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| 55 | <H1><A NAME="SECTION0091900000000000000000"> |
| 56 | 7.19 <tt class="module">tarfile</tt> -- Read and write tar archive files</A> |
| 57 | </H1> |
| 58 | |
| 59 | <P> |
| 60 | <A NAME="module-tarfile"></A> |
| 61 | |
| 62 | <span class="versionnote">New in version 2.3.</span> |
| 63 | |
| 64 | <P> |
| 65 | |
| 66 | <P> |
| 67 | The <tt class="module">tarfile</tt> module makes it possible to read and create tar archives. |
| 68 | Some facts and figures: |
| 69 | |
| 70 | <P> |
| 71 | |
| 72 | <UL> |
| 73 | <LI>reads and writes <tt class="module">gzip</tt> and <tt class="module">bzip2</tt> compressed archives. |
| 74 | </LI> |
| 75 | <LI>creates POSIX 1003.1-1990 compliant or GNU tar compatible archives. |
| 76 | </LI> |
| 77 | <LI>reads GNU tar extensions <em>longname</em>, <em>longlink</em> and |
| 78 | <em>sparse</em>. |
| 79 | </LI> |
| 80 | <LI>stores pathnames of unlimited length using GNU tar extensions. |
| 81 | </LI> |
| 82 | <LI>handles directories, regular files, hardlinks, symbolic links, fifos, |
| 83 | character devices and block devices and is able to acquire and |
| 84 | restore file information like timestamp, access permissions and owner. |
| 85 | </LI> |
| 86 | <LI>can handle tape devices. |
| 87 | </LI> |
| 88 | </UL> |
| 89 | |
| 90 | <P> |
| 91 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 92 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2889' xml:id='l2h-2889' class="function">open</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 93 | <td><var></var><big>[</big><var>name</var><big>[</big><var>, mode |
| 94 | </var><big>[</big><var>, fileobj</var><big>[</big><var>, bufsize</var><big>]</big><var></var><big>]</big><var></var><big>]</big><var></var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 95 | <dd> |
| 96 | Return a <tt class="class">TarFile</tt> object for the pathname <var>name</var>. |
| 97 | For detailed information on <tt class="class">TarFile</tt> objects, |
| 98 | see <em class="citetitle" |
| 99 | >TarFile Objects</em> (section <A href="tarfile-objects.html#tarfile-objects">7.19.1</A>). |
| 100 | |
| 101 | <P> |
| 102 | <var>mode</var> has to be a string of the form <code>'filemode[:compression]'</code>, |
| 103 | it defaults to <code>'r'</code>. Here is a full list of mode combinations: |
| 104 | |
| 105 | <P> |
| 106 | <div class="center"><table class="realtable"> |
| 107 | <thead> |
| 108 | <tr> |
| 109 | <th class="center">mode</th> |
| 110 | <th class="left" >action</th> |
| 111 | </tr> |
| 112 | </thead> |
| 113 | <tbody> |
| 114 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r'</code></td> |
| 115 | <td class="left" >Open for reading with transparent compression (recommended).</td></tr> |
| 116 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r:'</code></td> |
| 117 | <td class="left" >Open for reading exclusively without compression.</td></tr> |
| 118 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r:gz'</code></td> |
| 119 | <td class="left" >Open for reading with gzip compression.</td></tr> |
| 120 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r:bz2'</code></td> |
| 121 | <td class="left" >Open for reading with bzip2 compression.</td></tr> |
| 122 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'a' or 'a:'</code></td> |
| 123 | <td class="left" >Open for appending with no compression.</td></tr> |
| 124 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w' or 'w:'</code></td> |
| 125 | <td class="left" >Open for uncompressed writing.</td></tr> |
| 126 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w:gz'</code></td> |
| 127 | <td class="left" >Open for gzip compressed writing.</td></tr> |
| 128 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w:bz2'</code></td> |
| 129 | <td class="left" >Open for bzip2 compressed writing.</td></tr></tbody> |
| 130 | </table></div> |
| 131 | |
| 132 | <P> |
| 133 | Note that <code>'a:gz'</code> or <code>'a:bz2'</code> is not possible. |
