
``io`` --- Core tools for working with streams
**********************************************


Overview
========

The ``io`` module provides Python's main facilities for dealing for
various types of I/O.  There are three main types of I/O: *text I/O*,
*binary I/O*, *raw I/O*.  These are generic categories, and various
backing stores can be used for each of them.  Concrete objects
belonging to any of these categories will often be called *streams*;
another common term is *file-like objects*.

Independently of its category, each concrete stream object will also
have various capabilities: it can be read-only, write-only, or read-
write. It can also allow arbitrary random access (seeking forwards or
backwards to any location), or only sequential access (for example in
the case of a socket or pipe).

All streams are careful about the type of data you give to them.  For
example giving a ``str`` object to the ``write()`` method of a binary
stream will raise a ``TypeError``.  So will giving a ``bytes`` object
to the ``write()`` method of a text stream.


Text I/O
--------

Text I/O expects and produces ``str`` objects.  This means that
whenever the backing store is natively made of bytes (such as in the
case of a file), encoding and decoding of data is made transparently
as well as optional translation of platform-specific newline
characters.

The easiest way to create a text stream is with ``open()``, optionally
specifying an encoding:

   f = open("myfile.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8")

In-memory text streams are also available as ``StringIO`` objects:

   f = io.StringIO("some initial text data")

The text stream API is described in detail in the documentation for
the ``TextIOBase``.


Binary I/O
----------

Binary I/O (also called *buffered I/O*) expects and produces ``bytes``
objects.  No encoding, decoding, or newline translation is performed.
This category of streams can be used for all kinds of non-text data,
and also when manual control over the handling of text data is
desired.

The easiest way to create a binary stream is with ``open()`` with
``'b'`` in the mode string:

   f = open("myfile.jpg", "rb")

In-memory binary streams are also available as ``BytesIO`` objects:

   f = io.BytesIO(b"some initial binary data: \x00\x01")

The binary stream API is described in detail in the docs of
``BufferedIOBase``.

Other library modules may provide additional ways to create text or
binary streams.  See ``socket.socket.makefile()`` for example.


Raw I/O
-------

Raw I/O (also called *unbuffered I/O*) is generally used as a low-
level building-block for binary and text streams; it is rarely useful
to directly manipulate a raw stream from user code.  Nevertheless, you
can create a raw stream by opening a file in binary mode with
buffering disabled:

   f = open("myfile.jpg", "rb", buffering=0)

The raw stream API is described in detail in the docs of
``RawIOBase``.


High-level Module Interface
===========================

io.DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE

   An int containing the default buffer size used by the module's
   buffered I/O classes.  ``open()`` uses the file's blksize (as
   obtained by ``os.stat()``) if possible.

io.open(file, mode='r', buffering=-1, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, closefd=True)

   This is an alias for the builtin ``open()`` function.

exception exception io.BlockingIOError

   Error raised when blocking would occur on a non-blocking stream.
   It inherits ``IOError``.

   In addition to those of ``IOError``, ``BlockingIOError`` has one
   attribute:

   characters_written

      An integer containing the number of characters written to the
      stream before it blocked.

exception exception io.UnsupportedOperation

   An exception inheriting ``IOError`` and ``ValueError`` that is
   raised when an unsupported operation is called on a stream.


In-memory streams
-----------------

It is also possible to use a ``str`` or ``bytes``-like object as a
file for both reading and writing.  For strings ``StringIO`` can be
used like a file opened in text mode.  ``BytesIO`` can be used like a
file opened in binary mode.  Both provide full read-write capabilities
with random access.

See also:

   ``sys``
      contains the standard IO streams: ``sys.stdin``, ``sys.stdout``,
      and ``sys.stderr``.


Class hierarchy
===============

The implementation of I/O streams is organized as a hierarchy of
classes.  First *abstract base classes* (ABCs), which are used to
specify the various categories of streams, then concrete classes
providing the standard stream implementations.

   Note: The abstract base classes also provide default implementations of
     some methods in order to help implementation of concrete stream
     classes.  For example, ``BufferedIOBase`` provides unoptimized
     implementations of ``readinto()`` and ``readline()``.

At the top of the I/O hierarchy is the abstract base class ``IOBase``.
It defines the basic interface to a stream.  Note, however, that there
is no separation between reading and writing to streams;
implementations are allowed to raise ``UnsupportedOperation`` if they
do not support a given operation.

