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1:mod:`codecs` --- Codec registry and base classes
2=================================================
3
4.. module:: codecs
5   :synopsis: Encode and decode data and streams.
6
7.. moduleauthor:: Marc-André Lemburg <mal@lemburg.com>
8.. sectionauthor:: Marc-André Lemburg <mal@lemburg.com>
9.. sectionauthor:: Martin v. Löwis <martin@v.loewis.de>
10
11**Source code:** :source:`Lib/codecs.py`
12
13.. index::
14   single: Unicode
15   single: Codecs
16   pair: Codecs; encode
17   pair: Codecs; decode
18   single: streams
19   pair: stackable; streams
20
21--------------
22
23This module defines base classes for standard Python codecs (encoders and
24decoders) and provides access to the internal Python codec registry, which
25manages the codec and error handling lookup process. Most standard codecs
26are :term:`text encodings <text encoding>`, which encode text to bytes,
27but there are also codecs provided that encode text to text, and bytes to
28bytes. Custom codecs may encode and decode between arbitrary types, but some
29module features are restricted to use specifically with
30:term:`text encodings <text encoding>`, or with codecs that encode to
31:class:`bytes`.
32
33The module defines the following functions for encoding and decoding with
34any codec:
35
36.. function:: encode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
37
38   Encodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
39
40   *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
41   default error handler is ``'strict'`` meaning that encoding errors raise
42   :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
43   :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
44   information on codec error handling.
45
46.. function:: decode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
47
48   Decodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
49
50   *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
51   default error handler is ``'strict'`` meaning that decoding errors raise
52   :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
53   :exc:`UnicodeDecodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
54   information on codec error handling.
55
56The full details for each codec can also be looked up directly:
57
58.. function:: lookup(encoding)
59
60   Looks up the codec info in the Python codec registry and returns a
61   :class:`CodecInfo` object as defined below.
62
63   Encodings are first looked up in the registry's cache. If not found, the list of
64   registered search functions is scanned. If no :class:`CodecInfo` object is
65   found, a :exc:`LookupError` is raised. Otherwise, the :class:`CodecInfo` object
66   is stored in the cache and returned to the caller.
67
68.. class:: CodecInfo(encode, decode, streamreader=None, streamwriter=None, incrementalencoder=None, incrementaldecoder=None, name=None)
69
70   Codec details when looking up the codec registry. The constructor
71   arguments are stored in attributes of the same name:
72
73
74   .. attribute:: name
75
76      The name of the encoding.
77
78
79   .. attribute:: encode
80                  decode
81
82      The stateless encoding and decoding functions. These must be
83      functions or methods which have the same interface as
84      the :meth:`~Codec.encode` and :meth:`~Codec.decode` methods of Codec
85      instances (see :ref:`Codec Interface <codec-objects>`).
86      The functions or methods are expected to work in a stateless mode.
87
88
89   .. attribute:: incrementalencoder
90                  incrementaldecoder
91
92      Incremental encoder and decoder classes or factory functions.
93      These have to provide the interface defined by the base classes
94      :class:`IncrementalEncoder` and :class:`IncrementalDecoder`,
95      respectively. Incremental codecs can maintain state.
96
97
98   .. attribute:: streamwriter
99                  streamreader
100
101      Stream writer and reader classes or factory functions. These have to
102      provide the interface defined by the base classes
103      :class:`StreamWriter` and :class:`StreamReader`, respectively.
104      Stream codecs can maintain state.
105
106To simplify access to the various codec components, the module provides
107these additional functions which use :func:`lookup` for the codec lookup:
108
109.. function:: getencoder(encoding)
110
111   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its encoder function.
112
113   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found.
114
115
116.. function:: getdecoder(encoding)
117
118   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its decoder function.
119
120   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found.
121
122
123.. function:: getincrementalencoder(encoding)
124
125   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its incremental encoder
126   class or factory function.
127
128   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found or the codec
129   doesn't support an incremental encoder.
130
131
132.. function:: getincrementaldecoder(encoding)
133
134   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its incremental decoder
135   class or factory function.
136
137   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found or the codec
138   doesn't support an incremental decoder.
139
140
141.. function:: getreader(encoding)
142
143   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its :class:`StreamReader`
144   class or factory function.
145
146   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found.
147
148
149.. function:: getwriter(encoding)
150
151   Look up the codec for the given encoding and return its :class:`StreamWriter`
152   class or factory function.
153
154   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the encoding cannot be found.
155
156Custom codecs are made available by registering a suitable codec search
157function:
158
159.. function:: register(search_function)
160
161   Register a codec search function. Search functions are expected to take one
162   argument, being the encoding name in all lower case letters with hyphens
163   and spaces converted to underscores, and return a :class:`CodecInfo` object.
164   In case a search function cannot find a given encoding, it should return
165   ``None``.
166
167   .. versionchanged:: 3.9
168      Hyphens and spaces are converted to underscore.
169
170
171.. function:: unregister(search_function)
172
173   Unregister a codec search function and clear the registry's cache.
174   If the search function is not registered, do nothing.
175
176   .. versionadded:: 3.10
177
178
179While the builtin :func:`open` and the associated :mod:`io` module are the
180recommended approach for working with encoded text files, this module
181provides additional utility functions and classes that allow the use of a
182wider range of codecs when working with binary files:
183
184.. function:: open(filename, mode='r', encoding=None, errors='strict', buffering=-1)
185
186   Open an encoded file using the given *mode* and return an instance of
187   :class:`StreamReaderWriter`, providing transparent encoding/decoding.
188   The default file mode is ``'r'``, meaning to open the file in read mode.
189
190   .. note::
191
192      Underlying encoded files are always opened in binary mode.
193      No automatic conversion of ``'\n'`` is done on reading and writing.
194      The *mode* argument may be any binary mode acceptable to the built-in
195      :func:`open` function; the ``'b'`` is automatically added.
196
197   *encoding* specifies the encoding which is to be used for the file.
198   Any encoding that encodes to and decodes from bytes is allowed, and
199   the data types supported by the file methods depend on the codec used.
200
201   *errors* may be given to define the error handling. It defaults to ``'strict'``
202   which causes a :exc:`ValueError` to be raised in case an encoding error occurs.
203
204   *buffering* has the same meaning as for the built-in :func:`open` function.
205   It defaults to -1 which means that the default buffer size will be used.
206
207
208.. function:: EncodedFile(file, data_encoding, file_encoding=None, errors='strict')
209
210   Return a :class:`StreamRecoder` instance, a wrapped version of *file*
211   which provides transparent transcoding. The original file is closed
212   when the wrapped version is closed.
213
214   Data written to the wrapped file is decoded according to the given
215   *data_encoding* and then written to the original file as bytes using
216   *file_encoding*. Bytes read from the original file are decoded
217   according to *file_encoding*, and the result is encoded
218   using *data_encoding*.
219
220   If *file_encoding* is not given, it defaults to *data_encoding*.
221
222   *errors* may be given to define the error handling. It defaults to
223   ``'strict'``, which causes :exc:`ValueError` to be raised in case an encoding
224   error occurs.
225
226
227.. function:: iterencode(iterator, encoding, errors='strict', **kwargs)
228
229   Uses an incremental encoder to iteratively encode the input provided by
230   *iterator*. This function is a :term:`generator`.
231   The *errors* argument (as well as any
232   other keyword argument) is passed through to the incremental encoder.
