--- rest25/library/functions.rst	2008-12-19 16:58:07.000000000 +0900
+++ rest262/library/functions.rst	2009-04-07 00:06:53.000000000 +0900
@@ -1,79 +1,22 @@
 
 .. _built-in-funcs:
 
 Built-in Functions
 ==================
 
 The Python interpreter has a number of functions built into it that are always
 available.  They are listed here in alphabetical order.
 
 
-.. function:: __import__(name[, globals[, locals[, fromlist[, level]]]])
-
-   .. index::
-      statement: import
-      module: ihooks
-      module: rexec
-      module: imp
-
-   This function is invoked by the :keyword:`import` statement.  It mainly exists
-   so that you can replace it with another function that has a compatible
-   interface, in order to change the semantics of the :keyword:`import` statement.
-   For examples of why and how you would do this, see the standard library modules
-   :mod:`ihooks` and :mod:`rexec`.  See also the built-in module :mod:`imp`, which
-   defines some useful operations out of which you can build your own
-   :func:`__import__` function.
-
-   For example, the statement ``import spam`` results in the following call:
-   ``__import__('spam',`` ``globals(),`` ``locals(), [], -1)``; the statement
-   ``from spam.ham import eggs`` results in ``__import__('spam.ham', globals(),
-   locals(), ['eggs'], -1)``.  Note that even though ``locals()`` and ``['eggs']``
-   are passed in as arguments, the :func:`__import__` function does not set the
-   local variable named ``eggs``; this is done by subsequent code that is generated
-   for the import statement.  (In fact, the standard implementation does not use
-   its *locals* argument at all, and uses its *globals* only to determine the
-   package context of the :keyword:`import` statement.)
-
-   When the *name* variable is of the form ``package.module``, normally, the top-
-   level package (the name up till the first dot) is returned, *not* the module
-   named by *name*.  However, when a non-empty *fromlist* argument is given, the
-   module named by *name* is returned.  This is done for compatibility with the
-   bytecode generated for the different kinds of import statement; when using
-   ``import spam.ham.eggs``, the top-level package :mod:`spam` must be placed in
-   the importing namespace, but when using ``from spam.ham import eggs``, the
-   ``spam.ham`` subpackage must be used to find the ``eggs`` variable.  As a
-   workaround for this behavior, use :func:`getattr` to extract the desired
-   components.  For example, you could define the following helper::
-
-      def my_import(name):
-          mod = __import__(name)
-          components = name.split('.')
-          for comp in components[1:]:
-              mod = getattr(mod, comp)
-          return mod
-
-   *level* specifies whether to use absolute or relative imports. The default is
-   ``-1`` which indicates both absolute and relative imports will be attempted.
-   ``0`` means only perform absolute imports. Positive values for *level* indicate
-   the number of parent directories to search relative to the directory of the
-   module calling :func:`__import__`.
-
-   .. versionchanged:: 2.5
-      The level parameter was added.
-
-   .. versionchanged:: 2.5
-      Keyword support for parameters was added.
-
-
 .. function:: abs(x)
 
    Return the absolute value of a number.  The argument may be a plain or long
    integer or a floating point number.  If the argument is a complex number, its
    magnitude is returned.
 
 
 .. function:: all(iterable)
 
    Return True if all elements of the *iterable* are true. Equivalent to::
 
       def all(iterable):
@@ -99,272 +42,308 @@
 
 
 .. function:: basestring()
 
    This abstract type is the superclass for :class:`str` and :class:`unicode`. It
    cannot be called or instantiated, but it can be used to test whether an object
    is an instance of :class:`str` or :class:`unicode`. ``isinstance(obj,
    basestring)`` is equivalent to ``isinstance(obj, (str, unicode))``.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.3
 
 
+.. function:: bin(x)
+
+   Convert an integer number to a binary string. The result is a valid Python
+   expression.  If *x* is not a Python :class:`int` object, it has to define an
+   :meth:`__index__` method that returns an integer.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
 .. function:: bool([x])
 
    Convert a value to a Boolean, using the standard truth testing procedure.  If
    *x* is false or omitted, this returns :const:`False`; otherwise it returns
    :const:`True`. :class:`bool` is also a class, which is a subclass of
    :class:`int`. Class :class:`bool` cannot be subclassed further.  Its only
    instances are :const:`False` and :const:`True`.
 
    .. index:: pair: Boolean; type
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2.1
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.3
       If no argument is given, this function returns :const:`False`.
 