The ``RawIOBase`` ABC extends ``IOBase``.  It deals with the reading
and writing of bytes to a stream.  ``FileIO`` subclasses ``RawIOBase``
to provide an interface to files in the machine's file system.

The ``BufferedIOBase`` ABC deals with buffering on a raw byte stream
(``RawIOBase``).  Its subclasses, ``BufferedWriter``,
``BufferedReader``, and ``BufferedRWPair`` buffer streams that are
readable, writable, and both readable and writable.
``BufferedRandom`` provides a buffered interface to random access
streams.  Another ``BufferedIOBase`` subclass, ``BytesIO``, is a
stream of in-memory bytes.

The ``TextIOBase`` ABC, another subclass of ``IOBase``, deals with
streams whose bytes represent text, and handles encoding and decoding
to and from strings. ``TextIOWrapper``, which extends it, is a
buffered text interface to a buffered raw stream (``BufferedIOBase``).
Finally, ``StringIO`` is an in-memory stream for text.

Argument names are not part of the specification, and only the
arguments of ``open()`` are intended to be used as keyword arguments.


I/O Base Classes
----------------

class class io.IOBase

   The abstract base class for all I/O classes, acting on streams of
   bytes. There is no public constructor.

   This class provides empty abstract implementations for many methods
   that derived classes can override selectively; the default
   implementations represent a file that cannot be read, written or
   seeked.

   Even though ``IOBase`` does not declare ``read()``, ``readinto()``,
   or ``write()`` because their signatures will vary, implementations
   and clients should consider those methods part of the interface.
   Also, implementations may raise a ``IOError`` when operations they
   do not support are called.

   The basic type used for binary data read from or written to a file
   is ``bytes``.  ``bytearray``s are accepted too, and in some cases
   (such as ``readinto``) required.  Text I/O classes work with
   ``str`` data.

   Note that calling any method (even inquiries) on a closed stream is
   undefined.  Implementations may raise ``IOError`` in this case.

   IOBase (and its subclasses) support the iterator protocol, meaning
   that an ``IOBase`` object can be iterated over yielding the lines
   in a stream. Lines are defined slightly differently depending on
   whether the stream is a binary stream (yielding bytes), or a text
   stream (yielding character strings).  See ``readline()`` below.

   IOBase is also a context manager and therefore supports the
   ``with`` statement.  In this example, *file* is closed after the
   ``with`` statement's suite is finished---even if an exception
   occurs:

      with open('spam.txt', 'w') as file:
          file.write('Spam and eggs!')

   ``IOBase`` provides these data attributes and methods:

   close()

      Flush and close this stream. This method has no effect if the
      file is already closed. Once the file is closed, any operation
      on the file (e.g. reading or writing) will raise a
      ``ValueError``.

      As a convenience, it is allowed to call this method more than
      once; only the first call, however, will have an effect.

   closed

      True if the stream is closed.

   fileno()

      Return the underlying file descriptor (an integer) of the stream
      if it exists.  An ``IOError`` is raised if the IO object does
      not use a file descriptor.

   flush()

      Flush the write buffers of the stream if applicable.  This does
      nothing for read-only and non-blocking streams.

   isatty()

      Return ``True`` if the stream is interactive (i.e., connected to
      a terminal/tty device).

   readable()

      Return ``True`` if the stream can be read from.  If False,
      ``read()`` will raise ``IOError``.

   readline(limit=-1)

      Read and return one line from the stream.  If *limit* is
      specified, at most *limit* bytes will be read.

      The line terminator is always ``b'\n'`` for binary files; for
      text files, the *newlines* argument to ``open()`` can be used to
      select the line terminator(s) recognized.

   readlines(hint=-1)

      Read and return a list of lines from the stream.  *hint* can be
      specified to control the number of lines read: no more lines
      will be read if the total size (in bytes/characters) of all
      lines so far exceeds *hint*.

   seek(offset, whence=SEEK_SET)

      Change the stream position to the given byte *offset*.  *offset*
      is interpreted relative to the position indicated by *whence*.
      Values for *whence* are:

      * ``SEEK_SET`` or ``0`` -- start of the stream (the default);
        *offset* should be zero or positive

      * ``SEEK_CUR`` or ``1`` -- current stream position; *offset* may
        be negative

      * ``SEEK_END`` or ``2`` -- end of the stream; *offset* is
        usually negative

      Return the new absolute position.