233
234   This function requires that the codec accept text :class:`str` objects
235   to encode. Therefore it does not support bytes-to-bytes encoders such as
236   ``base64_codec``.
237
238
239.. function:: iterdecode(iterator, encoding, errors='strict', **kwargs)
240
241   Uses an incremental decoder to iteratively decode the input provided by
242   *iterator*. This function is a :term:`generator`.
243   The *errors* argument (as well as any
244   other keyword argument) is passed through to the incremental decoder.
245
246   This function requires that the codec accept :class:`bytes` objects
247   to decode. Therefore it does not support text-to-text encoders such as
248   ``rot_13``, although ``rot_13`` may be used equivalently with
249   :func:`iterencode`.
250
251
252The module also provides the following constants which are useful for reading
253and writing to platform dependent files:
254
255
256.. data:: BOM
257          BOM_BE
258          BOM_LE
259          BOM_UTF8
260          BOM_UTF16
261          BOM_UTF16_BE
262          BOM_UTF16_LE
263          BOM_UTF32
264          BOM_UTF32_BE
265          BOM_UTF32_LE
266
267   These constants define various byte sequences,
268   being Unicode byte order marks (BOMs) for several encodings. They are
269   used in UTF-16 and UTF-32 data streams to indicate the byte order used,
270   and in UTF-8 as a Unicode signature. :const:`BOM_UTF16` is either
271   :const:`BOM_UTF16_BE` or :const:`BOM_UTF16_LE` depending on the platform's
272   native byte order, :const:`BOM` is an alias for :const:`BOM_UTF16`,
273   :const:`BOM_LE` for :const:`BOM_UTF16_LE` and :const:`BOM_BE` for
274   :const:`BOM_UTF16_BE`. The others represent the BOM in UTF-8 and UTF-32
275   encodings.
276
277
278.. _codec-base-classes:
279
280Codec Base Classes
281------------------
282
283The :mod:`codecs` module defines a set of base classes which define the
284interfaces for working with codec objects, and can also be used as the basis
285for custom codec implementations.
286
287Each codec has to define four interfaces to make it usable as codec in Python:
288stateless encoder, stateless decoder, stream reader and stream writer. The
289stream reader and writers typically reuse the stateless encoder/decoder to
290implement the file protocols. Codec authors also need to define how the
291codec will handle encoding and decoding errors.
292
293
294.. _surrogateescape:
295.. _error-handlers:
296
297Error Handlers
298^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
299
300To simplify and standardize error handling,
301codecs may implement different error handling schemes by
302accepting the *errors* string argument. The following string values are
303defined and implemented by all standard Python codecs:
304
305.. tabularcolumns:: |l|L|
306
307+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
308| Value                   | Meaning                                       |
309+=========================+===============================================+
310| ``'strict'``            | Raise :exc:`UnicodeError` (or a subclass);    |
311|                         | this is the default. Implemented in           |
312|                         | :func:`strict_errors`.                        |
313+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
314| ``'ignore'``            | Ignore the malformed data and continue        |
315|                         | without further notice. Implemented in        |
316|                         | :func:`ignore_errors`.                        |
317+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
318
319The following error handlers are only applicable to
320:term:`text encodings <text encoding>`:
321
322.. index::
323   single: ? (question mark); replacement character
324   single: \ (backslash); escape sequence
325   single: \x; escape sequence
326   single: \u; escape sequence
327   single: \U; escape sequence
328   single: \N; escape sequence
329
330+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
331| Value                   | Meaning                                       |
332+=========================+===============================================+
333| ``'replace'``           | Replace with a suitable replacement           |
334|                         | marker; Python will use the official          |
335|                         | ``U+FFFD`` REPLACEMENT CHARACTER for the      |
336|                         | built-in codecs on decoding, and '?' on       |
337|                         | encoding. Implemented in                      |
338|                         | :func:`replace_errors`.                       |
339+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
340| ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` | Replace with the appropriate XML character    |
341|                         | reference (only for encoding). Implemented    |
342|                         | in :func:`xmlcharrefreplace_errors`.          |
343+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
344| ``'backslashreplace'``  | Replace with backslashed escape sequences.    |
345|                         | Implemented in                                |
346|                         | :func:`backslashreplace_errors`.              |
347+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
348| ``'namereplace'``       | Replace with ``\N{...}`` escape sequences     |
349|                         | (only for encoding). Implemented in           |
350|                         | :func:`namereplace_errors`.                   |
351+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
352| ``'surrogateescape'``   | On decoding, replace byte with individual     |
353|                         | surrogate code ranging from ``U+DC80`` to     |
354|                         | ``U+DCFF``. This code will then be turned     |
355|                         | back into the same byte when the              |
356|                         | ``'surrogateescape'`` error handler is used   |
357|                         | when encoding the data. (See :pep:`383` for   |
358|                         | more.)                                        |
359+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+
360
361In addition, the following error handler is specific to the given codecs:
362
363+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
364| Value             | Codecs                 | Meaning                                   |
365+===================+========================+===========================================+
366|``'surrogatepass'``| utf-8, utf-16, utf-32, | Allow encoding and decoding of surrogate  |
367|                   | utf-16-be, utf-16-le,  | codes. These codecs normally treat the    |
368|                   | utf-32-be, utf-32-le   | presence of surrogates as an error.       |
369+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
370
371.. versionadded:: 3.1
372   The ``'surrogateescape'`` and ``'surrogatepass'`` error handlers.
373
374.. versionchanged:: 3.4
375   The ``'surrogatepass'`` error handlers now works with utf-16\* and utf-32\* codecs.
376
377.. versionadded:: 3.5
378   The ``'namereplace'`` error handler.
379
380.. versionchanged:: 3.5
381   The ``'backslashreplace'`` error handlers now works with decoding and
382   translating.
383
384The set of allowed values can be extended by registering a new named error
385handler:
386
387.. function:: register_error(name, error_handler)
388
389   Register the error handling function *error_handler* under the name *name*.
390   The *error_handler* argument will be called during encoding and decoding
391   in case of an error, when *name* is specified as the errors parameter.
392
393   For encoding, *error_handler* will be called with a :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError`
394   instance, which contains information about the location of the error. The
395   error handler must either raise this or a different exception, or return a
396   tuple with a replacement for the unencodable part of the input and a position
397   where encoding should continue. The replacement may be either :class:`str` or
398   :class:`bytes`. If the replacement is bytes, the encoder will simply copy
399   them into the output buffer. If the replacement is a string, the encoder will
400   encode the replacement. Encoding continues on original input at the
401   specified position. Negative position values will be treated as being
402   relative to the end of the input string. If the resulting position is out of
403   bound an :exc:`IndexError` will be raised.
404
405   Decoding and translating works similarly, except :exc:`UnicodeDecodeError` or
406   :exc:`UnicodeTranslateError` will be passed to the handler and that the
407   replacement from the error handler will be put into the output directly.
408
409
410Previously registered error handlers (including the standard error handlers)
411can be looked up by name:
412
413.. function:: lookup_error(name)
414
415   Return the error handler previously registered under the name *name*.
416
417   Raises a :exc:`LookupError` in case the handler cannot be found.
418
419The following standard error handlers are also made available as module level
420functions:
421
422.. function:: strict_errors(exception)
423
424   Implements the ``'strict'`` error handling: each encoding or
425   decoding error raises a :exc:`UnicodeError`.