| 134 | If <var>mode</var> is not suitable to open a certain (compressed) file for |
| 135 | reading, <tt class="exception">ReadError</tt> is raised. Use <var>mode</var> <code>'r'</code> to |
| 136 | avoid this. If a compression method is not supported, |
| 137 | <tt class="exception">CompressionError</tt> is raised. |
| 138 | |
| 139 | <P> |
| 140 | If <var>fileobj</var> is specified, it is used as an alternative to |
| 141 | a file object opened for <var>name</var>. |
| 142 | |
| 143 | <P> |
| 144 | For special purposes, there is a second format for <var>mode</var>: |
| 145 | <code>'filemode|[compression]'</code>. <tt class="function">open()</tt> will return a |
| 146 | <tt class="class">TarFile</tt> object that processes its data as a stream of |
| 147 | blocks. No random seeking will be done on the file. If given, |
| 148 | <var>fileobj</var> may be any object that has a <tt class="method">read()</tt> or |
| 149 | <tt class="method">write()</tt> method (depending on the <var>mode</var>). |
| 150 | <var>bufsize</var> specifies the blocksize and defaults to <code>20 * |
| 151 | 512</code> bytes. Use this variant in combination with |
| 152 | e.g. <code>sys.stdin</code>, a socket file object or a tape device. |
| 153 | However, such a <tt class="class">TarFile</tt> object is limited in that it does |
| 154 | not allow to be accessed randomly, see ``Examples'' |
| 155 | (section <A href="tar-examples.html#tar-examples">7.19.3</A>). The currently possible modes: |
| 156 | |
| 157 | <P> |
| 158 | <div class="center"><table class="realtable"> |
| 159 | <thead> |
| 160 | <tr> |
| 161 | <th class="center">Mode</th> |
| 162 | <th class="left" >Action</th> |
| 163 | </tr> |
| 164 | </thead> |
| 165 | <tbody> |
| 166 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r|'</code></td> |
| 167 | <td class="left" >Open a <em>stream</em> of uncompressed tar blocks for reading.</td></tr> |
| 168 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r|gz'</code></td> |
| 169 | <td class="left" >Open a gzip compressed <em>stream</em> for reading.</td></tr> |
| 170 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'r|bz2'</code></td> |
| 171 | <td class="left" >Open a bzip2 compressed <em>stream</em> for reading.</td></tr> |
| 172 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w|'</code></td> |
| 173 | <td class="left" >Open an uncompressed <em>stream</em> for writing.</td></tr> |
| 174 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w|gz'</code></td> |
| 175 | <td class="left" >Open an gzip compressed <em>stream</em> for writing.</td></tr> |
| 176 | <tr><td class="center" valign="baseline"><code>'w|bz2'</code></td> |
| 177 | <td class="left" >Open an bzip2 compressed <em>stream</em> for writing.</td></tr></tbody> |
| 178 | </table></div> |
| 179 | </dl> |
| 180 | |
| 181 | <P> |
| 182 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <tt id='l2h-2890' xml:id='l2h-2890' class="class">TarFile</tt></b> |
| 183 | <dd> |
| 184 | Class for reading and writing tar archives. Do not use this |
| 185 | class directly, better use <tt class="function">open()</tt> instead. |
| 186 | See ``TarFile Objects'' (section <A href="tarfile-objects.html#tarfile-objects">7.19.1</A>). |
| 187 | </dl> |
| 188 | |
| 189 | <P> |
| 190 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 191 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-2891' xml:id='l2h-2891' class="function">is_tarfile</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 192 | <td><var>name</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 193 | <dd> |
| 194 | Return <tt class="constant">True</tt> if <var>name</var> is a tar archive file, that |
| 195 | the <tt class="module">tarfile</tt> module can read. |
| 196 | </dl> |
| 197 | |
| 198 | <P> |
| 199 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 200 | <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <tt id='l2h-2892' xml:id='l2h-2892' class="class">TarFileCompat</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 201 | <td><var>filename</var><big>[</big><var>, mode</var><big>[</big><var>, |
