Edit File: py_compile.txt
:mod:`py_compile` --- Compile Python source files ================================================= .. module:: py_compile :synopsis: Generate byte-code files from Python source files. .. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org> .. documentation based on module docstrings .. index:: pair: file; byte-code **Source code:** :source:`Lib/py_compile.py` -------------- The :mod:`py_compile` module provides a function to generate a byte-code file from a source file, and another function used when the module source file is invoked as a script. Though not often needed, this function can be useful when installing modules for shared use, especially if some of the users may not have permission to write the byte-code cache files in the directory containing the source code. .. exception:: PyCompileError Exception raised when an error occurs while attempting to compile the file. .. function:: compile(file[, cfile[, dfile[, doraise]]]) Compile a source file to byte-code and write out the byte-code cache file. The source code is loaded from the file name *file*. The byte-code is written to *cfile*, which defaults to *file* ``+`` ``'c'`` (``'o'`` if optimization is enabled in the current interpreter). If *dfile* is specified, it is used as the name of the source file in error messages instead of *file*. If *doraise* is true, a :exc:`PyCompileError` is raised when an error is encountered while compiling *file*. If *doraise* is false (the default), an error string is written to ``sys.stderr``, but no exception is raised. .. function:: main([args]) Compile several source files. The files named in *args* (or on the command line, if *args* is not specified) are compiled and the resulting bytecode is cached in the normal manner. This function does not search a directory structure to locate source files; it only compiles files named explicitly. If ``'-'`` is the only parameter in args, the list of files is taken from standard input. .. versionchanged:: 2.7 Added support for ``'-'``. When this module is run as a script, the :func:`main` is used to compile all the files named on the command line. The exit status is nonzero if one of the files could not be compiled. .. versionchanged:: 2.6 Added the nonzero exit status when module is run as a script. .. seealso:: Module :mod:`compileall` Utilities to compile all Python source files in a directory tree.