
66
67   bar
68
69Then the following version-specific directories are added to
70``sys.path``, in this order::
71
72   /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/bar
73   /usr/local/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/foo
74
75Note that :file:`bletch` is omitted because it doesn't exist; the :file:`bar`
76directory precedes the :file:`foo` directory because :file:`bar.pth` comes
77alphabetically before :file:`foo.pth`; and :file:`spam` is omitted because it is
78not mentioned in either path configuration file.
79
80.. index:: module: sitecustomize
81
82After these path manipulations, an attempt is made to import a module named
83:mod:`sitecustomize`, which can perform arbitrary site-specific customizations.
84It is typically created by a system administrator in the site-packages
85directory.  If this import fails with an :exc:`ImportError` exception, it is
86silently ignored.  If Python is started without output streams available, as
87with :file:`pythonw.exe` on Windows (which is used by default to start IDLE),
88attempted output from :mod:`sitecustomize` is ignored. Any exception other
89than :exc:`ImportError` causes a silent and perhaps mysterious failure of the
90process.
91
92.. index:: module: usercustomize
93
94After this, an attempt is made to import a module named :mod:`usercustomize`,
95which can perform arbitrary user-specific customizations, if
96:data:`ENABLE_USER_SITE` is true.  This file is intended to be created in the
97user site-packages directory (see below), which is part of ``sys.path`` unless
98disabled by :option:`-s`.  An :exc:`ImportError` will be silently ignored.
99
100Note that for some non-Unix systems, ``sys.prefix`` and ``sys.exec_prefix`` are
101empty, and the path manipulations are skipped; however the import of
102:mod:`sitecustomize` and :mod:`usercustomize` is still attempted.
103
104
105.. data:: PREFIXES
106
107   A list of prefixes for site-packages directories.
108
109   .. versionadded:: 2.6
110
111
112.. data:: ENABLE_USER_SITE
113
114   Flag showing the status of the user site-packages directory.  ``True`` means
115   that it is enabled and was added to ``sys.path``.  ``False`` means that it
116   was disabled by user request (with :option:`-s` or
117   :envvar:`PYTHONNOUSERSITE`).  ``None`` means it was disabled for security
118   reasons (mismatch between user or group id and effective id) or by an
119   administrator.
120
121   .. versionadded:: 2.6
122
123
124.. data:: USER_SITE
125
126   Path to the user site-packages for the running Python.  Can be ``None`` if
127   :func:`getusersitepackages` hasn't been called yet.  Default value is
128   :file:`~/.local/lib/python{X.Y}/site-packages` for UNIX and non-framework Mac
129   OS X builds, :file:`~/Library/Python/{X.Y}/lib/python/site-packages` for Mac
130   framework builds, and :file:`{%APPDATA%}\\Python\\Python{XY}\\site-packages`
131   on Windows.  This directory is a site directory, which means that
132   :file:`.pth` files in it will be processed.
133
134   .. versionadded:: 2.6
135
136
137.. data:: USER_BASE
138
139   Path to the base directory for the user site-packages.  Can be ``None`` if
140   :func:`getuserbase` hasn't been called yet.  Default value is
141   :file:`~/.local` for UNIX and Mac OS X non-framework builds,
142   :file:`~/Library/Python/{X.Y}` for Mac framework builds, and
143   :file:`{%APPDATA%}\\Python` for Windows.  This value is used by Distutils to
144   compute the installation directories for scripts, data files, Python modules,
145   etc. for the :ref:`user installation scheme <inst-alt-install-user>`.  See
146   also :envvar:`PYTHONUSERBASE`.
147
148   .. versionadded:: 2.6
149
150
151.. function:: addsitedir(sitedir, known_paths=None)
152
153   Add a directory to sys.path and process its :file:`.pth` files.  Typically
154   used in :mod:`sitecustomize` or :mod:`usercustomize` (see above).
155
156
157.. function:: getsitepackages()
158
159   Return a list containing all global site-packages directories (and possibly
160   site-python).
161
162   .. versionadded:: 2.7
163
164
165.. function:: getuserbase()
166
167   Return the path of the user base directory, :data:`USER_BASE`.  If it is not
168   initialized yet, this function will also set it, respecting
169   :envvar:`PYTHONUSERBASE`.
170
171   .. versionadded:: 2.7
172
173
174.. function:: getusersitepackages()
175
176   Return the path of the user-specific site-packages directory,
177   :data:`USER_SITE`.  If it is not initialized yet, this function will also set
178   it, respecting :envvar:`PYTHONNOUSERSITE` and :data:`USER_BASE`.
179
180   .. versionadded:: 2.7
181
182
183The :mod:`site` module also provides a way to get the user directories from the
184command line:
185
186.. code-block:: sh
187
188   $ python -m site --user-site
189   /home/user/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages
190
191.. program:: site
192
193If it is called without arguments, it will print the contents of
194:data:`sys.path` on the standard output, followed by the value of
195:data:`USER_BASE` and whether the directory exists, then the same thing for
196:data:`USER_SITE`, and finally the value of :data:`ENABLE_USER_SITE`.
197
198.. cmdoption:: --user-base
199
200   Print the path to the user base directory.
201
202.. cmdoption:: --user-site
203
204   Print the path to the user site-packages directory.
205
206If both options are given, user base and user site will be printed (always in
207this order), separated by :data:`os.pathsep`.
208
209If any option is given, the script will exit with one of these values: ``0`` if
210the user site-packages directory is enabled, ``1`` if it was disabled by the
211user, ``2`` if it is disabled for security reasons or by an administrator, and a
212value greater than 2 if there is an error.
213
214.. seealso::
215
216   :pep:`370` -- Per user site-packages directory
217