Struct module
The struct module is a Python standard-library module for converting between Python values and packed binary data using format specifications.
Build Your Own Robot: Using Python, CRICKIT, and Raspberry Pi
The Python standard-library module that converts between packed binary data and Python values using C-style format specifications.
- How it is used
- Reads and parses raw Linux joystick events for joystick-controlled robot applications.
- How deep it goes
- Works through a complete binary-reading loop, format mapping, exact-size reads, unpacking, and button-event filtering.
- Examples
- Demonstrates `/dev/input/js0`, `jstest`, the `js_event` layout, and a script reporting cross and circle button transitions.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Python's `Struct` to decode one raw joystick event into timestamp, value, type, and number fields.
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The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition
The struct module is a Python standard-library module for converting between Python values and packed binary representations.
- How it is used
- Handles structured binary files exchanged with C programs when ordinary text, bytes, or object persistence is insufficient.
- How deep it goes
- Explains format strings, packing, sizing, unpacking, and a record-reading loop, without detailing every format option.
- Examples
- Demonstrates an h-d-7s record containing 42, 3.14, and b'goodbye', then reads repeated fixed-size records.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Python's struct module to pack and unpack fixed-format binary records.
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Related concepts
- standard librarypart of · A standard library is a collection of reusable modules, types, functions, APIs, and other facilities distributed with a programming language implementation or platform.
- binary datauses · Binary data is information represented as sequences of bytes rather than character-oriented text.
- struct.unpackhas part · struct.unpack is a struct-module function that parses a packed byte sequence according to a format string and returns the resulting Python values as a tuple.
- struct.packhas part · struct.pack is a struct-module function that converts supplied Python values into a packed byte sequence according to a format string.
- Linux input subsystemuses · The Linux kernel subsystem that provides a common interface for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice.
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