# 7.9 `dumbdbm` -- Portable DBM implementation

A simple and slow database implemented entirely in Python. This should only be used when no other DBM-style database is available.

`open`(filename[, flag[, mode]])
  Open the database file filename and return a corresponding object. The flag argument, used to control how the database is opened in the other DBM implementations, is ignored in `dumbdbm`; the database is always opened for update, and will be created if it does not exist.

  The optional mode argument is ignored.

exception `error`
  Raised for errors not reported as `KeyError` errors.

See Also:

Module `anydbm`:
  Generic interface to `dbm`-style databases.

Module `whichdb`:
  Utility module used to determine the type of an existing database.