426
427
428.. function:: replace_errors(exception)
429
430   Implements the ``'replace'`` error handling (for :term:`text encodings
431   <text encoding>` only): substitutes ``'?'`` for encoding errors
432   (to be encoded by the codec), and ``'\ufffd'`` (the Unicode replacement
433   character) for decoding errors.
434
435
436.. function:: ignore_errors(exception)
437
438   Implements the ``'ignore'`` error handling: malformed data is ignored and
439   encoding or decoding is continued without further notice.
440
441
442.. function:: xmlcharrefreplace_errors(exception)
443
444   Implements the ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` error handling (for encoding with
445   :term:`text encodings <text encoding>` only): the
446   unencodable character is replaced by an appropriate XML character reference.
447
448
449.. function:: backslashreplace_errors(exception)
450
451   Implements the ``'backslashreplace'`` error handling (for
452   :term:`text encodings <text encoding>` only): malformed data is
453   replaced by a backslashed escape sequence.
454
455.. function:: namereplace_errors(exception)
456
457   Implements the ``'namereplace'`` error handling (for encoding with
458   :term:`text encodings <text encoding>` only): the
459   unencodable character is replaced by a ``\N{...}`` escape sequence.
460
461   .. versionadded:: 3.5
462
463
464.. _codec-objects:
465
466Stateless Encoding and Decoding
467^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
468
469The base :class:`Codec` class defines these methods which also define the
470function interfaces of the stateless encoder and decoder:
471
472
473.. method:: Codec.encode(input[, errors])
474
475   Encodes the object *input* and returns a tuple (output object, length consumed).
476   For instance, :term:`text encoding` converts
477   a string object to a bytes object using a particular
478   character set encoding (e.g., ``cp1252`` or ``iso-8859-1``).
479
480   The *errors* argument defines the error handling to apply.
481   It defaults to ``'strict'`` handling.
482
483   The method may not store state in the :class:`Codec` instance. Use
484   :class:`StreamWriter` for codecs which have to keep state in order to make
485   encoding efficient.
486
487   The encoder must be able to handle zero length input and return an empty object
488   of the output object type in this situation.
489
490
491.. method:: Codec.decode(input[, errors])
492
493   Decodes the object *input* and returns a tuple (output object, length
494   consumed). For instance, for a :term:`text encoding`, decoding converts
495   a bytes object encoded using a particular
496   character set encoding to a string object.
497
498   For text encodings and bytes-to-bytes codecs,
499   *input* must be a bytes object or one which provides the read-only
500   buffer interface -- for example, buffer objects and memory mapped files.
501
502   The *errors* argument defines the error handling to apply.
503   It defaults to ``'strict'`` handling.
504
505   The method may not store state in the :class:`Codec` instance. Use
506   :class:`StreamReader` for codecs which have to keep state in order to make
507   decoding efficient.
508
509   The decoder must be able to handle zero length input and return an empty object
510   of the output object type in this situation.
511
512
513Incremental Encoding and Decoding
514^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
515
516The :class:`IncrementalEncoder` and :class:`IncrementalDecoder` classes provide
517the basic interface for incremental encoding and decoding. Encoding/decoding the
518input isn't done with one call to the stateless encoder/decoder function, but
519with multiple calls to the
520:meth:`~IncrementalEncoder.encode`/:meth:`~IncrementalDecoder.decode` method of
521the incremental encoder/decoder. The incremental encoder/decoder keeps track of
522the encoding/decoding process during method calls.
523
524The joined output of calls to the
525:meth:`~IncrementalEncoder.encode`/:meth:`~IncrementalDecoder.decode` method is
526the same as if all the single inputs were joined into one, and this input was
527encoded/decoded with the stateless encoder/decoder.
528
529
530.. _incremental-encoder-objects:
531
532IncrementalEncoder Objects
533~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
534
535The :class:`IncrementalEncoder` class is used for encoding an input in multiple
536steps. It defines the following methods which every incremental encoder must
537define in order to be compatible with the Python codec registry.
538
539
540.. class:: IncrementalEncoder(errors='strict')
541
542   Constructor for an :class:`IncrementalEncoder` instance.
543
544   All incremental encoders must provide this constructor interface. They are free
545   to add additional keyword arguments, but only the ones defined here are used by
546   the Python codec registry.
547
548   The :class:`IncrementalEncoder` may implement different error handling schemes
549   by providing the *errors* keyword argument. See :ref:`error-handlers` for
550   possible values.
551
552   The *errors* argument will be assigned to an attribute of the same name.
553   Assigning to this attribute makes it possible to switch between different error
554   handling strategies during the lifetime of the :class:`IncrementalEncoder`
555   object.
556
557
558   .. method:: encode(object[, final])
559
560      Encodes *object* (taking the current state of the encoder into account)
561      and returns the resulting encoded object. If this is the last call to
562      :meth:`encode` *final* must be true (the default is false).
563
564
565   .. method:: reset()
566
567      Reset the encoder to the initial state. The output is discarded: call
568      ``.encode(object, final=True)``, passing an empty byte or text string
569      if necessary, to reset the encoder and to get the output.
570
571
572   .. method:: getstate()
573
574      Return the current state of the encoder which must be an integer. The
575      implementation should make sure that ``0`` is the most common
576      state. (States that are more complicated than integers can be converted
577      into an integer by marshaling/pickling the state and encoding the bytes
578      of the resulting string into an integer.)
579
580
581   .. method:: setstate(state)
582
583      Set the state of the encoder to *state*. *state* must be an encoder state
584      returned by :meth:`getstate`.
585
586
587.. _incremental-decoder-objects:
588
589IncrementalDecoder Objects
590~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
591
592The :class:`IncrementalDecoder` class is used for decoding an input in multiple
593steps. It defines the following methods which every incremental decoder must
594define in order to be compatible with the Python codec registry.
595
596
597.. class:: IncrementalDecoder(errors='strict')
598
599   Constructor for an :class:`IncrementalDecoder` instance.
600
601   All incremental decoders must provide this constructor interface. They are free
602   to add additional keyword arguments, but only the ones defined here are used by
603   the Python codec registry.
604
605   The :class:`IncrementalDecoder` may implement different error handling schemes
606   by providing the *errors* keyword argument. See :ref:`error-handlers` for
607   possible values.
608
609   The *errors* argument will be assigned to an attribute of the same name.
610   Assigning to this attribute makes it possible to switch between different error
611   handling strategies during the lifetime of the :class:`IncrementalDecoder`
612   object.
613
614
615   .. method:: decode(object[, final])
616
617      Decodes *object* (taking the current state of the decoder into account)
618      and returns the resulting decoded object. If this is the last call to
619      :meth:`decode` *final* must be true (the default is false). If *final* is
620      true the decoder must decode the input completely and must flush all
621      buffers. If this isn't possible (e.g. because of incomplete byte sequences
622      at the end of the input) it must initiate error handling just like in the
623      stateless case (which might raise an exception).
624
625
626   .. method:: reset()
627
628      Reset the decoder to the initial state.
629
630
631   .. method:: getstate()
632
633      Return the current state of the decoder. This must be a tuple with two
634      items, the first must be the buffer containing the still undecoded
635      input. The second must be an integer and can be additional state
636      info. (The implementation should make sure that ``0`` is the most common
637      additional state info.) If this additional state info is ``0`` it must be
638      possible to set the decoder to the state which has no input buffered and
639      ``0`` as the additional state info, so that feeding the previously
640      buffered input to the decoder returns it to the previous state without
641      producing any output. (Additional state info that is more complicated than
642      integers can be converted into an integer by marshaling/pickling the info
643      and encoding the bytes of the resulting string into an integer.)
