This document is for an old version of Python that is no longer supported. You should install the python3 and python3-doc packages and read the Python documentation for the Python3 version packaged in this release.

# The Very High Level Layer

The functions in this chapter will let you execute Python source code given in a file or a buffer, but they will not let you interact in a more detailed way with the interpreter.

Several of these functions accept a start symbol from the grammar as a parameter. The available start symbols are `Py_eval_input`, `Py_file_input`, and `Py_single_input`. These are described following the functions which accept them as parameters.

Note also that several of these functions take `FILE*` parameters. One particular issue which needs to be handled carefully is that the `FILE` structure for different C libraries can be different and incompatible. Under Windows (at least), it is possible for dynamically linked extensions to actually use different libraries, so care should be taken that `FILE*` parameters are only passed to these functions if it is certain that they were created by the same library that the Python runtime is using.

int Py_Main(int argc, char **argv)

  The main program for the standard interpreter. This is made available for programs which embed Python. The argc and argv parameters should be prepared exactly as those which are passed to a C program’s `main()` function. It is important to note that the argument list may be modified (but the contents of the strings pointed to by the argument list are not). The return value will be `0` if the interpreter exits normally (ie, without an exception), `1` if the interpreter exits due to an exception, or `2` if the parameter list does not represent a valid Python command line.

  Note that if an otherwise unhandled `SystemExit` is raised, this function will not return `1`, but exit the process, as long as `Py_InspectFlag` is not set.

int PyRun_AnyFile(FILE *fp, const char *filename)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_AnyFileExFlags()` below, leaving closeit set to `0` and flags set to NULL.

int PyRun_AnyFileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_AnyFileExFlags()` below, leaving the closeit argument set to `0`.

int PyRun_AnyFileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_AnyFileExFlags()` below, leaving the flags argument set to NULL.

int PyRun_AnyFileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  If fp refers to a file associated with an interactive device (console or terminal input or Unix pseudo-terminal), return the value of `PyRun_InteractiveLoop()`, otherwise return the result of `PyRun_SimpleFile()`. If filename is NULL, this function uses `"???"` as the filename.

int PyRun_SimpleString(const char *command)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_SimpleStringFlags()` below, leaving the PyCompilerFlags* argument set to NULL.

int PyRun_SimpleStringFlags(const char *command, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Executes the Python source code from command in the `__main__` module according to the flags argument. If `__main__` does not already exist, it is created. Returns `0` on success or `-1` if an exception was raised. If there was an error, there is no way to get the exception information. For the meaning of flags, see below.

  Note that if an otherwise unhandled `SystemExit` is raised, this function will not return `-1`, but exit the process, as long as `Py_InspectFlag` is not set.

int PyRun_SimpleFile(FILE *fp, const char *filename)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags()` below, leaving closeit set to `0` and flags set to NULL.

int PyRun_SimpleFileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags()` below, leaving closeit set to `0`.

int PyRun_SimpleFileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

int PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Similar to `PyRun_SimpleStringFlags()`, but the Python source code is read from fp instead of an in-memory string. filename should be the name of the file. If closeit is true, the file is closed before PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags returns.

int PyRun_InteractiveOne(FILE *fp, const char *filename)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_InteractiveOneFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

int PyRun_InteractiveOneFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Read and execute a single statement from a file associated with an interactive device according to the flags argument. The user will be prompted using `sys.ps1` and `sys.ps2`. Returns `0` when the input was executed successfully, `-1` if there was an exception, or an error code from the `errcode.h` include file distributed as part of Python if there was a parse error. (Note that `errcode.h` is not included by `Python.h`, so must be included specifically if needed.)

int PyRun_InteractiveLoop(FILE *fp, const char *filename)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_InteractiveLoopFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

int PyRun_InteractiveLoopFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Read and execute statements from a file associated with an interactive device until EOF is reached. The user will be prompted using `sys.ps1` and `sys.ps2`. Returns `0` at EOF.

struct _node *PyParser_SimpleParseString(const char *str, int start)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyParser_SimpleParseStringFlagsFilename()` below, leaving filename set to NULL and flags set to `0`.

struct _node *PyParser_SimpleParseStringFlags(const char *str, int start, int flags)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyParser_SimpleParseStringFlagsFilename()` below, leaving filename set to NULL.

struct _node *PyParser_SimpleParseStringFlagsFilename(const char *str, const char *filename, int start, int flags)

  Parse Python source code from str using the start token start according to the flags argument. The result can be used to create a code object which can be evaluated efficiently. This is useful if a code fragment must be evaluated many times.

struct _node *PyParser_SimpleParseFile(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyParser_SimpleParseFileFlags()` below, leaving flags set to `0`.

struct _node *PyParser_SimpleParseFileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, int flags)

  Similar to `PyParser_SimpleParseStringFlagsFilename()`, but the Python source code is read from fp instead of an in-memory string.