 
 .. function:: callable(object)
 
-   Return true if the *object* argument appears callable, false if not.  If this
+   Return :const:`True` if the *object* argument appears callable,
+   :const:`False` if not.  If this
    returns true, it is still possible that a call fails, but if it is false,
    calling *object* will never succeed.  Note that classes are callable (calling a
    class returns a new instance); class instances are callable if they have a
    :meth:`__call__` method.
 
 
 .. function:: chr(i)
 
    Return a string of one character whose ASCII code is the integer *i*.  For
    example, ``chr(97)`` returns the string ``'a'``. This is the inverse of
    :func:`ord`.  The argument must be in the range [0..255], inclusive;
-   :exc:`ValueError` will be raised if *i* is outside that range.
+   :exc:`ValueError` will be raised if *i* is outside that range. See
+   also :func:`unichr`.
 
 
 .. function:: classmethod(function)
 
    Return a class method for *function*.
 
    A class method receives the class as implicit first argument, just like an
    instance method receives the instance. To declare a class method, use this
    idiom::
 
       class C:
           @classmethod
           def f(cls, arg1, arg2, ...): ...
 
-   The ``@classmethod`` form is a function decorator -- see the description of
-   function definitions in chapter 7 of the Python Reference Manual (XXX reference:
-   ../ref/ref.html) for details.
+   The ``@classmethod`` form is a function :term:`decorator` -- see the description
+   of function definitions in :ref:`function` for details.
 
    It can be called either on the class (such as ``C.f()``) or on an instance (such
    as ``C().f()``).  The instance is ignored except for its class. If a class
    method is called for a derived class, the derived class object is passed as the
    implied first argument.
 
    Class methods are different than C++ or Java static methods. If you want those,
    see :func:`staticmethod` in this section.
 
    For more information on class methods, consult the documentation on the standard
-   type hierarchy in chapter 3 of the Python Reference Manual (XXX reference:
-   ../ref/types.html) (at the bottom).
+   type hierarchy in :ref:`types`.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       Function decorator syntax added.
 
 
 .. function:: cmp(x, y)
 
    Compare the two objects *x* and *y* and return an integer according to the
    outcome.  The return value is negative if ``x < y``, zero if ``x == y`` and
    strictly positive if ``x > y``.
 
 
-.. function:: compile(string, filename, kind[, flags[, dont_inherit]])
+.. function:: compile(source, filename, mode[, flags[, dont_inherit]])
 
-   Compile the *string* into a code object.  Code objects can be executed by an
-   :keyword:`exec` statement or evaluated by a call to :func:`eval`.  The
-   *filename* argument should give the file from which the code was read; pass some
-   recognizable value if it wasn't read from a file (``'<string>'`` is commonly
-   used). The *kind* argument specifies what kind of code must be compiled; it can
-   be ``'exec'`` if *string* consists of a sequence of statements, ``'eval'`` if it
+   Compile the *source* into a code or AST object.  Code objects can be executed
+   by an :keyword:`exec` statement or evaluated by a call to :func:`eval`.
+   *source* can either be a string or an AST object.  Refer to the :mod:`ast`
+   module documentation for information on how to work with AST objects.
+
+   The *filename* argument should give the file from which the code was read;
+   pass some recognizable value if it wasn't read from a file (``'<string>'`` is
+   commonly used).
+
+   The *mode* argument specifies what kind of code must be compiled; it can be
+   ``'exec'`` if *source* consists of a sequence of statements, ``'eval'`` if it
    consists of a single expression, or ``'single'`` if it consists of a single
-   interactive statement (in the latter case, expression statements that evaluate
-   to something else than ``None`` will be printed).
+   interactive statement (in the latter case, expression statements that
+   evaluate to something else than ``None`` will be printed).
 
-   When compiling multi-line statements, two caveats apply: line endings must be
-   represented by a single newline character (``'\n'``), and the input must be
-   terminated by at least one newline character.  If line endings are represented
-   by ``'\r\n'``, use the string :meth:`replace` method to change them into
-   ``'\n'``.
-
-   The optional arguments *flags* and *dont_inherit* (which are new in Python 2.2)
-   control which future statements (see :pep:`236`) affect the compilation of
-   *string*.  If neither is present (or both are zero) the code is compiled with
-   those future statements that are in effect in the code that is calling compile.
-   If the *flags* argument is given and *dont_inherit* is not (or is zero) then the
+   The optional arguments *flags* and *dont_inherit* control which future
+   statements (see :pep:`236`) affect the compilation of *source*.  If neither
+   is present (or both are zero) the code is compiled with those future
+   statements that are in effect in the code that is calling compile.  If the
+   *flags* argument is given and *dont_inherit* is not (or is zero) then the
    future statements specified by the *flags* argument are used in addition to
    those that would be used anyway. If *dont_inherit* is a non-zero integer then
-   the *flags* argument is it -- the future statements in effect around the call to
-   compile are ignored.
+   the *flags* argument is it -- the future statements in effect around the call
+   to compile are ignored.
 
