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<H3><A NAME="SECTION0051453000000000000000">
3.14.5.3 Pickling and unpickling external objects</A>
</H3>

<P>
For the benefit of object persistence, the <tt class="module">pickle</tt> module
supports the notion of a reference to an object outside the pickled
data stream.  Such objects are referenced by a ``persistent id'',
which is just an arbitrary string of printable ASCII characters.
The resolution of such names is not defined by the <tt class="module">pickle</tt>
module; it will delegate this resolution to user defined functions on
the pickler and unpickler.<A NAME="tex2html20"
  HREF="#foot8985"><SUP>3.8</SUP></A>
<P>
To define external persistent id resolution, you need to set the
<tt class="member">persistent_id</tt> attribute of the pickler object and the
<tt class="member">persistent_load</tt> attribute of the unpickler object.

<P>
To pickle objects that have an external persistent id, the pickler
must have a custom <tt class="function">persistent_id()</tt> method that takes an
object as an argument and returns either <code>None</code> or the persistent
id for that object.  When <code>None</code> is returned, the pickler simply
pickles the object as normal.  When a persistent id string is
returned, the pickler will pickle that string, along with a marker
so that the unpickler will recognize the string as a persistent id.

<P>
To unpickle external objects, the unpickler must have a custom
<tt class="function">persistent_load()</tt> function that takes a persistent id
string and returns the referenced object.

<P>
Here's a silly example that <em>might</em> shed more light:

<P>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
import pickle
from cStringIO import StringIO

src = StringIO()
p = pickle.Pickler(src)

def persistent_id(obj):
    if hasattr(obj, 'x'):
        return 'the value %d' % obj.x
    else:
        return None

p.persistent_id = persistent_id

class Integer:
    def __init__(self, x):
        self.x = x
    def __str__(self):
        return 'My name is integer %d' % self.x

i = Integer(7)
print i
p.dump(i)

datastream = src.getvalue()
print repr(datastream)
dst = StringIO(datastream)

up = pickle.Unpickler(dst)

class FancyInteger(Integer):
    def __str__(self):
        return 'I am the integer %d' % self.x

def persistent_load(persid):
    if persid.startswith('the value '):
        value = int(persid.split()[2])
        return FancyInteger(value)
    else:
        raise pickle.UnpicklingError, 'Invalid persistent id'

up.persistent_load = persistent_load

j = up.load()
print j
</pre></div>

<P>
In the <tt class="module">cPickle</tt> module, the unpickler's
<tt class="member">persistent_load</tt> attribute can also be set to a Python
list, in which case, when the unpickler reaches a persistent id, the
persistent id string will simply be appended to this list.  This
functionality exists so that a pickle data stream can be ``sniffed''
for object references without actually instantiating all the objects
in a pickle.<A NAME="tex2html21"
  HREF="#foot8892"><SUP>3.9</SUP></A>  Setting
<tt class="member">persistent_load</tt> to a list is usually used in conjunction with
the <tt class="method">noload()</tt> method on the Unpickler.

<P>
<BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4>
<DL>
<DT><A NAME="foot8985">... unpickler.</A><A
 HREF="node70.html#tex2html20"><SUP>3.8</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>The actual mechanism for
associating these user defined functions is slightly different for
<tt class="module">pickle</tt> and <tt class="module">cPickle</tt>.  The description given here
works the same for both implementations.  Users of the <tt class="module">pickle</tt>
module could also use subclassing to effect the same results,
overriding the <tt class="method">persistent_id()</tt> and <tt class="method">persistent_load()</tt>
methods in the derived classes.

</DD>
<DT><A NAME="foot8892">... pickle.</A><A
 HREF="node70.html#tex2html21"><SUP>3.9</SUP></A></DT>
<DD>We'll leave you with the image of Guido and Jim
sitting around sniffing pickles in their living rooms.

</DD>
</DL>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.4.2, documentation updated on 28 September 2005.</span>
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