1 .. _library-index: 2 3 ############################### 4 The Python Standard Library 5 ############################### 6 7 While :ref:`reference-index` describes the exact syntax and 8 semantics of the Python language, this library reference manual 9 describes the standard library that is distributed with Python. It also 10 describes some of the optional components that are commonly included 11 in Python distributions. 12 13 Python's standard library is very extensive, offering a wide range of 14 facilities as indicated by the long table of contents listed below. The 15 library contains built-in modules (written in C) that provide access to 16 system functionality such as file I/O that would otherwise be 17 inaccessible to Python programmers, as well as modules written in Python 18 that provide standardized solutions for many problems that occur in 19 everyday programming. Some of these modules are explicitly designed to 20 encourage and enhance the portability of Python programs by abstracting 21 away platform-specifics into platform-neutral APIs. 22 23 The Python installers for the Windows platform usually include 24 the entire standard library and often also include many additional 25 components. For Unix-like operating systems Python is normally provided 26 as a collection of packages, so it may be necessary to use the packaging 27 tools provided with the operating system to obtain some or all of the 28 optional components. 29 30 In addition to the standard library, there is a growing collection of 31 several thousand components (from individual programs and modules to 32 packages and entire application development frameworks), available from 33 the `Python Package Index <https://pypi.python.org/pypi>`_. 34 35 36 .. toctree:: 37 :maxdepth: 2 38 :numbered: 39 40 intro.rst 41 functions.rst 42 constants.rst 43 stdtypes.rst 44 exceptions.rst 45 46 text.rst 47 binary.rst 48 datatypes.rst 49 numeric.rst 50 functional.rst 51 filesys.rst 52 persistence.rst 53 archiving.rst 54 fileformats.rst 55 crypto.rst 56 allos.rst 57 concurrency.rst 58 ipc.rst 59 netdata.rst 60 markup.rst 61 internet.rst 62 mm.rst 63 i18n.rst 64 frameworks.rst 65 tk.rst 66 development.rst 67 debug.rst 68 distribution.rst 69 python.rst 70 custominterp.rst 71 modules.rst 72 language.rst 73 misc.rst 74 windows.rst 75 unix.rst 76 superseded.rst 77 undoc.rst 78
