Brython documentation

Brython implements Python version 3, based on the Python Language Reference

The implementation takes into account the browsers limitations, in particular those related to the file system. Writing is impossible, and reading is limited to the folders accessible with an Ajax request.

Keywords and built-in functions

Brython supports all the keywords and functions of the Python version with the same version number.

Here are a few features and limitations imposed by the browser and Javascript :

Javascript functions can't block execution for a given time, or waiting for an event to happen, before going to the next instruction. For this reason:
- time.sleep() can't be used : functions in module browser.timer such as set_timeout() or set_interval() must be used instead
- the built-in function input() is simulated by the Javascript function prompt(). An example in the gallery shows how to simulate an input function in a custom dialog box.
for the same reason, and also because the browser has its own implicit event loop, the CPython asyncio module is not usable. A Brython-specific module, browser.aio, is provided for asynchronous programming.
the built-in function open() takes as argument the url of the file to open. Since it is read with an Ajax call, it must be in the same domain as the script. The object returned by open() has the usual reading and access methods : read, readlines, seek, tell, close.
by default, print() will output to the web browser console and so are the error messages. sys.stderr and sys.stdout can be assigned to an object with a write() method, and this allows for the redirection of output to go to a window or text area, for example.
by default, sys.stdout.write() and sys.stderr.write() don't immediately print in the console, there would be a line feed each time. Messages are stored in a buffer, printing to the console requires a call to method flush() of sys.stdout or sys.stderr
to open a print dialog (to a printer), call window.print (window is defined in module browser).
the objects lifecycle is managed by the Javascript garbage collector, Brython doesn't manage reference counting like CPython. Therefore, method __del__() is not called when a class instance is no more referenced.

Standard library

Brython is shipped with a part of the CPython standard library.

Some of the modules that are written in C in CPython standard library have been written in Javascript in Brython distribution (json, math, random, re, unicodedata...).

The xml package is not provided because that of the CPython distribution uses a C module (pyexpat) which is available neither in Javascript nor in pure Python.

Built-in value `name`

The built-in variable __name__ is set to the value of the attribute id of the script. For instance:

<script type="text/python" id="myscript">
assert __name__ == 'myscript'
</script>

If 2 scripts have the same id, an exception is raised.

For scripts that don't have an explicit id set :

if no script has its id set to __main__, the first "unnamed" script has its __name__ set to "__main__". So, if there only one script in the page, it will be able to run the usual test :

<script type="text/python">
if __name__=='__main__':
    print('hello !')
</script>

for the other unnamed scripts, __name__ is set to a random string starting with __main__

Introduction

Installation

Limitations of the "file" protocol

Frequently asked questions

Syntax, keywords and built-in functions

Standard distribution

`import` implementation

Brython packages

Browser interface

Brython-specific built-in modules

Working with Brython

Cookbook

Keywords and built-in functions

Standard library

Built-in value `name`

Browser interface

Brython-specific built-in modules

Working with Brython

Cookbook

Keywords and built-in functions

Standard library

Built-in value __name__

Built-in value `name`