644
645
646   .. method:: setstate(state)
647
648      Set the state of the decoder to *state*. *state* must be a decoder state
649      returned by :meth:`getstate`.
650
651
652Stream Encoding and Decoding
653^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
654
655
656The :class:`StreamWriter` and :class:`StreamReader` classes provide generic
657working interfaces which can be used to implement new encoding submodules very
658easily. See :mod:`encodings.utf_8` for an example of how this is done.
659
660
661.. _stream-writer-objects:
662
663StreamWriter Objects
664~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
665
666The :class:`StreamWriter` class is a subclass of :class:`Codec` and defines the
667following methods which every stream writer must define in order to be
668compatible with the Python codec registry.
669
670
671.. class:: StreamWriter(stream, errors='strict')
672
673   Constructor for a :class:`StreamWriter` instance.
674
675   All stream writers must provide this constructor interface. They are free to add
676   additional keyword arguments, but only the ones defined here are used by the
677   Python codec registry.
678
679   The *stream* argument must be a file-like object open for writing
680   text or binary data, as appropriate for the specific codec.
681
682   The :class:`StreamWriter` may implement different error handling schemes by
683   providing the *errors* keyword argument. See :ref:`error-handlers` for
684   the standard error handlers the underlying stream codec may support.
685
686   The *errors* argument will be assigned to an attribute of the same name.
687   Assigning to this attribute makes it possible to switch between different error
688   handling strategies during the lifetime of the :class:`StreamWriter` object.
689
690   .. method:: write(object)
691
692      Writes the object's contents encoded to the stream.
693
694
695   .. method:: writelines(list)
696
697      Writes the concatenated iterable of strings to the stream (possibly by reusing
698      the :meth:`write` method). Infinite or
699      very large iterables are not supported. The standard bytes-to-bytes codecs
700      do not support this method.
701
702
703   .. method:: reset()
704
705      Resets the codec buffers used for keeping internal state.
706
707      Calling this method should ensure that the data on the output is put into
708      a clean state that allows appending of new fresh data without having to
709      rescan the whole stream to recover state.
710
711
712In addition to the above methods, the :class:`StreamWriter` must also inherit
713all other methods and attributes from the underlying stream.
714
715
716.. _stream-reader-objects:
717
718StreamReader Objects
719~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
720
721The :class:`StreamReader` class is a subclass of :class:`Codec` and defines the
722following methods which every stream reader must define in order to be
723compatible with the Python codec registry.
724
725
726.. class:: StreamReader(stream, errors='strict')
727
728   Constructor for a :class:`StreamReader` instance.
729
730   All stream readers must provide this constructor interface. They are free to add
731   additional keyword arguments, but only the ones defined here are used by the
732   Python codec registry.
733
734   The *stream* argument must be a file-like object open for reading
735   text or binary data, as appropriate for the specific codec.
736
737   The :class:`StreamReader` may implement different error handling schemes by
738   providing the *errors* keyword argument. See :ref:`error-handlers` for
739   the standard error handlers the underlying stream codec may support.
740
741   The *errors* argument will be assigned to an attribute of the same name.
742   Assigning to this attribute makes it possible to switch between different error
743   handling strategies during the lifetime of the :class:`StreamReader` object.
744
745   The set of allowed values for the *errors* argument can be extended with
746   :func:`register_error`.
747
748
749   .. method:: read([size[, chars, [firstline]]])
750
751      Decodes data from the stream and returns the resulting object.
752
753      The *chars* argument indicates the number of decoded
754      code points or bytes to return. The :func:`read` method will
755      never return more data than requested, but it might return less,
756      if there is not enough available.
757
758      The *size* argument indicates the approximate maximum
759      number of encoded bytes or code points to read
760      for decoding. The decoder can modify this setting as
761      appropriate. The default value -1 indicates to read and decode as much as
762      possible. This parameter is intended to
763      prevent having to decode huge files in one step.
764
765      The *firstline* flag indicates that
766      it would be sufficient to only return the first
767      line, if there are decoding errors on later lines.
768
769      The method should use a greedy read strategy meaning that it should read
770      as much data as is allowed within the definition of the encoding and the
771      given size, e.g.  if optional encoding endings or state markers are
772      available on the stream, these should be read too.
773
774
775   .. method:: readline([size[, keepends]])
776
777      Read one line from the input stream and return the decoded data.
778
779      *size*, if given, is passed as size argument to the stream's
780      :meth:`read` method.
781
782      If *keepends* is false line-endings will be stripped from the lines
783      returned.
784
785
786   .. method:: readlines([sizehint[, keepends]])
787
788      Read all lines available on the input stream and return them as a list of
789      lines.
790
791      Line-endings are implemented using the codec's :meth:`decode` method and
792      are included in the list entries if *keepends* is true.
793
794      *sizehint*, if given, is passed as the *size* argument to the stream's
795      :meth:`read` method.
796
797
798   .. method:: reset()
799
800      Resets the codec buffers used for keeping internal state.
801
802      Note that no stream repositioning should take place. This method is
803      primarily intended to be able to recover from decoding errors.
804
805
806In addition to the above methods, the :class:`StreamReader` must also inherit
807all other methods and attributes from the underlying stream.
808
809.. _stream-reader-writer:
810
811StreamReaderWriter Objects
812~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
813
814The :class:`StreamReaderWriter` is a convenience class that allows wrapping
815streams which work in both read and write modes.
816
817The design is such that one can use the factory functions returned by the
818:func:`lookup` function to construct the instance.
819
820
821.. class:: StreamReaderWriter(stream, Reader, Writer, errors='strict')
822
823   Creates a :class:`StreamReaderWriter` instance. *stream* must be a file-like
824   object. *Reader* and *Writer* must be factory functions or classes providing the
825   :class:`StreamReader` and :class:`StreamWriter` interface resp. Error handling
826   is done in the same way as defined for the stream readers and writers.
827
828:class:`StreamReaderWriter` instances define the combined interfaces of
829:class:`StreamReader` and :class:`StreamWriter` classes. They inherit all other
830methods and attributes from the underlying stream.
831
832
833.. _stream-recoder-objects:
834
835StreamRecoder Objects
836~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
837
838The :class:`StreamRecoder` translates data from one encoding to another,
839which is sometimes useful when dealing with different encoding environments.
840
841The design is such that one can use the factory functions returned by the
842:func:`lookup` function to construct the instance.
843
844
845.. class:: StreamRecoder(stream, encode, decode, Reader, Writer, errors='strict')
846
847   Creates a :class:`StreamRecoder` instance which implements a two-way conversion:
848   *encode* and *decode* work on the frontend — the data visible to
849   code calling :meth:`read` and :meth:`write`, while *Reader* and *Writer*
850   work on the backend — the data in *stream*.
851
852   You can use these objects to do transparent transcodings, e.g., from Latin-1
853   to UTF-8 and back.
854
855   The *stream* argument must be a file-like object.
856
857   The *encode* and *decode* arguments must
858   adhere to the :class:`Codec` interface. *Reader* and
859   *Writer* must be factory functions or classes providing objects of the
860   :class:`StreamReader` and :class:`StreamWriter` interface respectively.
