1.. _library-index: 2 3############################### 4 The Python Standard Library 5############################### 6 7While :ref:`reference-index` describes the exact syntax and 8semantics of the Python language, this library reference manual 9describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also 10describes some of the optional components that are commonly included 11in Python distributions. 12 13Python's standard library is very extensive, offering a wide range of 14facilities as indicated by the long table of contents listed below. The 15library contains built-in modules (written in C) that provide access to 16system functionality such as file I/O that would otherwise be 17inaccessible to Python programmers, as well as modules written in Python 18that provide standardized solutions for many problems that occur in 19everyday programming. Some of these modules are explicitly designed to 20encourage and enhance the portability of Python programs by abstracting 21away platform-specifics into platform-neutral APIs. 22 23The Python installers for the Windows platform usually include 24the entire standard library and often also include many additional 25components. For Unix-like operating systems Python is normally provided 26as a collection of packages, so it may be necessary to use the packaging 27tools provided with the operating system to obtain some or all of the 28optional components. 29 30In addition to the standard library, there is a growing collection of 31several thousand components (from individual programs and modules to 32packages and entire application development frameworks), available from 33the `Python Package Index <https://pypi.org>`_. 34 35.. We don't use :numbered: option for the TOC below as it enforces 36 numbered sections for the entire stdlib docs. If desired, 37 :numbered: can be enabled on a per-module basis. 38.. toctree:: 39 :maxdepth: 2 40 41 intro.rst 42 functions.rst 43 constants.rst 44 stdtypes.rst 45 exceptions.rst 46 47 text.rst 48 binary.rst 49 datatypes.rst 50 numeric.rst 51 functional.rst 52 filesys.rst 53 persistence.rst 54 archiving.rst 55 fileformats.rst 56 crypto.rst 57 allos.rst 58 concurrency.rst 59 contextvars.rst 60 ipc.rst 61 netdata.rst 62 markup.rst 63 internet.rst 64 mm.rst 65 i18n.rst 66 frameworks.rst 67 tk.rst 68 development.rst 69 debug.rst 70 distribution.rst 71 python.rst 72 custominterp.rst 73 modules.rst 74 language.rst 75 misc.rst 76 windows.rst 77 unix.rst 78 superseded.rst 79 undoc.rst 80