      New in version 3.1: The ``SEEK_*`` constants.

   seekable()

      Return ``True`` if the stream supports random access.  If
      ``False``, ``seek()``, ``tell()`` and ``truncate()`` will raise
      ``IOError``.

   tell()

      Return the current stream position.

   truncate(size=None)

      Resize the stream to the given *size* in bytes (or the current
      position if *size* is not specified).  The current stream
      position isn't changed. This resizing can extend or reduce the
      current file size.  In case of extension, the contents of the
      new file area depend on the platform (on most systems,
      additional bytes are zero-filled, on Windows they're
      undetermined).  The new file size is returned.

   writable()

      Return ``True`` if the stream supports writing.  If ``False``,
      ``write()`` and ``truncate()`` will raise ``IOError``.

   writelines(lines)

      Write a list of lines to the stream.  Line separators are not
      added, so it is usual for each of the lines provided to have a
      line separator at the end.

class class io.RawIOBase

   Base class for raw binary I/O.  It inherits ``IOBase``.  There is
   no public constructor.

   Raw binary I/O typically provides low-level access to an underlying
   OS device or API, and does not try to encapsulate it in high-level
   primitives (this is left to Buffered I/O and Text I/O, described
   later in this page).

   In addition to the attributes and methods from ``IOBase``,
   RawIOBase provides the following methods:

   read(n=-1)

      Read up to *n* bytes from the object and return them.  As a
      convenience, if *n* is unspecified or -1, ``readall()`` is
      called.  Otherwise, only one system call is ever made.  Fewer
      than *n* bytes may be returned if the operating system call
      returns fewer than *n* bytes.

      If 0 bytes are returned, and *n* was not 0, this indicates end
      of file. If the object is in non-blocking mode and no bytes are
      available, ``None`` is returned.

   readall()

      Read and return all the bytes from the stream until EOF, using
      multiple calls to the stream if necessary.

   readinto(b)

      Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray *b* and return the number
      of bytes read.  If the object is in non-blocking mode and no
      bytes are available, ``None`` is returned.

   write(b)

      Write the given bytes or bytearray object, *b*, to the
      underlying raw stream and return the number of bytes written.
      This can be less than ``len(b)``, depending on specifics of the
      underlying raw stream, and especially if it is in non-blocking
      mode.  ``None`` is returned if the raw stream is set not to
      block and no single byte could be readily written to it.

class class io.BufferedIOBase

   Base class for binary streams that support some kind of buffering.
   It inherits ``IOBase``. There is no public constructor.

   The main difference with ``RawIOBase`` is that methods ``read()``,
   ``readinto()`` and ``write()`` will try (respectively) to read as
   much input as requested or to consume all given output, at the
   expense of making perhaps more than one system call.

   In addition, those methods can raise ``BlockingIOError`` if the
   underlying raw stream is in non-blocking mode and cannot take or
   give enough data; unlike their ``RawIOBase`` counterparts, they
   will never return ``None``.

   Besides, the ``read()`` method does not have a default
   implementation that defers to ``readinto()``.

   A typical ``BufferedIOBase`` implementation should not inherit from
   a ``RawIOBase`` implementation, but wrap one, like
   ``BufferedWriter`` and ``BufferedReader`` do.

   ``BufferedIOBase`` provides or overrides these methods and
   attribute in addition to those from ``IOBase``:

   raw

      The underlying raw stream (a ``RawIOBase`` instance) that
      ``BufferedIOBase`` deals with.  This is not part of the
      ``BufferedIOBase`` API and may not exist on some
      implementations.

   detach()

      Separate the underlying raw stream from the buffer and return
      it.

      After the raw stream has been detached, the buffer is in an
      unusable state.

      Some buffers, like ``BytesIO``, do not have the concept of a
      single raw stream to return from this method.  They raise
      ``UnsupportedOperation``.

      New in version 3.1.

   read(n=-1)

      Read and return up to *n* bytes.  If the argument is omitted,
      ``None``, or negative, data is read and returned until EOF is
      reached.  An empty bytes object is returned if the stream is
      already at EOF.

      If the argument is positive, and the underlying raw stream is
      not interactive, multiple raw reads may be issued to satisfy the
      byte count (unless EOF is reached first).  But for interactive
      raw streams, at most one raw read will be issued, and a short
      result does not imply that EOF is imminent.

      A ``BlockingIOError`` is raised if the underlying raw stream is
      in non blocking-mode, and has no data available at the moment.

   read1(n=-1)

      Read and return up to *n* bytes, with at most one call to the
      underlying raw stream's ``read()`` method.  This can be useful
      if you are implementing your own buffering on top of a
      ``BufferedIOBase`` object.

   readinto(b)

      Read up to len(b) bytes into bytearray *b* and return the number
      of bytes read.