861
862   Error handling is done in the same way as defined for the stream readers and
863   writers.
864
865
866:class:`StreamRecoder` instances define the combined interfaces of
867:class:`StreamReader` and :class:`StreamWriter` classes. They inherit all other
868methods and attributes from the underlying stream.
869
870
871.. _encodings-overview:
872
873Encodings and Unicode
874---------------------
875
876Strings are stored internally as sequences of code points in
877range ``0x0``--``0x10FFFF``. (See :pep:`393` for
878more details about the implementation.)
879Once a string object is used outside of CPU and memory, endianness
880and how these arrays are stored as bytes become an issue. As with other
881codecs, serialising a string into a sequence of bytes is known as *encoding*,
882and recreating the string from the sequence of bytes is known as *decoding*.
883There are a variety of different text serialisation codecs, which are
884collectivity referred to as :term:`text encodings <text encoding>`.
885
886The simplest text encoding (called ``'latin-1'`` or ``'iso-8859-1'``) maps
887the code points 0--255 to the bytes ``0x0``--``0xff``, which means that a string
888object that contains code points above ``U+00FF`` can't be encoded with this
889codec. Doing so will raise a :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError` that looks
890like the following (although the details of the error message may differ):
891``UnicodeEncodeError: 'latin-1' codec can't encode character '\u1234' in
892position 3: ordinal not in range(256)``.
893
894There's another group of encodings (the so called charmap encodings) that choose
895a different subset of all Unicode code points and how these code points are
896mapped to the bytes ``0x0``--``0xff``. To see how this is done simply open
897e.g. :file:`encodings/cp1252.py` (which is an encoding that is used primarily on
898Windows). There's a string constant with 256 characters that shows you which
899character is mapped to which byte value.
900
901All of these encodings can only encode 256 of the 1114112 code points
902defined in Unicode. A simple and straightforward way that can store each Unicode
903code point, is to store each code point as four consecutive bytes. There are two
904possibilities: store the bytes in big endian or in little endian order. These
905two encodings are called ``UTF-32-BE`` and ``UTF-32-LE`` respectively. Their
906disadvantage is that if e.g. you use ``UTF-32-BE`` on a little endian machine you
907will always have to swap bytes on encoding and decoding. ``UTF-32`` avoids this
908problem: bytes will always be in natural endianness. When these bytes are read
909by a CPU with a different endianness, then bytes have to be swapped though. To
910be able to detect the endianness of a ``UTF-16`` or ``UTF-32`` byte sequence,
911there's the so called BOM ("Byte Order Mark"). This is the Unicode character
912``U+FEFF``. This character can be prepended to every ``UTF-16`` or ``UTF-32``
913byte sequence. The byte swapped version of this character (``0xFFFE``) is an
914illegal character that may not appear in a Unicode text. So when the
915first character in an ``UTF-16`` or ``UTF-32`` byte sequence
916appears to be a ``U+FFFE`` the bytes have to be swapped on decoding.
917Unfortunately the character ``U+FEFF`` had a second purpose as
918a ``ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE``: a character that has no width and doesn't allow
919a word to be split. It can e.g. be used to give hints to a ligature algorithm.
920With Unicode 4.0 using ``U+FEFF`` as a ``ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE`` has been
921deprecated (with ``U+2060`` (``WORD JOINER``) assuming this role). Nevertheless
922Unicode software still must be able to handle ``U+FEFF`` in both roles: as a BOM
923it's a device to determine the storage layout of the encoded bytes, and vanishes
924once the byte sequence has been decoded into a string; as a ``ZERO WIDTH
925NO-BREAK SPACE`` it's a normal character that will be decoded like any other.
926
927There's another encoding that is able to encode the full range of Unicode
928characters: UTF-8. UTF-8 is an 8-bit encoding, which means there are no issues
929with byte order in UTF-8. Each byte in a UTF-8 byte sequence consists of two
930parts: marker bits (the most significant bits) and payload bits. The marker bits
931are a sequence of zero to four ``1`` bits followed by a ``0`` bit. Unicode characters are
932encoded like this (with x being payload bits, which when concatenated give the
933Unicode character):
934
935+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
936| Range                             | Encoding                                     |
937+===================================+==============================================+
938| ``U-00000000`` ... ``U-0000007F`` | 0xxxxxxx                                     |
939+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
940| ``U-00000080`` ... ``U-000007FF`` | 110xxxxx 10xxxxxx                            |
941+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
942| ``U-00000800`` ... ``U-0000FFFF`` | 1110xxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx                   |
943+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
944| ``U-00010000`` ... ``U-0010FFFF`` | 11110xxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx          |
945+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
946
947The least significant bit of the Unicode character is the rightmost x bit.
948
949As UTF-8 is an 8-bit encoding no BOM is required and any ``U+FEFF`` character in
950the decoded string (even if it's the first character) is treated as a ``ZERO
951WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE``.
952
953Without external information it's impossible to reliably determine which
954encoding was used for encoding a string. Each charmap encoding can
955decode any random byte sequence. However that's not possible with UTF-8, as
956UTF-8 byte sequences have a structure that doesn't allow arbitrary byte
957sequences. To increase the reliability with which a UTF-8 encoding can be
958detected, Microsoft invented a variant of UTF-8 (that Python 2.5 calls
959``"utf-8-sig"``) for its Notepad program: Before any of the Unicode characters
960is written to the file, a UTF-8 encoded BOM (which looks like this as a byte
961sequence: ``0xef``, ``0xbb``, ``0xbf``) is written. As it's rather improbable
962that any charmap encoded file starts with these byte values (which would e.g.
963map to
964
965   | LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH DIAERESIS
966   | RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
967   | INVERTED QUESTION MARK
968
969in iso-8859-1), this increases the probability that a ``utf-8-sig`` encoding can be
970correctly guessed from the byte sequence. So here the BOM is not used to be able
971to determine the byte order used for generating the byte sequence, but as a
972signature that helps in guessing the encoding. On encoding the utf-8-sig codec
973will write ``0xef``, ``0xbb``, ``0xbf`` as the first three bytes to the file. On
974decoding ``utf-8-sig`` will skip those three bytes if they appear as the first
975three bytes in the file. In UTF-8, the use of the BOM is discouraged and
976should generally be avoided.
977
978
979.. _standard-encodings:
980
981Standard Encodings
982------------------
983
984Python comes with a number of codecs built-in, either implemented as C functions
985or with dictionaries as mapping tables. The following table lists the codecs by
986name, together with a few common aliases, and the languages for which the
987encoding is likely used. Neither the list of aliases nor the list of languages
988is meant to be exhaustive. Notice that spelling alternatives that only differ in
989case or use a hyphen instead of an underscore are also valid aliases; therefore,
990e.g. ``'utf-8'`` is a valid alias for the ``'utf_8'`` codec.
991
992.. impl-detail::
993
994   Some common encodings can bypass the codecs lookup machinery to
995   improve performance. These optimization opportunities are only
996   recognized by CPython for a limited set of (case insensitive)
997   aliases: utf-8, utf8, latin-1, latin1, iso-8859-1, iso8859-1, mbcs
998   (Windows only), ascii, us-ascii, utf-16, utf16, utf-32, utf32, and
999   the same using underscores instead of dashes. Using alternative
1000   aliases for these encodings may result in slower execution.
