"gzip" — Support for **gzip** files
***********************************

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

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

This module provides a simple interface to compress and decompress
files just like the GNU programs **gzip** and **gunzip** would.

This is an *optional module*. If it is missing from your copy of
CPython, look for documentation from your distributor (that is,
whoever provided Python to you). If you are the distributor, see
Requirements for optional modules.

The data compression is provided by the "zlib" module.

The "gzip" module provides the "GzipFile" class, as well as the
"open()", "compress()" and "decompress()" convenience functions. The
"GzipFile" class reads and writes **gzip**-format files, automatically
compressing or decompressing the data so that it looks like an
ordinary *file object*.

Note that additional file formats which can be decompressed by the
**gzip** and **gunzip** programs, such  as those produced by
**compress** and **pack**, are not supported by this module.

The module defines the following items:

gzip.open(filename, mode='rb', compresslevel=6, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None)

   Open a gzip-compressed file in binary or text mode, returning a
   *file object*.

   The *filename* argument can be an actual filename (a "str" or
   "bytes" object), or an existing file object to read from or write
   to.

   The *mode* argument can be any of "'r'", "'rb'", "'a'", "'ab'",
   "'w'", "'wb'", "'x'" or "'xb'" for binary mode, or "'rt'", "'at'",
   "'wt'", or "'xt'" for text mode. The default is "'rb'".

   The *compresslevel* argument is an integer from 0 to 9, as for the
   "GzipFile" constructor.

   For binary mode, this function is equivalent to the "GzipFile"
   constructor: "GzipFile(filename, mode, compresslevel)". In this
   case, the *encoding*, *errors* and *newline* arguments must not be
   provided.

   For text mode, a "GzipFile" object is created, and wrapped in an
   "io.TextIOWrapper" instance with the specified encoding, error
   handling behavior, and line ending(s).

   Changed in version 3.3: Added support for *filename* being a file
   object, support for text mode, and the *encoding*, *errors* and
   *newline* arguments.

   Changed in version 3.4: Added support for the "'x'", "'xb'" and
   "'xt'" modes.

   Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a *path-like object*.

   Changed in version 3.15: The default compression level was reduced
   to 6 (down from 9). It is the default level used by most
   compression tools and a better tradeoff between speed and
   performance.

exception gzip.BadGzipFile

   An exception raised for invalid gzip files.  It inherits from
   "OSError". "EOFError" and "zlib.error" can also be raised for
   invalid gzip files.

   Added in version 3.8.

class gzip.GzipFile(filename=None, mode=None, compresslevel=6, fileobj=None, mtime=None)

   Constructor for the "GzipFile" class, which simulates most of the
   methods of a *file object*, with the exception of the "truncate()"
   method.  At least one of *fileobj* and *filename* must be given a
   non-trivial value.

   The new class instance is based on *fileobj*, which can be a
   regular file, an "io.BytesIO" object, or any other object which
   simulates a file.  It defaults to "None", in which case *filename*
   is opened to provide a file object.

   When *fileobj* is not "None", the *filename* argument is only used
   to be included in the **gzip** file header, which may include the
   original filename of the uncompressed file.  It defaults to the
   filename of *fileobj*, if discernible; otherwise, it defaults to
   the empty string, and in this case the original filename is not
   included in the header.

   The *mode* argument can be any of "'r'", "'rb'", "'a'", "'ab'",
   "'w'", "'wb'", "'x'", or "'xb'", depending on whether the file will
   be read or written.  The default is the mode of *fileobj* if
   discernible; otherwise, the default is "'rb'".  In future Python
   releases the mode of *fileobj* will not be used.  It is better to
   always specify *mode* for writing.

   Note that the file is always opened in binary mode. To open a
   compressed file in text mode, use "open()" (or wrap your "GzipFile"
   with an "io.TextIOWrapper").

   The *compresslevel* argument is an integer from "0" to "9"
   controlling the level of compression; "1" is fastest and produces
   the least compression, and "9" is slowest and produces the most
   compression. "0" is no compression. The default is "9".

   The optional *mtime* argument is the timestamp requested by gzip.
   The time is in Unix format, i.e., seconds since 00:00:00 UTC,
   January 1, 1970. Set *mtime* to "0" to generate a compressed stream
   that does not depend on creation time. If *mtime* is omitted or
   "None", the current time is used; however, if the current time is
   outside the range 00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970 through 06:28:15
   UTC, February 7, 2106, or explicitly passed *mtime* argument is
   outside the range "0" to "2**32-1", then the value "0" is used
   instead.

   See below for the "mtime" attribute that is set when decompressing.

   Calling a "GzipFile" object’s "close()" method does not close
   *fileobj*, since you might wish to append more material after the
   compressed data.  This also allows you to pass an "io.BytesIO"
   object opened for writing as *fileobj*, and retrieve the resulting
   memory buffer using the "io.BytesIO" object’s "getvalue()" method.

   "GzipFile" supports the "io.BufferedIOBase" interface, including
   iteration and the "with" statement.  Only the "truncate()" method
   isn’t implemented.