      Like ``read()``, multiple reads may be issued to the underlying
      raw stream, unless the latter is 'interactive'.

      A ``BlockingIOError`` is raised if the underlying raw stream is
      in non blocking-mode, and has no data available at the moment.

   write(b)

      Write the given bytes or bytearray object, *b* and return the
      number of bytes written (never less than ``len(b)``, since if
      the write fails an ``IOError`` will be raised).  Depending on
      the actual implementation, these bytes may be readily written to
      the underlying stream, or held in a buffer for performance and
      latency reasons.

      When in non-blocking mode, a ``BlockingIOError`` is raised if
      the data needed to be written to the raw stream but it couldn't
      accept all the data without blocking.


Raw File I/O
------------

class class io.FileIO(name, mode='r', closefd=True)

   ``FileIO`` represents an OS-level file containing bytes data. It
   implements the ``RawIOBase`` interface (and therefore the
   ``IOBase`` interface, too).

   The *name* can be one of two things:

   * a character string or bytes object representing the path to the
     file which will be opened;

   * an integer representing the number of an existing OS-level file
     descriptor to which the resulting ``FileIO`` object will give
     access.

   The *mode* can be ``'r'``, ``'w'`` or ``'a'`` for reading
   (default), writing, or appending.  The file will be created if it
   doesn't exist when opened for writing or appending; it will be
   truncated when opened for writing.  Add a ``'+'`` to the mode to
   allow simultaneous reading and writing.

   The ``read()`` (when called with a positive argument),
   ``readinto()`` and ``write()`` methods on this class will only make
   one system call.

   In addition to the attributes and methods from ``IOBase`` and
   ``RawIOBase``, ``FileIO`` provides the following data attributes
   and methods:

   mode

      The mode as given in the constructor.

   name

      The file name.  This is the file descriptor of the file when no
      name is given in the constructor.


Buffered Streams
----------------

Buffered I/O streams provide a higher-level interface to an I/O device
than raw I/O does.

class class io.BytesIO([initial_bytes])

   A stream implementation using an in-memory bytes buffer.  It
   inherits ``BufferedIOBase``.

   The argument *initial_bytes* contains optional initial ``bytes``
   data.

   ``BytesIO`` provides or overrides these methods in addition to
   those from ``BufferedIOBase`` and ``IOBase``:

   getbuffer()

      Return a readable and writable view over the contents of the
      buffer without copying them.  Also, mutating the view will
      transparently update the contents of the buffer:

         >>> b = io.BytesIO(b"abcdef")
         >>> view = b.getbuffer()
         >>> view[2:4] = b"56"
         >>> b.getvalue()
         b'ab56ef'

      Note: As long as the view exists, the ``BytesIO`` object cannot be
        resized.

      New in version 3.2.

   getvalue()

      Return ``bytes`` containing the entire contents of the buffer.

   read1()

      In ``BytesIO``, this is the same as ``read()``.

class class io.BufferedReader(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE)

   A buffer providing higher-level access to a readable, sequential
   ``RawIOBase`` object.  It inherits ``BufferedIOBase``. When reading
   data from this object, a larger amount of data may be requested
   from the underlying raw stream, and kept in an internal buffer. The
   buffered data can then be returned directly on subsequent reads.

   The constructor creates a ``BufferedReader`` for the given readable
   *raw* stream and *buffer_size*.  If *buffer_size* is omitted,
   ``DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE`` is used.

   ``BufferedReader`` provides or overrides these methods in addition
   to those from ``BufferedIOBase`` and ``IOBase``:

   peek([n])

      Return bytes from the stream without advancing the position.  At
      most one single read on the raw stream is done to satisfy the
      call. The number of bytes returned may be less or more than
      requested.

   read([n])

      Read and return *n* bytes, or if *n* is not given or negative,
      until EOF or if the read call would block in non-blocking mode.

   read1(n)

      Read and return up to *n* bytes with only one call on the raw
      stream.  If at least one byte is buffered, only buffered bytes
      are returned. Otherwise, one raw stream read call is made.

class class io.BufferedWriter(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE)

   A buffer providing higher-level access to a writeable, sequential
   ``RawIOBase`` object.  It inherits ``BufferedIOBase``. When writing
   to this object, data is normally held into an internal buffer.  The
   buffer will be written out to the underlying ``RawIOBase`` object
   under various conditions, including:

   * when the buffer gets too small for all pending data;

   * when ``flush()`` is called;

   * when a ``seek()`` is requested (for ``BufferedRandom`` objects);

   * when the ``BufferedWriter`` object is closed or destroyed.