1001
1002   .. versionchanged:: 3.6
1003      Optimization opportunity recognized for us-ascii.
1004
1005Many of the character sets support the same languages. They vary in individual
1006characters (e.g. whether the EURO SIGN is supported or not), and in the
1007assignment of characters to code positions. For the European languages in
1008particular, the following variants typically exist:
1009
1010* an ISO 8859 codeset
1011
1012* a Microsoft Windows code page, which is typically derived from an 8859 codeset,
1013  but replaces control characters with additional graphic characters
1014
1015* an IBM EBCDIC code page
1016
1017* an IBM PC code page, which is ASCII compatible
1018
1019.. tabularcolumns:: |l|p{0.3\linewidth}|p{0.3\linewidth}|
1020
1021+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1022| Codec           | Aliases                        | Languages                      |
1023+=================+================================+================================+
1024| ascii           | 646, us-ascii                  | English                        |
1025+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1026| big5            | big5-tw, csbig5                | Traditional Chinese            |
1027+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1028| big5hkscs       | big5-hkscs, hkscs              | Traditional Chinese            |
1029+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1030| cp037           | IBM037, IBM039                 | English                        |
1031+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1032| cp273           | 273, IBM273, csIBM273          | German                         |
1033|                 |                                |                                |
1034|                 |                                | .. versionadded:: 3.4          |
1035+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1036| cp424           | EBCDIC-CP-HE, IBM424           | Hebrew                         |
1037+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1038| cp437           | 437, IBM437                    | English                        |
1039+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1040| cp500           | EBCDIC-CP-BE, EBCDIC-CP-CH,    | Western Europe                 |
1041|                 | IBM500                         |                                |
1042+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1043| cp720           |                                | Arabic                         |
1044+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1045| cp737           |                                | Greek                          |
1046+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1047| cp775           | IBM775                         | Baltic languages               |
1048+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1049| cp850           | 850, IBM850                    | Western Europe                 |
1050+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1051| cp852           | 852, IBM852                    | Central and Eastern Europe     |
1052+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1053| cp855           | 855, IBM855                    | Bulgarian, Byelorussian,       |
1054|                 |                                | Macedonian, Russian, Serbian   |
1055+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1056| cp856           |                                | Hebrew                         |
1057+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1058| cp857           | 857, IBM857                    | Turkish                        |
1059+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1060| cp858           | 858, IBM858                    | Western Europe                 |
1061+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1062| cp860           | 860, IBM860                    | Portuguese                     |
1063+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1064| cp861           | 861, CP-IS, IBM861             | Icelandic                      |
1065+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1066| cp862           | 862, IBM862                    | Hebrew                         |
1067+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1068| cp863           | 863, IBM863                    | Canadian                       |
1069+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1070| cp864           | IBM864                         | Arabic                         |
1071+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1072| cp865           | 865, IBM865                    | Danish, Norwegian              |
1073+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1074| cp866           | 866, IBM866                    | Russian                        |
1075+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1076| cp869           | 869, CP-GR, IBM869             | Greek                          |
1077+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1078| cp874           |                                | Thai                           |
1079+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1080| cp875           |                                | Greek                          |
1081+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1082| cp932           | 932, ms932, mskanji, ms-kanji  | Japanese                       |
1083+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1084| cp949           | 949, ms949, uhc                | Korean                         |
1085+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1086| cp950           | 950, ms950                     | Traditional Chinese            |
1087+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1088| cp1006          |                                | Urdu                           |
1089+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1090| cp1026          | ibm1026                        | Turkish                        |
1091+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1092| cp1125          | 1125, ibm1125, cp866u, ruscii  | Ukrainian                      |
1093|                 |                                |                                |
1094|                 |                                | .. versionadded:: 3.4          |
1095+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1096| cp1140          | ibm1140                        | Western Europe                 |
1097+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1098| cp1250          | windows-1250                   | Central and Eastern Europe     |
1099+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1100| cp1251          | windows-1251                   | Bulgarian, Byelorussian,       |
1101|                 |                                | Macedonian, Russian, Serbian   |
1102+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1103| cp1252          | windows-1252                   | Western Europe                 |
1104+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1105| cp1253          | windows-1253                   | Greek                          |
1106+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1107| cp1254          | windows-1254                   | Turkish                        |
1108+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1109| cp1255          | windows-1255                   | Hebrew                         |
1110+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1111| cp1256          | windows-1256                   | Arabic                         |
1112+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1113| cp1257          | windows-1257                   | Baltic languages               |
1114+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1115| cp1258          | windows-1258                   | Vietnamese                     |
1116+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1117| euc_jp          | eucjp, ujis, u-jis             | Japanese                       |
1118+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1119| euc_jis_2004    | jisx0213, eucjis2004           | Japanese                       |
1120+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1121| euc_jisx0213    | eucjisx0213                    | Japanese                       |
1122+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1123| euc_kr          | euckr, korean, ksc5601,        | Korean                         |
1124|                 | ks_c-5601, ks_c-5601-1987,     |                                |
1125|                 | ksx1001, ks_x-1001             |                                |
1126+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1127| gb2312          | chinese, csiso58gb231280,      | Simplified Chinese             |
1128|                 | euc-cn, euccn, eucgb2312-cn,   |                                |
1129|                 | gb2312-1980, gb2312-80,        |                                |
1130|                 | iso-ir-58                      |                                |
1131+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1132| gbk             | 936, cp936, ms936              | Unified Chinese                |
1133+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1134| gb18030         | gb18030-2000                   | Unified Chinese                |
1135+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1136| hz              | hzgb, hz-gb, hz-gb-2312        | Simplified Chinese             |
1137+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1138| iso2022_jp      | csiso2022jp, iso2022jp,        | Japanese                       |
1139|                 | iso-2022-jp                    |                                |
1140+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1141| iso2022_jp_1    | iso2022jp-1, iso-2022-jp-1     | Japanese                       |
1142+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1143| iso2022_jp_2    | iso2022jp-2, iso-2022-jp-2     | Japanese, Korean, Simplified   |
1144|                 |                                | Chinese, Western Europe, Greek |
1145+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1146| iso2022_jp_2004 | iso2022jp-2004,                | Japanese                       |
1147|                 | iso-2022-jp-2004               |                                |
1148+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1149| iso2022_jp_3    | iso2022jp-3, iso-2022-jp-3     | Japanese                       |
1150+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1151| iso2022_jp_ext  | iso2022jp-ext, iso-2022-jp-ext | Japanese                       |
1152+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1153| iso2022_kr      | csiso2022kr, iso2022kr,        | Korean                         |
1154|                 | iso-2022-kr                    |                                |
1155+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1156| latin_1         | iso-8859-1, iso8859-1, 8859,   | Western Europe                 |
1157|                 | cp819, latin, latin1, L1       |                                |
1158+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1159| iso8859_2       | iso-8859-2, latin2, L2         | Central and Eastern Europe     |
