"py_compile" — Compile Python source files
******************************************

**Source code:** Lib/py_compile.py

======================================================================

The "py_compile" module provides a function to generate a byte-code
file from a source file, and another function used when the module
source file is invoked as a script.

Though not often needed, this function can be useful when installing
modules for shared use, especially if some of the users may not have
permission to write the byte-code cache files in the directory
containing the source code.

exception py_compile.PyCompileError

   Exception raised when an error occurs while attempting to compile
   the file.

py_compile.compile(file, cfile=None, dfile=None, doraise=False, optimize=- 1, invalidation_mode=PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP, quiet=0)

   Compile a source file to byte-code and write out the byte-code
   cache file. The source code is loaded from the file named *file*.
   The byte-code is written to *cfile*, which defaults to the **PEP
   3147**/**PEP 488** path, ending in ".pyc". For example, if *file*
   is "/foo/bar/baz.py" *cfile* will default to
   "/foo/bar/__pycache__/baz.cpython-32.pyc" for Python 3.2.  If
   *dfile* is specified, it is used instead of *file* as the name of
   the source file from which source lines are obtained for display in
   exception tracebacks. If *doraise* is true, a "PyCompileError" is
   raised when an error is encountered while compiling *file*. If
   *doraise* is false (the default), an error string is written to
   "sys.stderr", but no exception is raised.  This function returns
   the path to byte-compiled file, i.e. whatever *cfile* value was
   used.

   The *doraise* and *quiet* arguments determine how errors are
   handled while compiling file. If *quiet* is 0 or 1, and *doraise*
   is false, the default behaviour is enabled: an error string is
   written to "sys.stderr", and the function returns "None" instead of
   a path. If *doraise* is true, a "PyCompileError" is raised instead.
   However if *quiet* is 2, no message is written, and *doraise* has
   no effect.

   If the path that *cfile* becomes (either explicitly specified or
   computed) is a symlink or non-regular file, "FileExistsError" will
   be raised. This is to act as a warning that import will turn those
   paths into regular files if it is allowed to write byte-compiled
   files to those paths. This is a side-effect of import using file
   renaming to place the final byte-compiled file into place to
   prevent concurrent file writing issues.

   *optimize* controls the optimization level and is passed to the
   built-in "compile()" function.  The default of "-1" selects the
   optimization level of the current interpreter.

   *invalidation_mode* should be a member of the "PycInvalidationMode"
   enum and controls how the generated bytecode cache is invalidated
   at runtime.  The default is "PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH" if
   the "SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH" environment variable is set, otherwise the
   default is "PycInvalidationMode.TIMESTAMP".

   Changed in version 3.2: Changed default value of *cfile* to be
   **PEP 3147**-compliant.  Previous default was *file* + "'c'" ("'o'"
   if optimization was enabled). Also added the *optimize* parameter.

   Changed in version 3.4: Changed code to use "importlib" for the
   byte-code cache file writing. This means file creation/writing
   semantics now match what "importlib" does, e.g. permissions, write-
   and-move semantics, etc. Also added the caveat that
   "FileExistsError" is raised if *cfile* is a symlink or non-regular
   file.

   Changed in version 3.7: The *invalidation_mode* parameter was added
   as specified in **PEP 552**. If the "SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH" environment
   variable is set, *invalidation_mode* will be forced to
   "PycInvalidationMode.CHECKED_HASH".

   Changed in version 3.7.2: The "SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH" environment
   variable no longer overrides the value of the *invalidation_mode*
   argument, and determines its default value instead.

   Changed in version 3.8: The *quiet* parameter was added.

class py_compile.PycInvalidationMode

   A enumeration of possible methods the interpreter can use to
   determine whether a bytecode file is up to date with a source file.
   The ".pyc" file indicates the desired invalidation mode in its
   header. See Cached bytecode invalidation for more information on
   how Python invalidates ".pyc" files at runtime.

   New in version 3.7.

   TIMESTAMP

      The ".pyc" file includes the timestamp and size of the source
      file, which Python will compare against the metadata of the
      source file at runtime to determine if the ".pyc" file needs to
      be regenerated.

   CHECKED_HASH

      The ".pyc" file includes a hash of the source file content,
      which Python will compare against the source at runtime to
      determine if the ".pyc" file needs to be regenerated.

   UNCHECKED_HASH

      Like "CHECKED_HASH", the ".pyc" file includes a hash of the
      source file content. However, Python will at runtime assume the
      ".pyc" file is up to date and not validate the ".pyc" against
      the source file at all.

      This option is useful when the ".pycs" are kept up to date by
      some system external to Python like a build system.


Command-Line Interface
======================

This module can be invoked as a script to compile several source
files.  The files named in *filenames* are compiled and the resulting
bytecode is cached in the normal manner.  This program does not search
a directory structure to locate source files; it only compiles files
named explicitly. The exit status is nonzero if one of the files could
not be compiled.

<file> ... <fileN>
-

   Positional arguments are files to compile.  If "-" is the only
   parameter, the list of files is taken from standard input.

-q, --quiet

   Suppress errors output.

Changed in version 3.2: Added support for "-".

Changed in version 3.10: Added support for "-q".

See also:

  Module "compileall"
     Utilities to compile all Python source files in a directory tree.