   The constructor creates a ``BufferedWriter`` for the given
   writeable *raw* stream.  If the *buffer_size* is not given, it
   defaults to ``DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE``.

   A third argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and
   deprecated.

   ``BufferedWriter`` provides or overrides these methods in addition
   to those from ``BufferedIOBase`` and ``IOBase``:

   flush()

      Force bytes held in the buffer into the raw stream.  A
      ``BlockingIOError`` should be raised if the raw stream blocks.

   write(b)

      Write the bytes or bytearray object, *b* and return the number
      of bytes written.  When in non-blocking mode, a
      ``BlockingIOError`` is raised if the buffer needs to be written
      out but the raw stream blocks.

class class io.BufferedRandom(raw, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE)

   A buffered interface to random access streams.  It inherits
   ``BufferedReader`` and ``BufferedWriter``, and further supports
   ``seek()`` and ``tell()`` functionality.

   The constructor creates a reader and writer for a seekable raw
   stream, given in the first argument.  If the *buffer_size* is
   omitted it defaults to ``DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE``.

   A third argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and
   deprecated.

   ``BufferedRandom`` is capable of anything ``BufferedReader`` or
   ``BufferedWriter`` can do.

class class io.BufferedRWPair(reader, writer, buffer_size=DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE)

   A buffered I/O object combining two unidirectional ``RawIOBase``
   objects -- one readable, the other writeable -- into a single
   bidirectional endpoint.  It inherits ``BufferedIOBase``.

   *reader* and *writer* are ``RawIOBase`` objects that are readable
   and writeable respectively.  If the *buffer_size* is omitted it
   defaults to ``DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE``.

   A fourth argument, *max_buffer_size*, is supported, but unused and
   deprecated.

   ``BufferedRWPair`` implements all of ``BufferedIOBase``'s methods
   except for ``detach()``, which raises ``UnsupportedOperation``.

   Warning: ``BufferedRWPair`` does not attempt to synchronize accesses to
     its underlying raw streams.  You should not pass it the same
     object as reader and writer; use ``BufferedRandom`` instead.


Text I/O
--------

class class io.TextIOBase

   Base class for text streams.  This class provides a character and
   line based interface to stream I/O.  There is no ``readinto()``
   method because Python's character strings are immutable.  It
   inherits ``IOBase``. There is no public constructor.

   ``TextIOBase`` provides or overrides these data attributes and
   methods in addition to those from ``IOBase``:

   encoding

      The name of the encoding used to decode the stream's bytes into
      strings, and to encode strings into bytes.

   errors

      The error setting of the decoder or encoder.

   newlines

      A string, a tuple of strings, or ``None``, indicating the
      newlines translated so far.  Depending on the implementation and
      the initial constructor flags, this may not be available.

   buffer

      The underlying binary buffer (a ``BufferedIOBase`` instance)
      that ``TextIOBase`` deals with.  This is not part of the
      ``TextIOBase`` API and may not exist on some implementations.

   detach()

      Separate the underlying binary buffer from the ``TextIOBase``
      and return it.

      After the underlying buffer has been detached, the
      ``TextIOBase`` is in an unusable state.

      Some ``TextIOBase`` implementations, like ``StringIO``, may not
      have the concept of an underlying buffer and calling this method
      will raise ``UnsupportedOperation``.

      New in version 3.1.

   read(n)

      Read and return at most *n* characters from the stream as a
      single ``str``.  If *n* is negative or ``None``, reads until
      EOF.

   readline()

      Read until newline or EOF and return a single ``str``.  If the
      stream is already at EOF, an empty string is returned.

   write(s)

      Write the string *s* to the stream and return the number of
      characters written.

class class io.TextIOWrapper(buffer, encoding=None, errors=None, newline=None, line_buffering=False)

   A buffered text stream over a ``BufferedIOBase`` binary stream. It
   inherits ``TextIOBase``.

   *encoding* gives the name of the encoding that the stream will be
   decoded or encoded with.  It defaults to
   ``locale.getpreferredencoding()``.