1160+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1161| iso8859_3       | iso-8859-3, latin3, L3         | Esperanto, Maltese             |
1162+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1163| iso8859_4       | iso-8859-4, latin4, L4         | Baltic languages               |
1164+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1165| iso8859_5       | iso-8859-5, cyrillic           | Bulgarian, Byelorussian,       |
1166|                 |                                | Macedonian, Russian, Serbian   |
1167+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1168| iso8859_6       | iso-8859-6, arabic             | Arabic                         |
1169+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1170| iso8859_7       | iso-8859-7, greek, greek8      | Greek                          |
1171+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1172| iso8859_8       | iso-8859-8, hebrew             | Hebrew                         |
1173+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1174| iso8859_9       | iso-8859-9, latin5, L5         | Turkish                        |
1175+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1176| iso8859_10      | iso-8859-10, latin6, L6        | Nordic languages               |
1177+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1178| iso8859_11      | iso-8859-11, thai              | Thai languages                 |
1179+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1180| iso8859_13      | iso-8859-13, latin7, L7        | Baltic languages               |
1181+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1182| iso8859_14      | iso-8859-14, latin8, L8        | Celtic languages               |
1183+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1184| iso8859_15      | iso-8859-15, latin9, L9        | Western Europe                 |
1185+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1186| iso8859_16      | iso-8859-16, latin10, L10      | South-Eastern Europe           |
1187+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1188| johab           | cp1361, ms1361                 | Korean                         |
1189+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1190| koi8_r          |                                | Russian                        |
1191+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1192| koi8_t          |                                | Tajik                          |
1193|                 |                                |                                |
1194|                 |                                | .. versionadded:: 3.5          |
1195+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1196| koi8_u          |                                | Ukrainian                      |
1197+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1198| kz1048          | kz_1048, strk1048_2002, rk1048 | Kazakh                         |
1199|                 |                                |                                |
1200|                 |                                | .. versionadded:: 3.5          |
1201+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1202| mac_cyrillic    | maccyrillic                    | Bulgarian, Byelorussian,       |
1203|                 |                                | Macedonian, Russian, Serbian   |
1204+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1205| mac_greek       | macgreek                       | Greek                          |
1206+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1207| mac_iceland     | maciceland                     | Icelandic                      |
1208+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1209| mac_latin2      | maclatin2, maccentraleurope,   | Central and Eastern Europe     |
1210|                 | mac_centeuro                   |                                |
1211+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1212| mac_roman       | macroman, macintosh            | Western Europe                 |
1213+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1214| mac_turkish     | macturkish                     | Turkish                        |
1215+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1216| ptcp154         | csptcp154, pt154, cp154,       | Kazakh                         |
1217|                 | cyrillic-asian                 |                                |
1218+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1219| shift_jis       | csshiftjis, shiftjis, sjis,    | Japanese                       |
1220|                 | s_jis                          |                                |
1221+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1222| shift_jis_2004  | shiftjis2004, sjis_2004,       | Japanese                       |
1223|                 | sjis2004                       |                                |
1224+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1225| shift_jisx0213  | shiftjisx0213, sjisx0213,      | Japanese                       |
1226|                 | s_jisx0213                     |                                |
1227+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1228| utf_32          | U32, utf32                     | all languages                  |
1229+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1230| utf_32_be       | UTF-32BE                       | all languages                  |
1231+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1232| utf_32_le       | UTF-32LE                       | all languages                  |
1233+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1234| utf_16          | U16, utf16                     | all languages                  |
1235+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1236| utf_16_be       | UTF-16BE                       | all languages                  |
1237+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1238| utf_16_le       | UTF-16LE                       | all languages                  |
1239+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1240| utf_7           | U7, unicode-1-1-utf-7          | all languages                  |
1241+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1242| utf_8           | U8, UTF, utf8, cp65001         | all languages                  |
1243+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1244| utf_8_sig       |                                | all languages                  |
1245+-----------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
1246
1247.. versionchanged:: 3.4
1248   The utf-16\* and utf-32\* encoders no longer allow surrogate code points
1249   (``U+D800``--``U+DFFF``) to be encoded.
1250   The utf-32\* decoders no longer decode
1251   byte sequences that correspond to surrogate code points.
1252
1253.. versionchanged:: 3.8
1254   ``cp65001`` is now an alias to ``utf_8``.
1255
1256
1257Python Specific Encodings
1258-------------------------
1259
1260A number of predefined codecs are specific to Python, so their codec names have
1261no meaning outside Python. These are listed in the tables below based on the
1262expected input and output types (note that while text encodings are the most
1263common use case for codecs, the underlying codec infrastructure supports
1264arbitrary data transforms rather than just text encodings). For asymmetric
1265codecs, the stated meaning describes the encoding direction.
1266
1267Text Encodings
1268^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1269
1270The following codecs provide :class:`str` to :class:`bytes` encoding and
1271:term:`bytes-like object` to :class:`str` decoding, similar to the Unicode text
1272encodings.
1273
1274.. tabularcolumns:: |l|p{0.3\linewidth}|p{0.3\linewidth}|
1275
1276+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1277| Codec              | Aliases | Meaning                   |
1278+====================+=========+===========================+
1279| idna               |         | Implement :rfc:`3490`,    |
1280|                    |         | see also                  |
1281|                    |         | :mod:`encodings.idna`.    |
1282|                    |         | Only ``errors='strict'``  |
1283|                    |         | is supported.             |
1284+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1285| mbcs               | ansi,   | Windows only: Encode the  |
1286|                    | dbcs    | operand according to the  |
1287|                    |         | ANSI codepage (CP_ACP).   |
1288+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1289| oem                |         | Windows only: Encode the  |
1290|                    |         | operand according to the  |
1291|                    |         | OEM codepage (CP_OEMCP).  |
1292|                    |         |                           |
1293|                    |         | .. versionadded:: 3.6     |
1294+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1295| palmos             |         | Encoding of PalmOS 3.5.   |
1296+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1297| punycode           |         | Implement :rfc:`3492`.    |
1298|                    |         | Stateful codecs are not   |
1299|                    |         | supported.                |
1300+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1301| raw_unicode_escape |         | Latin-1 encoding with     |
1302|                    |         | ``\uXXXX`` and            |
1303|                    |         | ``\UXXXXXXXX`` for other  |
1304|                    |         | code points. Existing     |
1305|                    |         | backslashes are not       |
1306|                    |         | escaped in any way.       |
1307|                    |         | It is used in the Python  |
1308|                    |         | pickle protocol.          |
1309+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1310| undefined          |         | Raise an exception for    |
1311|                    |         | all conversions, even     |
1312|                    |         | empty strings. The error  |
1313|                    |         | handler is ignored.       |
1314+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1315| unicode_escape     |         | Encoding suitable as the  |
1316|                    |         | contents of a Unicode     |
1317|                    |         | literal in ASCII-encoded  |
1318|                    |         | Python source code,       |
1319|                    |         | except that quotes are    |
1320|                    |         | not escaped. Decode       |
1321|                    |         | from Latin-1 source code. |
1322|                    |         | Beware that Python source |
1323|                    |         | code actually uses UTF-8  |
1324|                    |         | by default.               |
1325+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1326
1327.. versionchanged:: 3.8
1328   "unicode_internal" codec is removed.
1329
1330
1331.. _binary-transforms:
1332
1333Binary Transforms
1334^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1335
1336The following codecs provide binary transforms: :term:`bytes-like object`
1337to :class:`bytes` mappings. They are not supported by :meth:`bytes.decode`
1338(which only produces :class:`str` output).
