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  <section id="module-py_compile">
<span id="py-compile-compile-python-source-files"></span><h1><a class="reference internal" href="#module-py_compile" title="py_compile: Generate byte-code files from Python source files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py_compile</span></code></a> — Compile Python source files<a class="headerlink" href="#module-py_compile" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/3.12/Lib/py_compile.py">Lib/py_compile.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" id="index-0" />
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-py_compile" title="py_compile: Generate byte-code files from Python source files."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py_compile</span></code></a> 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<dl class="py exception">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.PyCompileError">
<em class="property"><span class="pre">exception</span><span class="w"> </span></em><span class="sig-prename descclassname"><span class="pre">py_compile.</span></span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">PyCompileError</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PyCompileError" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Exception raised when an error occurs while attempting to compile the file.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="py function">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.compile">
<span class="sig-prename descclassname"><span class="pre">py_compile.</span></span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">compile</span></span><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">file</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">cfile</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">None</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">dfile</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">None</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">doraise</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">False</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">optimize</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">-1</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">invalidation_mode</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP</span></span></em>, <em class="sig-param"><span class="n"><span class="pre">quiet</span></span><span class="o"><span class="pre">=</span></span><span class="default_value"><span class="pre">0</span></span></em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.compile" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Compile a source file to byte-code and write out the byte-code cache file.
The source code is loaded from the file named <em>file</em>.  The byte-code is
written to <em>cfile</em>, which defaults to the <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-3147/"><strong>PEP 3147</strong></a>/<span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0488/"><strong>PEP 488</strong></a> path, ending
in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code>.
For example, if <em>file</em> is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/foo/bar/baz.py</span></code> <em>cfile</em> will default to
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/foo/bar/__pycache__/baz.cpython-32.pyc</span></code> for Python 3.2.  If <em>dfile</em> is
specified, it is used instead of <em>file</em> as the name of the source file from
which source lines are obtained for display in exception tracebacks.
If <em>doraise</em> is true, a <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PyCompileError" title="py_compile.PyCompileError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyCompileError</span></code></a> is raised
when an error is encountered while compiling <em>file</em>. If <em>doraise</em> is false
(the default), an error string is written to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stderr</span></code>, but no exception
is raised.  This function returns the path to byte-compiled file, i.e.
whatever <em>cfile</em> value was used.</p>
<p>The <em>doraise</em> and <em>quiet</em> arguments determine how errors are handled while
compiling file. If <em>quiet</em> is 0 or 1, and <em>doraise</em> is false, the default
behaviour is enabled: an error string is written to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stderr</span></code>, and the
function returns <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">None</span></code> instead of a path. If <em>doraise</em> is true,
a <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PyCompileError" title="py_compile.PyCompileError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyCompileError</span></code></a> is raised instead. However if <em>quiet</em> is 2,
no message is written, and <em>doraise</em> has no effect.</p>
<p>If the path that <em>cfile</em> becomes (either explicitly specified or computed)
is a symlink or non-regular file, <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#FileExistsError" title="FileExistsError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FileExistsError</span></code></a> will be raised.
This is to act as a warning that import will turn those paths into regular
files if it is allowed to write byte-compiled files to those paths. This is
a side-effect of import using file renaming to place the final byte-compiled
file into place to prevent concurrent file writing issues.</p>
<p><em>optimize</em> controls the optimization level and is passed to the built-in
<a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#compile" title="compile"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">compile()</span></code></a> function.  The default of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-1</span></code> selects the optimization
level of the current interpreter.</p>
<p><em>invalidation_mode</em> should be a member of the <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode" title="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode</span></code></a>
enum and controls how the generated bytecode cache is invalidated at
runtime.  The default is <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH" title="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH</span></code></a> if
the <span class="target" id="index-3"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH</span></code> environment variable is set, otherwise
the default is <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP" title="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP</span></code></a>.</p>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.2: </span>Changed default value of <em>cfile</em> to be <span class="target" id="index-4"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-3147/"><strong>PEP 3147</strong></a>-compliant.  Previous
default was <em>file</em> + <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'c'</span></code> (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">'o'</span></code> if optimization was enabled).
Also added the <em>optimize</em> parameter.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.4: </span>Changed code to use <a class="reference internal" href="importlib.html#module-importlib" title="importlib: The implementation of the import machinery."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">importlib</span></code></a> for the byte-code cache file writing.
