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<title>6. Generic Operating System Services
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<H1><A NAME=
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6. Generic Operating System Services
The modules described in this chapter provide interfaces to operating
system features that are available on (almost) all operating systems,
such as files and a clock. The interfaces are generally modeled
after the
<span class=
"Unix">Unix
</span> or C interfaces, but they are available on most
other systems as well. Here's an overview:
<table class='synopsistable' valign='baseline'
>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-os.html'
>os
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Miscellaneous operating system interfaces.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-os.path.html'
>os.path
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Common pathname manipulations.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-dircache.html'
>dircache
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Return directory listing, with cache mechanism.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-stat.html'
>stat
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Utilities for interpreting the results of
<tt class=
"function">os.stat()
</tt>,
<tt class=
"function">os.lstat()
</tt> and
<tt class=
"function">os.fstat()
</tt>.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-statcache.html'
>statcache
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Stat files, and remember results.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-statvfs.html'
>statvfs
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Constants for interpreting the result of
<tt class=
"function">os.statvfs()
</tt>.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-filecmp.html'
>filecmp
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Compare files efficiently.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-subprocess.html'
>subprocess
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Subprocess management.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-popen2.html'
>popen2
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Subprocesses with accessible standard I/O streams.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-datetime.html'
>datetime
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Basic date and time types.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-time.html'
>time
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Time access and conversions.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-sched.html'
>sched
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>General purpose event scheduler.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-mutex.html'
>mutex
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Lock and queue for mutual exclusion.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-getpass.html'
>getpass
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Portable reading of passwords and retrieval of the userid.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-curses.html'
>curses
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>An interface to the curses library, providing portable
terminal handling.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-curses.textpad.html'
>curses.textpad
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Emacs-like input editing in a curses window.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-curses.wrapper.html'
>curses.wrapper
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Terminal configuration wrapper for curses programs.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-curses.ascii.html'
>curses.ascii
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Constants and set-membership functions for
ASCII characters.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-curses.panel.html'
>curses.panel
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>A panel stack extension that adds depth to
curses windows.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-getopt.html'
>getopt
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Portable parser for command line options; support both
short and long option names.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-optparse.html'
>optparse
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>More convenient, flexible, and powerful command-line parsing library.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-tempfile.html'
>tempfile
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Generate temporary files and directories.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-errno.html'
>errno
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Standard errno system symbols.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-glob.html'
>glob
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
><span class=
"Unix">Unix
</span> shell style pathname pattern expansion.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-fnmatch.html'
>fnmatch
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
><span class=
"Unix">Unix
</span> shell style filename pattern matching.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-shutil.html'
>shutil
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>High-level file operations, including copying.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-locale.html'
>locale
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Internationalization services.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-gettext.html'
>gettext
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Multilingual internationalization services.
</td></tr>
<td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-logging.html'
>logging
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Logging module for Python based on
<a class=
"rfc" id='rfcref-
88932' xml:id='rfcref-
88932'
href=
"http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0282.html">PEP
282</a>.
</td></tr>
<tr><td><b><tt class='module'
><a href='module-platform.html'
>platform
</a></tt></b></td>
<td class='synopsis'
>Retrieves as much platform identifying data as possible.
</td></tr>
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<span class=
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2.4.2, documentation updated on
28 September
2005.
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