/Doc/library/binhex.rst

 1:mod:`binhex` --- Encode and decode binhex4 files
 2=================================================
 3
 4.. module:: binhex
 5   :synopsis: Encode and decode files in binhex4 format.
 6
 7
 8This module encodes and decodes files in binhex4 format, a format allowing
 9representation of Macintosh files in ASCII.  On the Macintosh, both forks of a
10file and the finder information are encoded (or decoded), on other platforms
11only the data fork is handled.
12
13.. note::
14
15   In Python 3.x, special Macintosh support has been removed.
16
17
18The :mod:`binhex` module defines the following functions:
19
20
21.. function:: binhex(input, output)
22
23   Convert a binary file with filename *input* to binhex file *output*. The
24   *output* parameter can either be a filename or a file-like object (any object
25   supporting a :meth:`write` and :meth:`close` method).
26
27
28.. function:: hexbin(input[, output])
29
30   Decode a binhex file *input*. *input* may be a filename or a file-like object
31   supporting :meth:`read` and :meth:`close` methods. The resulting file is written
32   to a file named *output*, unless the argument is omitted in which case the
33   output filename is read from the binhex file.
34
35The following exception is also defined:
36
37
38.. exception:: Error
39
40   Exception raised when something can't be encoded using the binhex format (for
41   example, a filename is too long to fit in the filename field), or when input is
42   not properly encoded binhex data.
43
44
45.. seealso::
46
47   Module :mod:`binascii`
48      Support module containing ASCII-to-binary and binary-to-ASCII conversions.
49
50
51.. _binhex-notes:
52
53Notes
54-----
55
56There is an alternative, more powerful interface to the coder and decoder, see
57the source for details.
58
59If you code or decode textfiles on non-Macintosh platforms they will still use
60the old Macintosh newline convention (carriage-return as end of line).
61
62As of this writing, :func:`hexbin` appears to not work in all cases.
63