| 202 | compression</var><big>]</big><var></var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 203 | <dd> |
| 204 | Class for limited access to tar archives with a |
| 205 | <tt class="module"><a href="module-zipfile.html">zipfile</a></tt>-like interface. Please consult the |
| 206 | documentation of the <tt class="module"><a href="module-zipfile.html">zipfile</a></tt> module for more details. |
| 207 | <var>compression</var> must be one of the following constants: |
| 208 | <dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2893' xml:id='l2h-2893'>TAR_PLAIN</tt></b></dt> |
| 209 | <dd> |
| 210 | Constant for an uncompressed tar archive. |
| 211 | </dd></dl> |
| 212 | <dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-2894' xml:id='l2h-2894'>TAR_GZIPPED</tt></b></dt> |
| 213 | <dd> |
| 214 | Constant for a <tt class="module"><a href="module-gzip.html">gzip</a></tt> compressed tar archive. |
| 215 | </dd></dl> |
| 216 | </dl> |
| 217 | |
| 218 | <P> |
| 219 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2895' xml:id='l2h-2895' class="exception">TarError</tt></b></dt> |
| 220 | <dd> |
| 221 | Base class for all <tt class="module">tarfile</tt> exceptions. |
| 222 | </dd></dl> |
| 223 | |
| 224 | <P> |
| 225 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2896' xml:id='l2h-2896' class="exception">ReadError</tt></b></dt> |
| 226 | <dd> |
| 227 | Is raised when a tar archive is opened, that either cannot be handled by |
| 228 | the <tt class="module">tarfile</tt> module or is somehow invalid. |
| 229 | </dd></dl> |
| 230 | |
| 231 | <P> |
| 232 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2897' xml:id='l2h-2897' class="exception">CompressionError</tt></b></dt> |
| 233 | <dd> |
| 234 | Is raised when a compression method is not supported or when the data |
| 235 | cannot be decoded properly. |
| 236 | </dd></dl> |
| 237 | |
| 238 | <P> |
| 239 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2898' xml:id='l2h-2898' class="exception">StreamError</tt></b></dt> |
| 240 | <dd> |
| 241 | Is raised for the limitations that are typical for stream-like |
| 242 | <tt class="class">TarFile</tt> objects. |
| 243 | </dd></dl> |
| 244 | |
| 245 | <P> |
| 246 | <dl><dt><b><span class="typelabel">exception</span> <tt id='l2h-2899' xml:id='l2h-2899' class="exception">ExtractError</tt></b></dt> |
| 247 | <dd> |
| 248 | Is raised for <em>non-fatal</em> errors when using <tt class="method">extract()</tt>, but |
| 249 | only if <tt class="member">TarFile.errorlevel</tt><code> == 2</code>. |
| 250 | </dd></dl> |
| 251 | |
| 252 | <P> |
| 253 | <div class="seealso"> |
| 254 | <p class="heading">See Also:</p> |
| 255 | |
| 256 | <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule"> |
| 257 | <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-zipfile.html">zipfile</a></tt>:</b> |
| 258 | <dd>Documentation of the <tt class="module"><a href="module-zipfile.html">zipfile</a></tt> |
| 259 | standard module. |
| 260 | </dl> |
| 261 | |
| 262 | <P> |
| 263 | <dl compact="compact" class="seetitle"> |
| 264 | <dt><em class="citetitle"><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_chapter/tar_8.html#SEC134" |
| 265 | >GNU tar manual, Basic Tar Format</a></em></dt> |
| 266 | <dd>Documentation for tar archive files, |
| 267 | including GNU tar extensions.</dd> |
| 268 | </dl> |
| 269 | </div> |
| 270 | |
| 271 | <P> |
| 272 | |
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| 274 | <div class='online-navigation'> |
| 275 | <!--Table of Child-Links--> |
| 276 | <A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></a> |
| 277 | |
| 278 | <UL CLASS="ChildLinks"> |
| 279 | <LI><A href="tarfile-objects.html">7.19.1 TarFile Objects</a> |
| 280 | <LI><A href="tarinfo-objects.html">7.19.2 TarInfo Objects</a> |
| 281 | <LI><A href="tar-examples.html">7.19.3 Examples</a> |
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