-   Future statements are specified by bits which can be bitwise or-ed together to
+   Future statements are specified by bits which can be bitwise ORed together to
    specify multiple statements.  The bitfield required to specify a given feature
    can be found as the :attr:`compiler_flag` attribute on the :class:`_Feature`
    instance in the :mod:`__future__` module.
 
+   This function raises :exc:`SyntaxError` if the compiled source is invalid,
+   and :exc:`TypeError` if the source contains null bytes.
+
+   .. note::
+
+      When compiling a string with multi-line statements, line endings must be
+      represented by a single newline character (``'\n'``), and the input must
+      be terminated by at least one newline character.  If line endings are
+      represented by ``'\r\n'``, use :meth:`str.replace` to change them into
+      ``'\n'``.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.3
+      The *flags* and *dont_inherit* arguments were added.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.6
+      Support for compiling AST objects.
+
 
 .. function:: complex([real[, imag]])
 
    Create a complex number with the value *real* + *imag*\*j or convert a string or
    number to a complex number.  If the first parameter is a string, it will be
    interpreted as a complex number and the function must be called without a second
    parameter.  The second parameter can never be a string. Each argument may be any
    numeric type (including complex). If *imag* is omitted, it defaults to zero and
    the function serves as a numeric conversion function like :func:`int`,
    :func:`long` and :func:`float`.  If both arguments are omitted, returns ``0j``.
 
+   The complex type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
+
 
 .. function:: delattr(object, name)
 
    This is a relative of :func:`setattr`.  The arguments are an object and a
    string.  The string must be the name of one of the object's attributes.  The
    function deletes the named attribute, provided the object allows it.  For
    example, ``delattr(x, 'foobar')`` is equivalent to ``del x.foobar``.
 
 
-.. function:: dict([mapping-or-sequence])
-
-   Return a new dictionary initialized from an optional positional argument or from
-   a set of keyword arguments. If no arguments are given, return a new empty
-   dictionary. If the positional argument is a mapping object, return a dictionary
-   mapping the same keys to the same values as does the mapping object. Otherwise
-   the positional argument must be a sequence, a container that supports iteration,
-   or an iterator object.  The elements of the argument must each also be of one of
-   those kinds, and each must in turn contain exactly two objects.  The first is
-   used as a key in the new dictionary, and the second as the key's value.  If a
-   given key is seen more than once, the last value associated with it is retained
-   in the new dictionary.
+.. function:: dict([arg])
+   :noindex:
 
-   If keyword arguments are given, the keywords themselves with their associated
-   values are added as items to the dictionary. If a key is specified both in the
-   positional argument and as a keyword argument, the value associated with the
-   keyword is retained in the dictionary. For example, these all return a
-   dictionary equal to ``{"one": 2, "two": 3}``:
+   Create a new data dictionary, optionally with items taken from *arg*.
+   The dictionary type is described in :ref:`typesmapping`.
 
-* ``dict({'one': 2, 'two': 3})``
+   For other containers see the built in :class:`list`, :class:`set`, and
+   :class:`tuple` classes, and the :mod:`collections` module.
 
-* ``dict({'one': 2, 'two': 3}.items())``
 
-* ``dict({'one': 2, 'two': 3}.iteritems())``
-
-* ``dict(zip(('one', 'two'), (2, 3)))``
-
-* ``dict([['two', 3], ['one', 2]])``
-
-* ``dict(one=2, two=3)``
-
-* ``dict([(['one', 'two'][i-2], i) for i in (2, 3)])``
-
-   .. versionadded:: 2.2
-
-   .. versionchanged:: 2.3
-      Support for building a dictionary from keyword arguments added.
+.. function:: dir([object])
 
+   Without arguments, return the list of names in the current local scope.  With an
+   argument, attempt to return a list of valid attributes for that object.
 
-.. function:: dir([object])
+   If the object has a method named :meth:`__dir__`, this method will be called and
+   must return the list of attributes. This allows objects that implement a custom
+   :func:`__getattr__` or :func:`__getattribute__` function to customize the way
+   :func:`dir` reports their attributes.
+
+   If the object does not provide :meth:`__dir__`, the function tries its best to
+   gather information from the object's :attr:`__dict__` attribute, if defined, and
+   from its type object.  The resulting list is not necessarily complete, and may
+   be inaccurate when the object has a custom :func:`__getattr__`.
+
+   The default :func:`dir` mechanism behaves differently with different types of
+   objects, as it attempts to produce the most relevant, rather than complete,
+   information:
+
+   * If the object is a module object, the list contains the names of the module's
+     attributes.
+
+   * If the object is a type or class object, the list contains the names of its
+     attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its bases.
+
+   * Otherwise, the list contains the object's attributes' names, the names of its
+     class's attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its class's base
+     classes.
 