   "GzipFile" also provides the following method and attribute:

   peek(n)

      Read *n* uncompressed bytes without advancing the file position.
      The number of bytes returned may be more or less than requested.

      Note:

        While calling "peek()" does not change the file position of
        the "GzipFile", it may change the position of the underlying
        file object (e.g. if the "GzipFile" was constructed with the
        *fileobj* parameter).

      Added in version 3.2.

   mode

      "'rb'" for reading and "'wb'" for writing.

      Changed in version 3.13: In previous versions it was an integer
      "1" or "2".

   mtime

      When decompressing, this attribute is set to the last timestamp
      in the most recently read header.  It is an integer, holding the
      number of seconds since the Unix epoch (00:00:00 UTC, January 1,
      1970). The initial value before reading any headers is "None".

   name

      The path to the gzip file on disk, as a "str" or "bytes".
      Equivalent to the output of "os.fspath()" on the original input
      path, with no other normalization, resolution or expansion.

   Changed in version 3.1: Support for the "with" statement was added,
   along with the *mtime* constructor argument and "mtime" attribute.

   Changed in version 3.2: Support for zero-padded and unseekable
   files was added.

   Changed in version 3.3: The "io.BufferedIOBase.read1()" method is
   now implemented.

   Changed in version 3.4: Added support for the "'x'" and "'xb'"
   modes.

   Changed in version 3.5: Added support for writing arbitrary *bytes-
   like objects*. The "read()" method now accepts an argument of
   "None".

   Changed in version 3.6: Accepts a *path-like object*.

   Deprecated since version 3.9: Opening "GzipFile" for writing
   without specifying the *mode* argument is deprecated.

   Changed in version 3.12: Remove the "filename" attribute, use the
   "name" attribute instead.

   Changed in version 3.15: The default compression level was reduced
   to 6 (down from 9). It is the default level used by most
   compression tools and a better tradeoff between speed and
   performance.

gzip.compress(data, compresslevel=6, *, mtime=0)

   Compress the *data*, returning a "bytes" object containing the
   compressed data.  *compresslevel* and *mtime* have the same meaning
   as in the "GzipFile" constructor above, but *mtime* defaults to 0
   for reproducible output.

   Added in version 3.2.

   Changed in version 3.8: Added the *mtime* parameter for
   reproducible output.

   Changed in version 3.11: Speed is improved by compressing all data
   at once instead of in a streamed fashion. Calls with *mtime* set to
   "0" are delegated to "zlib.compress()" for better speed. In this
   situation the output may contain a gzip header “OS” byte value
   other than 255 “unknown” as supplied by the underlying zlib
   implementation.

   Changed in version 3.13: The gzip header OS byte is guaranteed to
   be set to 255 when this function is used as was the case in 3.10
   and earlier.

   Changed in version 3.14: The *mtime* parameter now defaults to 0
   for reproducible output. For the previous behaviour of using the
   current time, pass "None" to *mtime*.

   Changed in version 3.15: The default compression level was reduced
   to 6 (down from 9). It is the default level used by most
   compression tools and a better tradeoff between speed and
   performance.

gzip.decompress(data)

   Decompress the *data*, returning a "bytes" object containing the
   uncompressed data. This function is capable of decompressing multi-
   member gzip data (multiple gzip blocks concatenated together). When
   the data is certain to contain only one member the
   "zlib.decompress()" function with *wbits* set to 31 is faster.

   Added in version 3.2.

   Changed in version 3.11: Speed is improved by decompressing members
   at once in memory instead of in a streamed fashion.


Examples of usage
=================

Example of how to read a compressed file:

   import gzip
   with gzip.open('/home/joe/file.txt.gz', 'rb') as f:
       file_content = f.read()

Example of how to create a compressed GZIP file:

   import gzip
   content = b"Lots of content here"
   with gzip.open('/home/joe/file.txt.gz', 'wb') as f:
       f.write(content)

Example of how to GZIP compress an existing file:

   import gzip
   import shutil
   with open('/home/joe/file.txt', 'rb') as f_in:
       with gzip.open('/home/joe/file.txt.gz', 'wb') as f_out:
           shutil.copyfileobj(f_in, f_out)

Example of how to GZIP compress a binary string:

   import gzip
   s_in = b"Lots of content here"
   s_out = gzip.compress(s_in)

See also:

  Module "zlib"
     The basic data compression module needed to support the **gzip**
     file format.

  In case gzip (de)compression is a bottleneck, the python-isal
  package speeds up (de)compression with a mostly compatible API.


Command-line interface
======================

The "gzip" module provides a simple command line interface to compress
or decompress files.

Once executed the "gzip" module keeps the input file(s).

Changed in version 3.8: Add a new command line interface with a usage.
By default, when you will execute the CLI, the default compression
level is 6.


Command-line options
--------------------

file

   If *file* is not specified, read from "sys.stdin".

--fast

   Indicates the fastest compression method (less compression).

--best

   Indicates the slowest compression method (best compression).

-d, --decompress

   Decompress the given file.

-h, --help

   Show the help message.
