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222010301012
222010301012

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“Compiled” Python files

To speed up loading modules, Python caches the compiled version of each module in the pycache
directory under the name module.version.pyc, where the version encodes the format of the compiled file;
it generally contains the Python version number. For example, in CPython release 3.3 the compiled version of
spam.py would be cached as pycache/spam.cpython-33.pyc. This naming convention allows compiled
modules from different releases and different versions of Python to coexist.
Python checks the modification date of the source against the compiled version to see if it’s out of date
and needs to be recompiled. This is a completely automatic process. Also, the compiled modules are
platform-independent, so the same library can be shared among systems with different architectures.
Python does not check the cache in two circumstances. First, it always recompiles and does not store the
result for the module that’s loaded directly from the command line. Second, it does not check the cache if
there is no source module. To support a non-source (compiled only) distribution, the compiled module must
be in the source directory, and there must not be a source module.
Some tips for experts:
• You can use the -O or -OO switches on the Python command to reduce the size of a compiled module.
The -O switch removes assert statements, the -OO switch removes both assert statements and doc
strings. Since some programs may rely on having these available, you should only use this option if
you know what you’re doing. “Optimized” modules have an opt- tag and are usually smaller. Future
releases may change the effects of optimization.
• A program doesn’t run any faster when it is read from a .pyc file than when it is read from a .py file;
the only thing that’s faster about .pyc files is the speed with which they are loaded.
• The module compileall can create .pyc files for all modules in a directory.
• There is more detail on this process, including a flow chart of the decisions

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