2 :mod:`pyclbr` --- Python class browser support
3 ==============================================
6 :synopsis: Supports information extraction for a Python class browser.
7 .. sectionauthor:: Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org>
10 The :mod:`pyclbr` module can be used to determine some limited information
11 about the classes, methods and top-level functions defined in a module. The
12 information provided is sufficient to implement a traditional three-pane
13 class browser. The information is extracted from the source code rather
14 than by importing the module, so this module is safe to use with untrusted
15 code. This restriction makes it impossible to use this module with modules
16 not implemented in Python, including all standard and optional extension
20 .. function:: readmodule(module[, path=None])
22 Read a module and return a dictionary mapping class names to class
23 descriptor objects. The parameter *module* should be the name of a
24 module as a string; it may be the name of a module within a package. The
25 *path* parameter should be a sequence, and is used to augment the value
26 of ``sys.path``, which is used to locate module source code.
29 .. function:: readmodule_ex(module[, path=None])
31 Like :func:`readmodule`, but the returned dictionary, in addition to
32 mapping class names to class descriptor objects, also maps top-level
33 function names to function descriptor objects. Moreover, if the module
34 being read is a package, the key ``'__path__'`` in the returned
35 dictionary has as its value a list which contains the package search
39 .. _pyclbr-class-objects:
44 The :class:`Class` objects used as values in the dictionary returned by
45 :func:`readmodule` and :func:`readmodule_ex` provide the following data
49 .. attribute:: Class.module
51 The name of the module defining the class described by the class descriptor.
54 .. attribute:: Class.name
56 The name of the class.
59 .. attribute:: Class.super
61 A list of :class:`Class` objects which describe the immediate base
62 classes of the class being described. Classes which are named as
63 superclasses but which are not discoverable by :func:`readmodule` are
64 listed as a string with the class name instead of as :class:`Class`
68 .. attribute:: Class.methods
70 A dictionary mapping method names to line numbers.
73 .. attribute:: Class.file
75 Name of the file containing the ``class`` statement defining the class.
78 .. attribute:: Class.lineno
80 The line number of the ``class`` statement within the file named by
84 .. _pyclbr-function-objects:
89 The :class:`Function` objects used as values in the dictionary returned by
90 :func:`readmodule_ex` provide the following data members:
93 .. attribute:: Function.module
95 The name of the module defining the function described by the function
99 .. attribute:: Function.name
101 The name of the function.
104 .. attribute:: Function.file
106 Name of the file containing the ``def`` statement defining the function.
109 .. attribute:: Function.lineno
111 The line number of the ``def`` statement within the file named by