   *errors* is an optional string that specifies how encoding and
   decoding errors are to be handled.  Pass ``'strict'`` to raise a
   ``ValueError`` exception if there is an encoding error (the default
   of ``None`` has the same effect), or pass ``'ignore'`` to ignore
   errors.  (Note that ignoring encoding errors can lead to data
   loss.)  ``'replace'`` causes a replacement marker (such as ``'?'``)
   to be inserted where there is malformed data.  When writing,
   ``'xmlcharrefreplace'`` (replace with the appropriate XML character
   reference) or ``'backslashreplace'`` (replace with backslashed
   escape sequences) can be used.  Any other error handling name that
   has been registered with ``codecs.register_error()`` is also valid.

   *newline* can be ``None``, ``''``, ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, or
   ``'\r\n'``.  It controls the handling of line endings.  If it is
   ``None``, universal newlines is enabled.  With this enabled, on
   input, the lines endings ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, or ``'\r\n'`` are
   translated to ``'\n'`` before being returned to the caller.
   Conversely, on output, ``'\n'`` is translated to the system default
   line separator, ``os.linesep``.  If *newline* is any other of its
   legal values, that newline becomes the newline when the file is
   read and it is returned untranslated.  On output, ``'\n'`` is
   converted to the *newline*.

   If *line_buffering* is ``True``, ``flush()`` is implied when a call
   to write contains a newline character.

   ``TextIOWrapper`` provides one attribute in addition to those of
   ``TextIOBase`` and its parents:

   line_buffering

      Whether line buffering is enabled.

class class io.StringIO(initial_value='', newline=None)

   An in-memory stream for text I/O.

   The initial value of the buffer (an empty string by default) can be
   set by providing *initial_value*.  The *newline* argument works
   like that of ``TextIOWrapper``.  The default is to do no newline
   translation.

   ``StringIO`` provides this method in addition to those from
   ``TextIOBase`` and its parents:

   getvalue()

      Return a ``str`` containing the entire contents of the buffer at
      any time before the ``StringIO`` object's ``close()`` method is
      called.

   Example usage:

      import io

      output = io.StringIO()
      output.write('First line.\n')
      print('Second line.', file=output)

      # Retrieve file contents -- this will be
      # 'First line.\nSecond line.\n'
      contents = output.getvalue()

      # Close object and discard memory buffer --
      # .getvalue() will now raise an exception.
      output.close()

class class io.IncrementalNewlineDecoder

   A helper codec that decodes newlines for universal newlines mode.
   It inherits ``codecs.IncrementalDecoder``.


Performance
===========

This section discusses the performance of the provided concrete I/O
implementations.


Binary I/O
----------

By reading and writing only large chunks of data even when the user
asks for a single byte, buffered I/O hides any inefficiency in calling
and executing the operating system's unbuffered I/O routines.  The
gain depends on the OS and the kind of I/O which is performed.  For
example, on some modern OSes such as Linux, unbuffered disk I/O can be
as fast as buffered I/O.  The bottom line, however, is that buffered
I/O offers predictable performance regardless of the platform and the
backing device.  Therefore, it is most always preferable to use
buffered I/O rather than unbuffered I/O for binary datal


Text I/O
--------

Text I/O over a binary storage (such as a file) is significantly
slower than binary I/O over the same storage, because it requires
conversions between unicode and binary data using a character codec.
This can become noticeable handling huge amounts of text data like
large log files.  Also, ``TextIOWrapper.tell()`` and
``TextIOWrapper.seek()`` are both quite slow due to the reconstruction
algorithm used.

``StringIO``, however, is a native in-memory unicode container and
will exhibit similar speed to ``BytesIO``.


Multi-threading
---------------

``FileIO`` objects are thread-safe to the extent that the operating
system calls (such as ``read(2)`` under Unix) they wrap are thread-
safe too.

Binary buffered objects (instances of ``BufferedReader``,
``BufferedWriter``, ``BufferedRandom`` and ``BufferedRWPair``) protect
their internal structures using a lock; it is therefore safe to call
them from multiple threads at once.

``TextIOWrapper`` objects are not thread-safe.


Reentrancy
----------

Binary buffered objects (instances of ``BufferedReader``,
``BufferedWriter``, ``BufferedRandom`` and ``BufferedRWPair``) are not
reentrant.  While reentrant calls will not happen in normal
situations, they can arise from doing I/O in a ``signal`` handler.  If
a thread tries to renter a buffered object which it is already
accessing, a ``RuntimeError`` is raised.  Note this doesn't prohibit a
different thread from entering the buffered object.

The above implicitly extends to text files, since the ``open()``
function will wrap a buffered object inside a ``TextIOWrapper``.  This
includes standard streams and therefore affects the built-in function
``print()`` as well.
