On Thu, May 08, 2008 at 09:10:29PM +0530, Sandip Bhattacharya wrote:
>
> Suppose I need to
> write a program which needs to parse lots of binary files. This requires
> multiple reads of small amounts of data. Obviously if I need to do this
> very often, I need to do some kind of buffering to reduce IO.
>
> My question is this - does Python have its own buffering while doing
> file.read()? In that case, I can stop worrying about writing my own
> buffering logic and just read like I desire.
>
Take a look at the optional "bufsize" argument to the "open" built-in
function:
"The optional bufsize argument specifies the file's desired buffer
size: 0 means unbuffered, 1 means line buffered, any other positive
value means use a buffer of (approximately) that size. A negative
bufsize means to use the system default, which is usually line
buffered for tty devices and fully buffered for other files. If
omitted, the system default is used."
-- http://docs.python.org/lib/built-in-funcs.html#l2h-54
Looks to me that the buffering is done for you, but that you can
control it a bit.
- Dave
--
Dave Kuhlman
http://www.rexx.com/~dkuhlman
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