PyObject *PyRun_String(const char *str, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_StringFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

PyObject *PyRun_StringFlags(const char *str, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Execute Python source code from str in the context specified by the dictionaries globals and locals with the compiler flags specified by flags. The parameter start specifies the start token that should be used to parse the source code.

  Returns the result of executing the code as a Python object, or NULL if an exception was raised.

PyObject *PyRun_File(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_FileExFlags()` below, leaving closeit set to `0` and flags set to NULL.

PyObject *PyRun_FileEx(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, int closeit)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_FileExFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

PyObject *PyRun_FileFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyRun_FileExFlags()` below, leaving closeit set to `0`.

PyObject *PyRun_FileExFlags(FILE *fp, const char *filename, int start, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, int closeit, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Similar to `PyRun_StringFlags()`, but the Python source code is read from fp instead of an in-memory string. filename should be the name of the file. If closeit is true, the file is closed before `PyRun_FileExFlags()` returns.

PyObject *Py_CompileString(const char *str, const char *filename, int start)

  This is a simplified interface to `Py_CompileStringFlags()` below, leaving flags set to NULL.

PyObject *Py_CompileStringFlags(const char *str, const char *filename, int start, PyCompilerFlags *flags)

  Parse and compile the Python source code in str, returning the resulting code object. The start token is given by start; this can be used to constrain the code which can be compiled and should be `Py_eval_input`, `Py_file_input`, or `Py_single_input`. The filename specified by filename is used to construct the code object and may appear in tracebacks or `SyntaxError` exception messages. This returns NULL if the code cannot be parsed or compiled.

PyObject *PyEval_EvalCode(PyCodeObject *co, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals)

  This is a simplified interface to `PyEval_EvalCodeEx()`, with just the code object, and the dictionaries of global and local variables. The other arguments are set to NULL.

PyObject *PyEval_EvalCodeEx(PyCodeObject *co, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject **args, int argcount, PyObject **kws, int kwcount, PyObject **defs, int defcount, PyObject *closure)

  Evaluate a precompiled code object, given a particular environment for its evaluation. This environment consists of dictionaries of global and local variables, arrays of arguments, keywords and defaults, and a closure tuple of cells.

PyObject *PyEval_EvalFrame(PyFrameObject *f)

  Evaluate an execution frame. This is a simplified interface to PyEval_EvalFrameEx, for backward compatibility.

PyObject *PyEval_EvalFrameEx(PyFrameObject *f, int throwflag)

  This is the main, unvarnished function of Python interpretation. It is literally 2000 lines long. The code object associated with the execution frame f is executed, interpreting bytecode and executing calls as needed. The additional throwflag parameter can mostly be ignored - if true, then it causes an exception to immediately be thrown; this is used for the `throw()` methods of generator objects.

int PyEval_MergeCompilerFlags(PyCompilerFlags *cf)

  This function changes the flags of the current evaluation frame, and returns true on success, false on failure.

int Py_eval_input

  The start symbol from the Python grammar for isolated expressions; for use with `Py_CompileString()`.

int Py_file_input

  The start symbol from the Python grammar for sequences of statements as read from a file or other source; for use with `Py_CompileString()`. This is the symbol to use when compiling arbitrarily long Python source code.

int Py_single_input

  The start symbol from the Python grammar for a single statement; for use with `Py_CompileString()`. This is the symbol used for the interactive interpreter loop.

struct PyCompilerFlags

  This is the structure used to hold compiler flags. In cases where code is only being compiled, it is passed as `int flags`, and in cases where code is being executed, it is passed as `PyCompilerFlags *flags`. In this case, `from __future__ import` can modify flags.

  Whenever `PyCompilerFlags *flags` is NULL, `cf_flags` is treated as equal to `0`, and any modification due to `from __future__ import` is discarded.

      struct PyCompilerFlags {
          int cf_flags;
      }

int CO_FUTURE_DIVISION

  This bit can be set in flags to cause division operator `/` to be interpreted as “true division” according to PEP 238.