symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/library/anydbm.rst
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+:mod:`anydbm` --- Generic access to DBM-style databases
+=======================================================
+
+.. module:: anydbm
+   :synopsis: Generic interface to DBM-style database modules.
+
+
+.. note::
+   The :mod:`anydbm` module has been renamed to :mod:`dbm` in Python 3.0.  The
+   :term:`2to3` tool will automatically adapt imports when converting your
+   sources to 3.0.
+
+.. index::
+   module: dbhash
+   module: bsddb
+   module: gdbm
+   module: dbm
+   module: dumbdbm
+
+:mod:`anydbm` is a generic interface to variants of the DBM database ---
+:mod:`dbhash` (requires :mod:`bsddb`), :mod:`gdbm`, or :mod:`dbm`.  If none of
+these modules is installed, the slow-but-simple implementation in module
+:mod:`dumbdbm` will be used.
+
+
+.. function:: open(filename[, flag[, mode]])
+
+   Open the database file *filename* and return a corresponding object.
+
+   If the database file already exists, the :mod:`whichdb` module is  used to
+   determine its type and the appropriate module is used; if it does not exist, the
+   first module listed above that can be imported is used.
+
+   The optional *flag* argument can be ``'r'`` to open an existing database for
+   reading only, ``'w'`` to open an existing database for reading and writing,
+   ``'c'`` to create the database if it doesn't exist, or ``'n'``, which will
+   always create a new empty database.  If not specified, the default value is
+   ``'r'``.
+
+   The optional *mode* argument is the Unix mode of the file, used only when the
+   database has to be created.  It defaults to octal ``0666`` (and will be modified
+   by the prevailing umask).
+
+
+.. exception:: error
+
+   A tuple containing the exceptions that can be raised by each of the supported
+   modules, with a unique exception also named :exc:`anydbm.error` as the first
+   item --- the latter is used when :exc:`anydbm.error` is raised.
+
+The object returned by :func:`open` supports most of the same functionality as
+dictionaries; keys and their corresponding values can be stored, retrieved, and
+deleted, and the :meth:`has_key` and :meth:`keys` methods are available.  Keys
+and values must always be strings.
+
+The following example records some hostnames and a corresponding title,  and
+then prints out the contents of the database::
+
+   import anydbm
+
+   # Open database, creating it if necessary.
+   db = anydbm.open('cache', 'c')
+
+   # Record some values
+   db['www.python.org'] = 'Python Website'
+   db['www.cnn.com'] = 'Cable News Network'
+
+   # Loop through contents.  Other dictionary methods
+   # such as .keys(), .values() also work.
+   for k, v in db.iteritems():
+       print k, '\t', v
+
+   # Storing a non-string key or value will raise an exception (most
+   # likely a TypeError).
+   db['www.yahoo.com'] = 4
+
+   # Close when done.
+   db.close()
+
+
+.. seealso::
+
+   Module :mod:`dbhash`
+      BSD ``db`` database interface.
+
+   Module :mod:`dbm`
+      Standard Unix database interface.
+
+   Module :mod:`dumbdbm`
+      Portable implementation of the ``dbm`` interface.
+
+   Module :mod:`gdbm`
+      GNU database interface, based on the ``dbm`` interface.
+
+   Module :mod:`shelve`
+      General object persistence built on top of  the Python ``dbm`` interface.
+
+   Module :mod:`whichdb`
+      Utility module used to determine the type of an existing database.
+