Chapter 9: Problem 37

What function do you call to pickle an object?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer: To pickle an object in Python, you should call the `dump` or `dumps` function from the `pickle` module. To use it, first import the `pickle` module using `import pickle`. Then, use the `dump` function to pickle the object and store it in a file by opening a binary file and passing the object and file-like object to the `dump` function. Alternatively, you can use the `dumps` function to pickle the object and obtain it as a pickled byte string, which can then be stored or transmitted as needed.

Step by step solution

Understand pickling

Pickling is a way to convert a Python object into a byte stream that can be easily stored in a file or transmitted over a network. By doing this, we can save the object's state, so it can later be restored or used in another program.

The pickle module

Python provides a built-in module called `pickle` which has functions for pickling and unpickling objects. To pickle an object, you need to call the `dump` or `dumps` function from the `pickle` module.

Import pickle module

First, you need to import the `pickle` module in your Python program. To do this, simply use the import statement like this: ```python import pickle ```

Pickle the object using the dump function

To pickle the object, you need to call the `dump` function from the `pickle` module. The `dump` function takes two arguments: the first is the object you want to pickle, and the second is a file-like object with write-binary mode where the pickled object will be stored. Here's an example of how to use the `dump` function to pickle an object: ```python # Let's say you have a dictionary you want to pickle data = {'name': 'John', 'age': 30, 'city': 'New York'} # Open a binary file to store the pickled object with open('data.pkl', 'wb') as file: # Use the pickle.dump function to pickle the 'data' object and store it in the file pickle.dump(data, file) ```

Alternate method: Pickle the object using the dumps function

Alternatively, you can use the `dumps` function to pickle an object and obtain it as a pickled byte string. This is useful when you want to transmit the pickled object over a network or store it in a different format. Here's an example of using the `dumps` function: ```python # Let's say you have a dictionary you want to pickle data = {'name': 'John', 'age': 30, 'city': 'New York'} # Use the pickle.dumps function to pickle the 'data' object and obtain the pickled byte string pickled_data = pickle.dumps(data) # You can now store or transmit the pickled byte string as needed ```

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What function do you call to pickle an object?

Short Answer

Step by step solution

Understand pickling

The pickle module

Import pickle module

Pickle the object using the dump function

Alternate method: Pickle the object using the dumps function

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