Python Tutorial

Python tutorial
Python is an easy to learn, powerful programming language. It has efficient high-

level data structures and a simple but effective approach to object-oriented
programming. Python’s elegant syntax and dynamic typing, together with its
interpreted nature, make it an ideal language for scripting and rapid application
development in many areas on most platforms.
The Python interpreter and the extensive standard library are freely available in
source or binary form for all major platforms from the Python web
site, https://www.python.org/, and may be freely distributed. The same site also
contains distributions of and pointers to many free third
party Python modules, programs and tools, and additional
documentation.
The Python interpreter is easily extended with new

functions and data types implemented in C or C++ (or
other languages callable from C). Python is also suitable
as an extension language for customizable applications.
This tutorial introduces the reader informally to the basic

concepts and features of the Python language and
system. It helps to have a Python interpreter handy for
hands-on experience, but all examples are self-contained,
so the tutorial can be read off-line as well.
For a description of standard objects and modules, see The Python Standard

Library. The Python Language Reference gives a more formal definition of the
language. To write extensions in C or C++, read Extending and Embedding the
Python Interpreter and Python/C API Reference Manual. There are also several
books covering Python in depth.
This tutorial does not attempt to be comprehensive and cover every single feature,
or even every commonly used feature. Instead, it introduces many of Python’s
most noteworthy features, and will give you a good idea of the language’s flavor
and style. After reading it, you will be able to read and write Python modules and
programs, and you will be ready to learn more about the various Python library
modules described in The Python Standard Library.
The Python interpreter is usually installed as /usr/local/bin/python3.10 on

those machines where it is available; putting /usr/local/bin in your Unix shell’s
search path makes it possible to start it by typing the command:
python3.10
to the shell. 1 Since the choice of the directory where the interpreter lives is an
installation option, other places are possible; check with your local Python guru or
system administrator. (E.g., /usr/local/python is a popular alternative
location.)
On Windows machines where you have installed Python from the Microsoft Store,
the python3.10 command will be available. If you have the py.exe
launcher installed, you can use the py command. See Excursus: Setting
environment variables for other ways to launch Python.
Typing an end-of-file character (Control-D on Unix, Control-Z on Windows) at the

primary prompt causes the interpreter to exit with a zero exit status. If that doesn’t
work, you can exit the interpreter by typing the following command: quit().
The interpreter’s line-editing features include interactive editing, history substitution

and code completion on systems that support the GNU Readline library. Perhaps
the quickest check to see whether command line editing is supported is
typing Control-P to the first Python prompt you get. If it beeps, you have command
line editing; see Appendix Interactive Input Editing and History Substitution for an
introduction to the keys. If nothing appears to happen, or if ^P is echoed, command
line editing isn’t available; you’ll only be able to use backspace to remove
characters from the current line.
The interpreter operates somewhat like the Unix shell: when called with standard
input connected to a tty device, it reads and executes commands interactively;
when called with a file name argument or with a file as standard input, it reads and
executes a script from that file.
A second way of starting the interpreter is python -c command [arg] ...,

which executes the statement(s) in command, analogous to the shell’s -c option.
Since Python statements often contain spaces or other characters that are special
to the shell, it is usually advised to quote command in its entirety.
Some Python modules are also useful as scripts. These can be invoked
using python -m module [arg] ..., which executes the source file
for module as if you had spelled out its full name on the command line.
When a script file is used, it is sometimes useful to be able to run the script and
enter interactive mode afterwards. This can be done by passing -i before the
script.
All command line options are described in Command line and environment.
2.1.1. Argument Passing
When known to the interpreter, the script name and additional arguments thereafter are
turned into a list of strings and assigned to the argv variable in
the sys module. You can access this list by
executing import sys. The length of the list is at least one;
when no script and no arguments are given, sys.argv[0] is
an empty string. When the script name is given as '-' (meaning
standard input), sys.argv[0] is set to '-'. When -
c command is used, sys.argv[0] is set to '-c'. When -
m module is used, sys.argv[0] is set to the full name of the
located module. Options found after -c command or -
m module are not consumed by the Python interpreter’s option
processing but left in sys.argv for the command or module to
handle.
2.1.2. Interactive Mode
When commands are read from a tty, the interpreter is said to be in interactive mode. In this
mode it prompts for the next command with the primary prompt, usually three greater-than
signs (>>>); for continuation lines it prompts with the secondary prompt, by default three
dots (...). The interpreter prints a welcome message stating its version number and a
copyright notice before printing the first prompt:
$ python3.10
Python 3.10 (default, June 4 2019, 09:25:04)
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.
>>>
Continuation lines are needed when entering a multi-line construct. As an example, take a
look at this if statement:
>>>
>>> the_world_is_flat = True
>>> if the_world_is_flat:
... print("Be careful not to fall off!")
...
Be careful not to fall off!
For more on interactive mode, see Interactive Mode.

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Python tutorial

Python is an easy to learn, powerful programming language. It has efficient high-

The Python interpreter is easily extended with new

This tutorial introduces the reader informally to the basic

For a description of standard objects and modules, see The Python Standard

The Python interpreter is usually installed as /usr/local/bin/python3.10 on

Typing an end-of-file character (Control-D on Unix, Control-Z on Windows) at the

The interpreter’s line-editing features include interactive editing, history substitution

A second way of starting the interpreter is python -c command [arg] ...,

For more on interactive mode, see Interactive Mode.

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