-   Without arguments, return the list of names in the current local symbol table.
-   With an argument, attempts to return a list of valid attributes for that object.
-   This information is gleaned from the object's :attr:`__dict__` attribute, if
-   defined, and from the class or type object.  The list is not necessarily
-   complete. If the object is a module object, the list contains the names of the
-   module's attributes. If the object is a type or class object, the list contains
-   the names of its attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its bases.
-   Otherwise, the list contains the object's attributes' names, the names of its
-   class's attributes, and recursively of the attributes of its class's base
-   classes. The resulting list is sorted alphabetically. For example::
+   The resulting list is sorted alphabetically.  For example:
 
       >>> import struct
-      >>> dir()
+      >>> dir()   # doctest: +SKIP
       ['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__name__', 'struct']
-      >>> dir(struct)
-      ['__doc__', '__name__', 'calcsize', 'error', 'pack', 'unpack']
+      >>> dir(struct)   # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE
+      ['Struct', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__name__',
+       '__package__', '_clearcache', 'calcsize', 'error', 'pack', 'pack_into',
+       'unpack', 'unpack_from']
+      >>> class Foo(object):
+      ...     def __dir__(self):
+      ...         return ["kan", "ga", "roo"]
+      ...
+      >>> f = Foo()
+      >>> dir(f)
+      ['ga', 'kan', 'roo']
 
    .. note::
 
       Because :func:`dir` is supplied primarily as a convenience for use at an
       interactive prompt, it tries to supply an interesting set of names more than it
       tries to supply a rigorously or consistently defined set of names, and its
-      detailed behavior may change across releases.
+      detailed behavior may change across releases.  For example, metaclass attributes
+      are not in the result list when the argument is a class.
 
 
 .. function:: divmod(a, b)
 
    Take two (non complex) numbers as arguments and return a pair of numbers
    consisting of their quotient and remainder when using long division.  With mixed
    operand types, the rules for binary arithmetic operators apply.  For plain and
    long integers, the result is the same as ``(a // b, a % b)``. For floating point
    numbers the result is ``(q, a % b)``, where *q* is usually ``math.floor(a / b)``
    but may be 1 less than that.  In any case ``q * b + a % b`` is very close to
    *a*, if ``a % b`` is non-zero it has the same sign as *b*, and ``0 <= abs(a % b)
    < abs(b)``.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.3
       Using :func:`divmod` with complex numbers is deprecated.
 
 
-.. function:: enumerate(iterable)
+.. function:: enumerate(sequence[, start=0])
 
-   Return an enumerate object. *iterable* must be a sequence, an iterator, or some
-   other object which supports iteration.  The :meth:`next` method of the iterator
-   returned by :func:`enumerate` returns a tuple containing a count (from zero) and
-   the corresponding value obtained from iterating over *iterable*.
+   Return an enumerate object. *sequence* must be a sequence, an
+   :term:`iterator`, or some other object which supports iteration.  The
+   :meth:`next` method of the iterator returned by :func:`enumerate` returns a
+   tuple containing a count (from *start* which defaults to 0) and the
+   corresponding value obtained from iterating over *iterable*.
    :func:`enumerate` is useful for obtaining an indexed series: ``(0, seq[0])``,
-   ``(1, seq[1])``, ``(2, seq[2])``, ....
+   ``(1, seq[1])``, ``(2, seq[2])``, .... For example:
+
+      >>> for i, season in enumerate(['Spring', 'Summer', 'Fall', 'Winter']):
+      ...     print i, season
+      0 Spring
+      1 Summer
+      2 Fall
+      3 Winter
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.3
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+      The *start* parameter.
 
 
 .. function:: eval(expression[, globals[, locals]])
 
    The arguments are a string and optional globals and locals.  If provided,
    *globals* must be a dictionary.  If provided, *locals* can be any mapping
    object.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       formerly *locals* was required to be a dictionary.
 
