platform – Access system hardware, OS, and interpreter version information.¶
| Purpose: | Probe the underlying platform’s architecture and version information with the platform module. |
|---|---|
| Python Version: | 2.3+ |
Although Python is often used as a cross-platform language, it is occasionally necessary to know what sort of system you’re running on. Build tools need that information, but you might also know that some of the libraries or external commands you use have different interfaces on different operating systems. For example, if you are writing a tool to manage the network configuration of an operating system, you can define your own portable representation of network interfaces, aliases, IP addresses, etc. But once you get down to actually editing the configuration files, you need to know more about your host and how it is configured. The platform module gives you the tools for learning about the interpreter, operating system, and hardware platform where your program is running.
Note
The example output below was generated on a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.2, a VMware VM running CentOS 4.6, and a PC running Microsoft Vista SP1 (contributed by christof).
Interpreter¶
There are four functions for getting information about the current Python interpreter. python_version() and python_version_tuple() return different forms of the interpreter version with major, minor, and patchlevel components. python_compiler() reports on the compiler used to build the interpreter. And python_build() gives a version string for the build of the interpreter.
import platform
print 'Version :', platform.python_version()
print 'Version tuple:', platform.python_version_tuple()
print 'Compiler :', platform.python_compiler()
print 'Build :', platform.python_build()
OS X:
$ python platform_python.py
Version : 2.5.1
Version tuple: ['2', '5', '1']
Compiler : GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5367)
Build : ('r251:54869', 'Apr 18 2007 22:08:04')
Linux:
$ python platform_python.py
Version : 2.4.4
Version tuple: ['2', '4', '4']
Compiler : GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-9)
Build : (1, 'Mar 12 2008 15:09:04')
(It looks like I need to upgrade that system.)
Windows:
C:> python.exe platform_python.py
Version : 2.5.4
Version tuple: ['2', '5', '4']
Compiler : MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)
Build : ('r254:67916', 'Dec 23 2008 15:10:54')
Platform¶
platform() returns string containing a general purpose platform identifier. The function accepts two optional boolean arguments. If aliased is True, the names in the return value are converted from a formal name to their more common form. When terse is true, returns a minimal value with some parts dropped.
import platform
print 'Normal :', platform.platform()
print 'Aliased:', platform.platform(aliased=True)
print 'Terse :', platform.platform(terse=True)
OS X:
$ python platform_platform.py
Normal : Darwin-9.2.2-i386-32bit
Aliased: Darwin-9.2.2-i386-32bit
Terse : Darwin-9.2.2
Linux:
$ python platform_platform.py
Normal : Linux-2.6.9-67.0.4.ELsmp-i686-with-redhat-4.6-Final
Aliased: Linux-2.6.9-67.0.4.ELsmp-i686-with-redhat-4.6-Final
Terse : Linux-2.6.9-67.0.4.ELsmp-i686-with-glibc2.3
Windows:
C:> python.exe platform_platform.py
Normal : Windows-XP-5.1.2600
Aliased: Windows-XP-5.1.2600
Terse : Windows-XP
Operating System and Hardware Info¶
More detailed information about the operating system and hardware the interpreter is running under can be retrieved as well. uname() returns a tuple containing the system, node, release, version, machine, and processor values. Individual values can be accessed through functions of the same names:
- system()
- returns the operating system name
- node()
- returns the hostname of the server, not fully qualified
- release()
- returns the operating system release number
- version()
- returns the more detailed system version
- machine()
- gives a hardware-type identifier such as 'i386'
- processor()
- returns a real identifier for the processor, or the same value as machine() in many cases
import platform
print 'uname:', platform.uname()
print
print 'system :', platform.system()
print 'node :', platform.node()
print 'release :', platform.release()
print 'version :', platform.version()
print 'machine :', platform.machine()
print 'processor:', platform.processor()
OS X:
$ python platform_os_info.py
uname: ('Darwin', 'farnsworth.local', '9.2.2', 'Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2: Tue Mar 4 21:17:34 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_I386', 'i386', 'i386')
system : Darwin
node : farnsworth.local
release : 9.2.2
version : Darwin Kernel Version 9.2.2: Tue Mar 4 21:17:34 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.4.31~1/RELEASE_I386
machine : i386
processor: i386
Linux:
$ python platform_os_info.py
uname: ('Linux', 'zoidberg', '2.6.9-67.0.4.ELsmp', '#1 SMP Sun Feb 3 07:08:57 EST 2008', 'i686', 'i686')
system : Linux
node : zoidberg
release : 2.6.9-67.0.4.ELsmp
version : #1 SMP Sun Feb 3 07:08:57 EST 2008
machine : i686
processor: i686
Windows:
C:> python.exe platform_os_info.py
uname: ('Windows', 'argent', 'XP', '5.1.2600', '', '')
system : Windows
node : argent
release : XP
version : 5.1.2600
machine :
processor:
Executable Architecture¶
Individual program architecture information can be probed using the architecture() function. The first argument is the path to an executable program (defaulting to sys.executable, the Python interpreter). The return value is a tuple containing the bit architecture and the linkage format used.
import platform
print 'interpreter:', platform.architecture()
print '/bin/ls :', platform.architecture('/bin/ls')
OS X:
$ python platform_architecture.py
interpreter: ('32bit', '')
/bin/ls : ('32bit', '')
Linux:
$ python platform_architecture.py
interpreter: ('32bit', 'ELF')
/bin/ls : ('32bit', 'ELF')
Windows:
C:> python.exe platform_architecture.py
interpreter: ('32bit', 'WindowsPE')
explorer.exe : ('32bit', '')
See also
- platform
- Standard library documentation for this module.
