Improve dbm modules — Python #9523

Doc/library/dbm.rst

 :mod:`dbm` --- Interfaces to Unix "databases"
 =============================================
 
 .. module:: dbm
    :synopsis: Interfaces to various Unix "database" formats.
 
 :mod:`dbm` is a generic interface to variants of the DBM database ---
 :mod:`dbm.gnu` or :mod:`dbm.ndbm`.  If none of these modules is installed, the
 slow-but-simple implementation in module :mod:`dbm.dumb` will be used.  There
 is a `third party interface <http://www.jcea.es/programacion/pybsddb.htm>`_ to
@@ skipping 45 matching lines @@
    |         | for reading and writing                   |
    +---------+-------------------------------------------+
 
    The optional *mode* argument is the Unix mode of the file, used only when the
    database has to be created.  It defaults to octal ``0o666`` (and will be
    modified by the prevailing umask).
 
 
 The object returned by :func:`.open` supports the same basic functionality as
 dictionaries; keys and their corresponding values can be stored, retrieved, and
-deleted, and the :keyword:`in` operator and the :meth:`keys` method are
-available, as well as :meth:`get` and :meth:`setdefault`.
+deleted, and the :keyword:`in` operator and the :meth:`keys`, :meth:`values`,
+:meth:`items` methods are available, as well as :meth:`get`, :meth:`setdefault`,
+:meth:`pop`, :meth:`popitem` :meth:`clear` and :meth:`update`.
 
 .. versionchanged:: 3.2
-   :meth:`get` and :meth:`setdefault` are now available in all database modules.
+   The MutableMapping interfaces and :meth:`setdefault` are now available in all
+   database modules.

[merwok, 2011/02/10 21:53:49]

3.2 being in rc stage, your additions will go into 3.3.

[ray, 2011/02/12 16:40:06]

Done.

 
 Key and values are always stored as bytes. This means that when
 strings are used they are implicitly converted to the default encoding before
 being stored.
 
 The following example records some hostnames and a corresponding title,  and
 then prints out the contents of the database::
 
    import dbm
 
@@ skipping 38 matching lines @@
    :synopsis: GNU's reinterpretation of dbm.
 
 
 This module is quite similar to the :mod:`dbm` module, but uses the GNU library
 ``gdbm`` instead to provide some additional functionality.  Please note that the
 file formats created by :mod:`dbm.gnu` and :mod:`dbm.ndbm` are incompatible.
 
 The :mod:`dbm.gnu` module provides an interface to the GNU DBM library.
 ``dbm.gnu.gdbm`` objects behave like mappings (dictionaries), except that keys and
 values are always converted to bytes before storing.  Printing a ``gdbm``
-object doesn't print the
-keys and values, and the :meth:`items` and :meth:`values` methods are not
-supported.
+object doesn't print the keys and values.
 
 .. exception:: error
 
    Raised on :mod:`dbm.gnu`-specific errors, such as I/O errors. :exc:`KeyError` is
    raised for general mapping errors like specifying an incorrect key.
 
 
 .. function:: open(filename[, flag[, mode]])
 
    Open a ``gdbm`` database and return a :class:`gdbm` object.  The *filename*
@@ skipping 79 matching lines @@
 -------------------------------------------
 
 .. module:: dbm.ndbm
    :platform: Unix
    :synopsis: The standard "database" interface, based on ndbm.
 
 
 The :mod:`dbm.ndbm` module provides an interface to the Unix "(n)dbm" library.
 Dbm objects behave like mappings (dictionaries), except that keys and values are
 always stored as bytes. Printing a ``dbm`` object doesn't print the keys and
-values, and the :meth:`items` and :meth:`values` methods are not supported.
+values.
 
 This module can be used with the "classic" ndbm interface or the GNU GDBM
 compatibility interface. On Unix, the :program:`configure` script will attempt
 to locate the appropriate header file to simplify building this module.
 
 .. exception:: error
 
    Raised on :mod:`dbm.ndbm`-specific errors, such as I/O errors. :exc:`KeyError` is raised
    for general mapping errors like specifying an incorrect key.
 
@@ skipping 75 matching lines @@
    database has to be created.  It defaults to octal ``0o666`` (and will be modified
    by the prevailing umask).
 
    In addition to the methods provided by the :class:`collections.MutableMapping` class,
    :class:`dumbdbm` objects provide the following method:
 
    .. method:: dumbdbm.sync()
 
       Synchronize the on-disk directory and data files.  This method is called
       by the :meth:`Shelve.sync` method.