    The *expression* argument is parsed and evaluated as a Python expression
    (technically speaking, a condition list) using the *globals* and *locals*
-   dictionaries as global and local name space.  If the *globals* dictionary is
+   dictionaries as global and local namespace.  If the *globals* dictionary is
    present and lacks '__builtins__', the current globals are copied into *globals*
    before *expression* is parsed.  This means that *expression* normally has full
    access to the standard :mod:`__builtin__` module and restricted environments are
    propagated.  If the *locals* dictionary is omitted it defaults to the *globals*
    dictionary.  If both dictionaries are omitted, the expression is executed in the
-   environment where :keyword:`eval` is called.  The return value is the result of
-   the evaluated expression. Syntax errors are reported as exceptions.  Example::
+   environment where :func:`eval` is called.  The return value is the result of
+   the evaluated expression. Syntax errors are reported as exceptions.  Example:
 
       >>> x = 1
       >>> print eval('x+1')
       2
 
-   This function can also be used to execute arbitrary code objects (such as those
-   created by :func:`compile`).  In this case pass a code object instead of a
-   string.  The code object must have been compiled passing ``'eval'`` as the
-   *kind* argument.
+   This function can also be used to execute arbitrary code objects (such as
+   those created by :func:`compile`).  In this case pass a code object instead
+   of a string.  If the code object has been compiled with ``'exec'`` as the
+   *kind* argument, :func:`eval`\'s return value will be ``None``.
 
    Hints: dynamic execution of statements is supported by the :keyword:`exec`
    statement.  Execution of statements from a file is supported by the
    :func:`execfile` function.  The :func:`globals` and :func:`locals` functions
    returns the current global and local dictionary, respectively, which may be
    useful to pass around for use by :func:`eval` or :func:`execfile`.
 
 
 .. function:: execfile(filename[, globals[, locals]])
 
    This function is similar to the :keyword:`exec` statement, but parses a file
    instead of a string.  It is different from the :keyword:`import` statement in
@@ -385,78 +364,104 @@
 
    .. warning::
 
       The default *locals* act as described for function :func:`locals` below:
       modifications to the default *locals* dictionary should not be attempted.  Pass
       an explicit *locals* dictionary if you need to see effects of the code on
       *locals* after function :func:`execfile` returns.  :func:`execfile` cannot be
       used reliably to modify a function's locals.
 
 
 .. function:: file(filename[, mode[, bufsize]])
 
-   Constructor function for the :class:`file` type, described further  in section
-   :ref:`bltin-file-objects`, "File Objects (XXX reference: bltin-file-
-   objects.html)".  The constructor's arguments are the same as those of the
-   :func:`open` built-in function described below.
+   Constructor function for the :class:`file` type, described further in section
+   :ref:`bltin-file-objects`.  The constructor's arguments are the same as those
+   of the :func:`open` built-in function described below.
 
    When opening a file, it's preferable to use :func:`open` instead of  invoking
    this constructor directly.  :class:`file` is more suited to type testing (for
    example, writing ``isinstance(f, file)``).
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
 
-.. function:: filter(function, list)
+.. function:: filter(function, iterable)
 
-   Construct a list from those elements of *list* for which *function* returns
-   true.  *list* may be either a sequence, a container which supports iteration, or
-   an iterator,  If *list* is a string or a tuple, the result also has that type;
-   otherwise it is always a list.  If *function* is ``None``, the identity function
-   is assumed, that is, all elements of *list* that are false are removed.
-
-   Note that ``filter(function, list)`` is equivalent to ``[item for item in list
-   if function(item)]`` if function is not ``None`` and ``[item for item in list if
-   item]`` if function is ``None``.
+   Construct a list from those elements of *iterable* for which *function* returns
+   true.  *iterable* may be either a sequence, a container which supports
+   iteration, or an iterator.  If *iterable* is a string or a tuple, the result
+   also has that type; otherwise it is always a list.  If *function* is ``None``,
+   the identity function is assumed, that is, all elements of *iterable* that are
+   false are removed.
+
+   Note that ``filter(function, iterable)`` is equivalent to ``[item for item in
+   iterable if function(item)]`` if function is not ``None`` and ``[item for item
+   in iterable if item]`` if function is ``None``.
+
+   See :func:`itertools.filterfalse` for the complementary function that returns
+   elements of *iterable* for which *function* returns false.
 
 
 .. function:: float([x])
 
    Convert a string or a number to floating point.  If the argument is a string, it
    must contain a possibly signed decimal or floating point number, possibly
-   embedded in whitespace. Otherwise, the argument may be a plain or long integer
+   embedded in whitespace. The argument may also be [+|-]nan or [+|-]inf.
+   Otherwise, the argument may be a plain or long integer
    or a floating point number, and a floating point number with the same value
    (within Python's floating point precision) is returned.  If no argument is
    given, returns ``0.0``.
 
