Python Standard Library

Chapter 11. Tools and Utilities

The standard library comes with a number of modules that can be used both as modules and as command-line utilities.

The dis Module

The dis module is the Python disassembler. It converts byte codes to a format that is slightly more appropriate for human consumption.

You can run the disassembler from the command line. It compiles the given script and prints the disassembled byte codes to the terminal:

$ dis.py hello.py

          0 SET_LINENO              0

          3 SET_LINENO              1
          6 LOAD_CONST              0 ('hello again, and welcome to the show')
          9 PRINT_ITEM
         10 PRINT_NEWLINE
         11 LOAD_CONST              1 (None)
         14 RETURN_VALUE

You can also use dis as a module. The dis function takes a class, method, function, or code object as its single argument. Example 11-1 uses the module.

Example 11-1. Using the dis Module

File: dis-example-1.py

import dis

def procedure():
    print 'hello'

dis.dis(procedure)

          0 SET_LINENO          3

          3 SET_LINENO          4
          6 LOAD_CONST          1 ('hello')
          9 PRINT_ITEM
         10 PRINT_NEWLINE
         11 LOAD_CONST          0 (None)
         14 RETURN_VALUE