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# Astropy Core Package Utilities (`astropy.utils`)

## Introduction

The `astropy.utils` package contains general-purpose utility functions and classes. Examples include data structures, tools for downloading and caching from URLs, and version intercompatibility functions.

This functionality is not astronomy-specific, but is intended primarily for use by Astropy developers. It is all safe for users to use, but the functions and classes are typically more complicated or specific to a particular need of Astropy.

Because of the mostly standalone and grab-bag nature of these utilities, they are generally best understood through their docstrings, and hence this documentation generally does not have detailed sections like the other packages. The exceptions are below:

- Downloadable Data Management (`astropy.utils.data`)

IERS data access (astropy.utils.iers)

Masked Values and Quantities (astropy.utils.masked)

Note

The `astropy.utils.compat` subpackage is not included in this documentation. It contains utility modules for compatibility with older/newer versions of python and numpy, as well as including some bugfixes for the stdlib that are important for `astropy`. It is recommended that developers at least glance over the source code for this subpackage, but most of it cannot be reliably included here because of the large amount of version-specific code it contains. Its content is solely for internal use of `astropy` and subject to changes without deprecations. Do not use it in external packages or code.

## Reference/API

- Reference/API
  - Utility Functions/Classes
  - File Downloads
  - XML