    .. note::
 
       .. index::
          single: NaN
          single: Infinity
 
       When passing in a string, values for NaN and Infinity may be returned, depending
-      on the underlying C library.  The specific set of strings accepted which cause
-      these values to be returned depends entirely on the C library and is known to
-      vary.
+      on the underlying C library.  Float accepts the strings nan, inf and -inf for
+      NaN and positive or negative infinity. The case and a leading + are ignored as
+      well as a leading - is ignored for NaN. Float always represents NaN and infinity
+      as nan, inf or -inf.
+
+   The float type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
+
+
+.. function:: format(value[, format_spec])
+
+   .. index::
+      pair: str; format
+      single: __format__
+
+   Convert a *value* to a "formatted" representation, as controlled by
+   *format_spec*.  The interpretation of *format_spec* will depend on the type
+   of the *value* argument, however there is a standard formatting syntax that
+   is used by most built-in types: :ref:`formatspec`.
+
+   .. note::
+
+      ``format(value, format_spec)`` merely calls
+      ``value.__format__(format_spec)``.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
 
 
 .. function:: frozenset([iterable])
+   :noindex:
+
+   Return a frozenset object, optionally with elements taken from *iterable*.
+   The frozenset type is described in :ref:`types-set`.
 
-   Return a frozenset object whose elements are taken from *iterable*. Frozensets
-   are sets that have no update methods but can be hashed and used as members of
-   other sets or as dictionary keys.  The elements of a frozenset must be immutable
-   themselves.  To represent sets of sets, the inner sets should also be
-   :class:`frozenset` objects.  If *iterable* is not specified, returns a new empty
-   set, ``frozenset([])``.
+   For other containers see the built in :class:`dict`, :class:`list`, and
+   :class:`tuple` classes, and the :mod:`collections` module.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.4
 
 
 .. function:: getattr(object, name[, default])
 
    Return the value of the named attributed of *object*.  *name* must be a string.
    If the string is the name of one of the object's attributes, the result is the
    value of that attribute.  For example, ``getattr(x, 'foobar')`` is equivalent to
    ``x.foobar``.  If the named attribute does not exist, *default* is returned if
    provided, otherwise :exc:`AttributeError` is raised.
 
@@ -484,24 +489,26 @@
    different types, as is the case for 1 and 1.0).
 
 
 .. function:: help([object])
 
    Invoke the built-in help system.  (This function is intended for interactive
    use.)  If no argument is given, the interactive help system starts on the
    interpreter console.  If the argument is a string, then the string is looked up
    as the name of a module, function, class, method, keyword, or documentation
    topic, and a help page is printed on the console.  If the argument is any other
    kind of object, a help page on the object is generated.
 
+   This function is added to the built-in namespace by the :mod:`site` module.
+
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
 
 .. function:: hex(x)
 
    Convert an integer number (of any size) to a hexadecimal string. The result is a
    valid Python expression.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       Formerly only returned an unsigned literal.
 
 
@@ -524,196 +531,219 @@
       :exc:`SyntaxError` will be raised. Other exceptions may be raised if there is an
       error during evaluation.  (On the other hand, sometimes this is exactly what you
       need when writing a quick script for expert use.)
 
    If the :mod:`readline` module was loaded, then :func:`input` will use it to
    provide elaborate line editing and history features.
 
    Consider using the :func:`raw_input` function for general input from users.
 
 
 .. function:: int([x[, radix]])
 
-   Convert a string or number to a plain integer.  If the argument is a string, it
-   must contain a possibly signed decimal number representable as a Python integer,
-   possibly embedded in whitespace. The *radix* parameter gives the base for the
-   conversion and may be any integer in the range [2, 36], or zero.  If *radix* is
-   zero, the proper radix is guessed based on the contents of string; the
-   interpretation is the same as for integer literals.  If *radix* is specified and
-   *x* is not a string, :exc:`TypeError` is raised. Otherwise, the argument may be
-   a plain or long integer or a floating point number.  Conversion of floating
-   point numbers to integers truncates (towards zero). If the argument is outside
-   the integer range a long object will be returned instead.  If no arguments are
-   given, returns ``0``.
+   Convert a string or number to a plain integer.  If the argument is a string,
+   it must contain a possibly signed decimal number representable as a Python
+   integer, possibly embedded in whitespace.  The *radix* parameter gives the
+   base for the conversion (which is 10 by default) and may be any integer in
+   the range [2, 36], or zero.  If *radix* is zero, the proper radix is
+   determined based on the contents of string; the interpretation is the same as
+   for integer literals.  (See :ref:`numbers`.)  If *radix* is specified and *x*
+   is not a string, :exc:`TypeError` is raised. Otherwise, the argument may be a
+   plain or long integer or a floating point number.  Conversion of floating
+   point numbers to integers truncates (towards zero).  If the argument is
+   outside the integer range a long object will be returned instead.  If no
+   arguments are given, returns ``0``.
+
+   The integer type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
 