This means file creation/writing semantics now match what <a class="reference internal" href="importlib.html#module-importlib" title="importlib: The implementation of the import machinery."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">importlib</span></code></a>
does, e.g. permissions, write-and-move semantics, etc. Also added the
caveat that <a class="reference internal" href="exceptions.html#FileExistsError" title="FileExistsError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FileExistsError</span></code></a> is raised if <em>cfile</em> is a symlink or
non-regular file.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.7: </span>The <em>invalidation_mode</em> parameter was added as specified in <span class="target" id="index-5"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0552/"><strong>PEP 552</strong></a>.
If the <span class="target" id="index-6"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH</span></code> environment variable is set,
<em>invalidation_mode</em> will be forced to
<a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH" title="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH</span></code></a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.7.2: </span>The <span class="target" id="index-7"></span><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH</span></code> environment variable no longer
overrides the value of the <em>invalidation_mode</em> argument, and determines
its default value instead.</p>
</div>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.8: </span>The <em>quiet</em> parameter was added.</p>
</div>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="py class">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode">
<em class="property"><span class="pre">class</span><span class="w"> </span></em><span class="sig-prename descclassname"><span class="pre">py_compile.</span></span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">PycInvalidationMode</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>A enumeration of possible methods the interpreter can use to determine
whether a bytecode file is up to date with a source file. The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file
indicates the desired invalidation mode in its header. See
<a class="reference internal" href="../reference/import.html#pyc-invalidation"><span class="std std-ref">Cached bytecode invalidation</span></a> for more information on how Python invalidates
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> files at runtime.</p>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 3.7.</span></p>
</div>
<dl class="py attribute">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">TIMESTAMP</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file includes the timestamp and size of the source file,
which Python will compare against the metadata of the source file at
runtime to determine if the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file needs to be regenerated.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="py attribute">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">CHECKED_HASH</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file includes a hash of the source file content, which Python
will compare against the source at runtime to determine if the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code>
file needs to be regenerated.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="py attribute">
<dt class="sig sig-object py" id="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.UNCHECKED_HASH">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">UNCHECKED_HASH</span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.UNCHECKED_HASH" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Like <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH" title="py_compile.PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH"><code class="xref py py-attr docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CHECKED_HASH</span></code></a>, the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file includes a hash of the source
file content. However, Python will at runtime assume the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> file is
up to date and not validate the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pyc</span></code> against the source file at all.</p>
<p>This option is useful when the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.pycs</span></code> are kept up to date by some
system external to Python like a build system.</p>
</dd></dl>
</dd></dl>
<section id="command-line-interface">
<span id="py-compile-cli"></span><h2>Command-Line Interface<a class="headerlink" href="#command-line-interface" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>This module can be invoked as a script to compile several source
files.  The files named in <em>filenames</em> are compiled and the resulting
bytecode is cached in the normal manner.  This program does not search
a directory structure to locate source files; it only compiles files
named explicitly. The exit status is nonzero if one of the files could
not be compiled.</p>
<dl class="std option">
<dt class="sig sig-object std" id="cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-arg-file">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre"><file></span></span><span class="sig-prename descclassname"> <span class="pre">...</span> <span class="pre"><fileN></span></span><a class="headerlink" href="#cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-arg-file" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dt class="sig sig-object std" id="cmdoption-python-m-py_compile">
<span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">-</span></span><span class="sig-prename descclassname"></span><a class="headerlink" href="#cmdoption-python-m-py_compile" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Positional arguments are files to compile.  If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-</span></code> is the only
parameter, the list of files is taken from standard input.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="std option">
<dt class="sig sig-object std" id="cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-q">
<span id="cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-quiet"></span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">-q</span></span><span class="sig-prename descclassname"></span><span class="sig-prename descclassname"><span class="pre">,</span> </span><span class="sig-name descname"><span class="pre">--quiet</span></span><span class="sig-prename descclassname"></span><a class="headerlink" href="#cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-q" title="Link to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Suppress errors output.</p>
</dd></dl>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.2: </span>Added support for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-</span></code>.</p>
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<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.10: </span>Added support for <a class="reference internal" href="#cmdoption-python-m-py_compile-q"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-q</span></code></a>.</p>
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<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
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<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="compileall.html#module-compileall" title="compileall: Tools for byte-compiling all Python source files in a directory tree."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">compileall</span></code></a></dt><dd><p>Utilities to compile all Python source files in a directory tree.</p>
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