1339
1340
1341.. tabularcolumns:: |l|L|L|L|
1342
1343+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1344| Codec                | Aliases          | Meaning                      | Encoder / decoder            |
1345+======================+==================+==============================+==============================+
1346| base64_codec [#b64]_ | base64, base_64  | Convert the operand to       | :meth:`base64.encodebytes` / |
1347|                      |                  | multiline MIME base64 (the   | :meth:`base64.decodebytes`   |
1348|                      |                  | result always includes a     |                              |
1349|                      |                  | trailing ``'\n'``).          |                              |
1350|                      |                  |                              |                              |
1351|                      |                  | .. versionchanged:: 3.4      |                              |
1352|                      |                  |    accepts any               |                              |
1353|                      |                  |    :term:`bytes-like object` |                              |
1354|                      |                  |    as input for encoding and |                              |
1355|                      |                  |    decoding                  |                              |
1356+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1357| bz2_codec            | bz2              | Compress the operand using   | :meth:`bz2.compress` /       |
1358|                      |                  | bz2.                         | :meth:`bz2.decompress`       |
1359+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1360| hex_codec            | hex              | Convert the operand to       | :meth:`binascii.b2a_hex` /   |
1361|                      |                  | hexadecimal                  | :meth:`binascii.a2b_hex`     |
1362|                      |                  | representation, with two     |                              |
1363|                      |                  | digits per byte.             |                              |
1364+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1365| quopri_codec         | quopri,          | Convert the operand to MIME  | :meth:`quopri.encode` with   |
1366|                      | quotedprintable, | quoted printable.            | ``quotetabs=True`` /         |
1367|                      | quoted_printable |                              | :meth:`quopri.decode`        |
1368+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1369| uu_codec             | uu               | Convert the operand using    | :meth:`uu.encode` /          |
1370|                      |                  | uuencode.                    | :meth:`uu.decode`            |
1371+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1372| zlib_codec           | zip, zlib        | Compress the operand using   | :meth:`zlib.compress` /      |
1373|                      |                  | gzip.                        | :meth:`zlib.decompress`      |
1374+----------------------+------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------+
1375
1376.. [#b64] In addition to :term:`bytes-like objects <bytes-like object>`,
1377   ``'base64_codec'`` also accepts ASCII-only instances of :class:`str` for
1378   decoding
1379
1380.. versionadded:: 3.2
1381   Restoration of the binary transforms.
1382
1383.. versionchanged:: 3.4
1384   Restoration of the aliases for the binary transforms.
1385
1386
1387.. _text-transforms:
1388
1389Text Transforms
1390^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1391
1392The following codec provides a text transform: a :class:`str` to :class:`str`
1393mapping. It is not supported by :meth:`str.encode` (which only produces
1394:class:`bytes` output).
1395
1396.. tabularcolumns:: |l|l|L|
1397
1398+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1399| Codec              | Aliases | Meaning                   |
1400+====================+=========+===========================+
1401| rot_13             | rot13   | Return the Caesar-cypher  |
1402|                    |         | encryption of the         |
1403|                    |         | operand.                  |
1404+--------------------+---------+---------------------------+
1405
1406.. versionadded:: 3.2
1407   Restoration of the ``rot_13`` text transform.
1408
1409.. versionchanged:: 3.4
1410   Restoration of the ``rot13`` alias.
1411
1412
1413:mod:`encodings.idna` --- Internationalized Domain Names in Applications
1414------------------------------------------------------------------------
1415
1416.. module:: encodings.idna
1417   :synopsis: Internationalized Domain Names implementation
1418.. moduleauthor:: Martin v. Löwis
1419
1420This module implements :rfc:`3490` (Internationalized Domain Names in
1421Applications) and :rfc:`3492` (Nameprep: A Stringprep Profile for
1422Internationalized Domain Names (IDN)). It builds upon the ``punycode`` encoding
1423and :mod:`stringprep`.
1424
1425If you need the IDNA 2008 standard from :rfc:`5891` and :rfc:`5895`, use the
1426third-party `idna module <https://pypi.org/project/idna/>_`.
1427
1428These RFCs together define a protocol to support non-ASCII characters in domain
1429names. A domain name containing non-ASCII characters (such as
1430``www.Alliancefrançaise.nu``) is converted into an ASCII-compatible encoding
1431(ACE, such as ``www.xn--alliancefranaise-npb.nu``). The ACE form of the domain
1432name is then used in all places where arbitrary characters are not allowed by
1433the protocol, such as DNS queries, HTTP :mailheader:`Host` fields, and so
1434on. This conversion is carried out in the application; if possible invisible to
1435the user: The application should transparently convert Unicode domain labels to
1436IDNA on the wire, and convert back ACE labels to Unicode before presenting them
1437to the user.
1438
1439Python supports this conversion in several ways:  the ``idna`` codec performs
1440conversion between Unicode and ACE, separating an input string into labels
1441based on the separator characters defined in :rfc:`section 3.1 of RFC 3490 <3490#section-3.1>`
1442and converting each label to ACE as required, and conversely separating an input
1443byte string into labels based on the ``.`` separator and converting any ACE
1444labels found into unicode. Furthermore, the :mod:`socket` module
1445transparently converts Unicode host names to ACE, so that applications need not
1446be concerned about converting host names themselves when they pass them to the
1447socket module. On top of that, modules that have host names as function
1448parameters, such as :mod:`http.client` and :mod:`ftplib`, accept Unicode host
1449names (:mod:`http.client` then also transparently sends an IDNA hostname in the
1450:mailheader:`Host` field if it sends that field at all).
1451
1452When receiving host names from the wire (such as in reverse name lookup), no
1453automatic conversion to Unicode is performed: applications wishing to present
1454such host names to the user should decode them to Unicode.
1455
1456The module :mod:`encodings.idna` also implements the nameprep procedure, which
1457performs certain normalizations on host names, to achieve case-insensitivity of
1458international domain names, and to unify similar characters. The nameprep
1459functions can be used directly if desired.
1460
1461
1462.. function:: nameprep(label)
1463
1464   Return the nameprepped version of *label*. The implementation currently assumes
1465   query strings, so ``AllowUnassigned`` is true.
1466
1467
1468.. function:: ToASCII(label)
1469
1470   Convert a label to ASCII, as specified in :rfc:`3490`. ``UseSTD3ASCIIRules`` is
1471   assumed to be false.
1472
1473
1474.. function:: ToUnicode(label)
1475
1476   Convert a label to Unicode, as specified in :rfc:`3490`.
1477
1478
1479:mod:`encodings.mbcs` --- Windows ANSI codepage
1480-----------------------------------------------
1481
1482.. module:: encodings.mbcs
1483   :synopsis: Windows ANSI codepage
1484
1485This module implements the ANSI codepage (CP_ACP).
1486
1487.. availability:: Windows only.
1488
1489.. versionchanged:: 3.3
1490   Support any error handler.
1491
1492.. versionchanged:: 3.2
1493   Before 3.2, the *errors* argument was ignored; ``'replace'`` was always used
1494   to encode, and ``'ignore'`` to decode.
1495
1496
1497:mod:`encodings.utf_8_sig` --- UTF-8 codec with BOM signature
1498-------------------------------------------------------------
1499
1500.. module:: encodings.utf_8_sig
1501   :synopsis: UTF-8 codec with BOM signature
1502.. moduleauthor:: Walter Dörwald
1503
1504This module implements a variant of the UTF-8 codec. On encoding, a UTF-8 encoded
1505BOM will be prepended to the UTF-8 encoded bytes. For the stateful encoder this
1506is only done once (on the first write to the byte stream). On decoding, an
1507optional UTF-8 encoded BOM at the start of the data will be skipped.
1508