 
 .. function:: isinstance(object, classinfo)
 
    Return true if the *object* argument is an instance of the *classinfo* argument,
    or of a (direct or indirect) subclass thereof.  Also return true if *classinfo*
-   is a type object and *object* is an object of that type.  If *object* is not a
-   class instance or an object of the given type, the function always returns
-   false.  If *classinfo* is neither a class object nor a type object, it may be a
-   tuple of class or type objects, or may recursively contain other such tuples
-   (other sequence types are not accepted).  If *classinfo* is not a class, type,
-   or tuple of classes, types, and such tuples, a :exc:`TypeError` exception is
-   raised.
+   is a type object (new-style class) and *object* is an object of that type or of
+   a (direct or indirect) subclass thereof.  If *object* is not a class instance or
+   an object of the given type, the function always returns false.  If *classinfo*
+   is neither a class object nor a type object, it may be a tuple of class or type
+   objects, or may recursively contain other such tuples (other sequence types are
+   not accepted).  If *classinfo* is not a class, type, or tuple of classes, types,
+   and such tuples, a :exc:`TypeError` exception is raised.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.2
       Support for a tuple of type information was added.
 
 
 .. function:: issubclass(class, classinfo)
 
    Return true if *class* is a subclass (direct or indirect) of *classinfo*.  A
    class is considered a subclass of itself. *classinfo* may be a tuple of class
    objects, in which case every entry in *classinfo* will be checked. In any other
    case, a :exc:`TypeError` exception is raised.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.3
       Support for a tuple of type information was added.
 
 
 .. function:: iter(o[, sentinel])
 
-   Return an iterator object.  The first argument is interpreted very differently
+   Return an :term:`iterator` object.  The first argument is interpreted very differently
    depending on the presence of the second argument. Without a second argument, *o*
    must be a collection object which supports the iteration protocol (the
    :meth:`__iter__` method), or it must support the sequence protocol (the
    :meth:`__getitem__` method with integer arguments starting at ``0``).  If it
    does not support either of those protocols, :exc:`TypeError` is raised. If the
    second argument, *sentinel*, is given, then *o* must be a callable object.  The
    iterator created in this case will call *o* with no arguments for each call to
    its :meth:`next` method; if the value returned is equal to *sentinel*,
    :exc:`StopIteration` will be raised, otherwise the value will be returned.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
 
 .. function:: len(s)
 
    Return the length (the number of items) of an object.  The argument may be a
    sequence (string, tuple or list) or a mapping (dictionary).
 
 
-.. function:: list([sequence])
+.. function:: list([iterable])
 
-   Return a list whose items are the same and in the same order as *sequence*'s
-   items.  *sequence* may be either a sequence, a container that supports
-   iteration, or an iterator object.  If *sequence* is already a list, a copy is
-   made and returned, similar to ``sequence[:]``.  For instance, ``list('abc')``
+   Return a list whose items are the same and in the same order as *iterable*'s
+   items.  *iterable* may be either a sequence, a container that supports
+   iteration, or an iterator object.  If *iterable* is already a list, a copy is
+   made and returned, similar to ``iterable[:]``.  For instance, ``list('abc')``
    returns ``['a', 'b', 'c']`` and ``list( (1, 2, 3) )`` returns ``[1, 2, 3]``.  If
    no argument is given, returns a new empty list, ``[]``.
 
+   :class:`list` is a mutable sequence type, as documented in
+   :ref:`typesseq`. For other containers see the built in :class:`dict`,
+   :class:`set`, and :class:`tuple` classes, and the :mod:`collections` module.
+
 
 .. function:: locals()
 
    Update and return a dictionary representing the current local symbol table.
 
    .. warning::
 
       The contents of this dictionary should not be modified; changes may not affect
       the values of local variables used by the interpreter.
 
+   Free variables are returned by :func:`locals` when it is called in a function block.
+   Modifications of free variables may not affect the values used by the
+   interpreter.  Free variables are not returned in class blocks.
+
 
 .. function:: long([x[, radix]])
 
    Convert a string or number to a long integer.  If the argument is a string, it
    must contain a possibly signed number of arbitrary size, possibly embedded in
    whitespace. The *radix* argument is interpreted in the same way as for
    :func:`int`, and may only be given when *x* is a string. Otherwise, the argument
    may be a plain or long integer or a floating point number, and a long integer
    with the same value is returned.    Conversion of floating point numbers to
    integers truncates (towards zero).  If no arguments are given, returns ``0L``.
 
