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<title>12.10 multifile -- Support for files containing distinct parts</title>
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<H1><A NAME="SECTION00141000000000000000000">
12.10 <tt class="module">multifile</tt> --
         Support for files containing distinct parts</A>
</H1>

<P>
<A NAME="module-multifile"></A>

<P>
The <tt class="class">MultiFile</tt> object enables you to treat sections of a text
file as file-like input objects, with <code>''</code> being returned by
<tt class="method">readline()</tt> when a given delimiter pattern is encountered.  The
defaults of this class are designed to make it useful for parsing
MIME multipart messages, but by subclassing it and overriding methods
it can be easily adapted for more general use.

<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span>&nbsp;<tt id='l2h-4059' xml:id='l2h-4059' class="class">MultiFile</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>fp</var><big>[</big><var>, seekable</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Create a multi-file.  You must instantiate this class with an input
object argument for the <tt class="class">MultiFile</tt> instance to get lines from,
such as a file object returned by <tt class="function">open()</tt>.

<P>
<tt class="class">MultiFile</tt> only ever looks at the input object's
<tt class="method">readline()</tt>, <tt class="method">seek()</tt> and <tt class="method">tell()</tt> methods, and
the latter two are only needed if you want random access to the
individual MIME parts. To use <tt class="class">MultiFile</tt> on a non-seekable
stream object, set the optional <var>seekable</var> argument to false; this
will prevent using the input object's <tt class="method">seek()</tt> and
<tt class="method">tell()</tt> methods.
</dl>

<P>
It will be useful to know that in <tt class="class">MultiFile</tt>'s view of the world, text
is composed of three kinds of lines: data, section-dividers, and
end-markers.  MultiFile is designed to support parsing of
messages that may have multiple nested message parts, each with its
own pattern for section-divider and end-marker lines.

<P>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
    <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-email.html">email</a></tt>:</b>
    <dd>Comprehensive email handling package; supersedes
                    the <tt class="module">multifile</tt> module.
  </dl>
</div>

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<LI><A href="MultiFile-objects.html">12.10.1 MultiFile Objects</a>
<LI><A href="multifile-example.html">12.10.2 <tt class="class">MultiFile</tt> Example</a>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span>
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