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<div class="title">Use in Python </div> </div>

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<div class="textblock"><h2>Before you get started</h2>

<p>Before diving into the FlatBuffers usage in Python, it should be noted that the <a class="el" href="flatbuffers_guide_tutorial.html">Tutorial</a> page has a complete guide to general FlatBuffers usage in all of the supported languages (including Python). This page is designed to cover the nuances of FlatBuffers usage, specific to Python.</p>

<p>You should also have read the <a class="el" href="flatbuffers_guide_building.html">Building</a> documentation to build <code>flatc</code> and should be familiar with <a class="el" href="flatbuffers_guide_using_schema_compiler.html">Using the schema compiler</a> and <a class="el" href="flatbuffers_guide_writing_schema.html">Writing a schema</a>.</p>

<h2>FlatBuffers Python library code location</h2>

<p>The code for the FlatBuffers Python library can be found at <code>flatbuffers/python/flatbuffers</code>. You can browse the library code on the <a href="https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/tree/master/

python">FlatBuffers GitHub page</a>.</p>

<h2>Testing the FlatBuffers Python library</h2>

<p>The code to test the Python library can be found at <code>flatbuffers/tests</code>. The test code itself is located in <a href="https://github.com/google/

flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/py_test.py">py_test.py</a>.</p>

<p>To run the tests, use the <a href="https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/

blob/master/tests/PythonTest.sh">PythonTest.sh</a> shell script.</p>

<p><em>Note: This script requires <a href="https://www.python.org/">python</a> to be installed.</em></p>

<h2>Using the FlatBuffers Python library</h2>

<p><em>Note: See <a class="el" href="flatbuffers_guide_tutorial.html">Tutorial</a> for a more in-depth example of how to use FlatBuffers in Python.</em></p>

<p>There is support for both reading and writing FlatBuffers in Python.</p>

<p>To use FlatBuffers in your own code, first generate Python classes from your schema with the <code>--python</code> option to <code>flatc</code>. Then you can include both FlatBuffers and the generated code to read or write a FlatBuffer.</p>

<p>For example, here is how you would read a FlatBuffer binary file in Python: First, import the library and the generated code. Then read a FlatBuffer binary file into a <code>bytearray</code>, which you pass to the <code>GetRootAsMonster</code> function:</p>

<div class="fragment"><div class="line"><a name="l00001"></a><span class="lineno"> 1</span>&#160;import MyGame.Example <span class="keyword">as</span> example</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00002"></a><span class="lineno"> 2</span>&#160;<span class="keyword">import</span> flatbuffers</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00003"></a><span class="lineno"> 3</span>&#160;</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00004"></a><span class="lineno"> 4</span>&#160;buf = open(<span class="stringliteral">&#39;monster.dat&#39;</span>, <span class="stringliteral">&#39;rb&#39;</span>).read()</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00005"></a><span class="lineno"> 5</span>&#160;buf = bytearray(buf)</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00006"></a><span class="lineno"> 6</span>&#160;monster = example.GetRootAsMonster(buf, 0)</div>

</div><!-- fragment --><p>Now you can access values like this:</p>

<div class="fragment"><div class="line"><a name="l00001"></a><span class="lineno"> 1</span>&#160;hp = monster.Hp()</div>

<div class="line"><a name="l00002"></a><span class="lineno"> 2</span>&#160;pos = monster.Pos()</div>

</div><!-- fragment --><h2>Text Parsing</h2>

<p>There currently is no support for parsing text (Schema's and JSON) directly from Python, though you could use the C++ parser through SWIG or ctypes. Please see the C++ documentation for more on text parsing.</p>

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