+   The long type is described in :ref:`typesnumeric`.
 
-.. function:: map(function, list, ...)
+.. function:: map(function, iterable, ...)
 
-   Apply *function* to every item of *list* and return a list of the results.  If
-   additional *list* arguments are passed, *function* must take that many arguments
-   and is applied to the items of all lists in parallel; if a list is shorter than
-   another it is assumed to be extended with ``None`` items.  If *function* is
-   ``None``, the identity function is assumed; if there are multiple list
-   arguments, :func:`map` returns a list consisting of tuples containing the
-   corresponding items from all lists (a kind of transpose operation).  The *list*
-   arguments may be any kind of sequence; the result is always a list.
-
-
-.. function:: max(s[, args...][key])
-
-   With a single argument *s*, return the largest item of a non-empty sequence
-   (such as a string, tuple or list).  With more than one argument, return the
-   largest of the arguments.
+   Apply *function* to every item of *iterable* and return a list of the results.
+   If additional *iterable* arguments are passed, *function* must take that many
+   arguments and is applied to the items from all iterables in parallel.  If one
+   iterable is shorter than another it is assumed to be extended with ``None``
+   items.  If *function* is ``None``, the identity function is assumed; if there
+   are multiple arguments, :func:`map` returns a list consisting of tuples
+   containing the corresponding items from all iterables (a kind of transpose
+   operation).  The *iterable* arguments may be a sequence  or any iterable object;
+   the result is always a list.
+
+
+.. function:: max(iterable[, args...][key])
+
+   With a single argument *iterable*, return the largest item of a non-empty
+   iterable (such as a string, tuple or list).  With more than one argument, return
+   the largest of the arguments.
 
    The optional *key* argument specifies a one-argument ordering function like that
    used for :meth:`list.sort`.  The *key* argument, if supplied, must be in keyword
    form (for example, ``max(a,b,c,key=func)``).
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.5
       Added support for the optional *key* argument.
 
 
-.. function:: min(s[, args...][key])
+.. function:: min(iterable[, args...][key])
 
-   With a single argument *s*, return the smallest item of a non-empty sequence
-   (such as a string, tuple or list).  With more than one argument, return the
-   smallest of the arguments.
+   With a single argument *iterable*, return the smallest item of a non-empty
+   iterable (such as a string, tuple or list).  With more than one argument, return
+   the smallest of the arguments.
 
    The optional *key* argument specifies a one-argument ordering function like that
    used for :meth:`list.sort`.  The *key* argument, if supplied, must be in keyword
    form (for example, ``min(a,b,c,key=func)``).
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.5
       Added support for the optional *key* argument.
 
 
+.. function:: next(iterator[, default])
+
+   Retrieve the next item from the *iterator* by calling its :meth:`next`
+   method.  If *default* is given, it is returned if the iterator is exhausted,
+   otherwise :exc:`StopIteration` is raised.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
 .. function:: object()
 
    Return a new featureless object.  :class:`object` is a base for all new style
    classes.  It has the methods that are common to all instances of new style
    classes.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.3
       This function does not accept any arguments. Formerly, it accepted arguments but
       ignored them.
 
 
 .. function:: oct(x)
 
    Convert an integer number (of any size) to an octal string.  The result is a
    valid Python expression.
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       Formerly only returned an unsigned literal.
 
 
 .. function:: open(filename[, mode[, bufsize]])
 
-   Open a file, returning an object of the :class:`file` type described in section
-   :ref:`bltin-file-objects`, "File Objects (XXX reference: bltin-file-
-   objects.html)".  If the file cannot be opened, :exc:`IOError` is raised.  When
-   opening a file, it's preferable to use :func:`open` instead of invoking the
-   :class:`file` constructor directly.
+   Open a file, returning an object of the :class:`file` type described in
+   section :ref:`bltin-file-objects`.  If the file cannot be opened,
+   :exc:`IOError` is raised.  When opening a file, it's preferable to use
+   :func:`open` instead of invoking the :class:`file` constructor directly.
 
    The first two arguments are the same as for ``stdio``'s :cfunc:`fopen`:
    *filename* is the file name to be opened, and *mode* is a string indicating how
    the file is to be opened.
 
    The most commonly-used values of *mode* are ``'r'`` for reading, ``'w'`` for
    writing (truncating the file if it already exists), and ``'a'`` for appending
    (which on *some* Unix systems means that *all* writes append to the end of the
    file regardless of the current seek position).  If *mode* is omitted, it
-   defaults to ``'r'``.  When opening a binary file, you should append ``'b'`` to
+   defaults to ``'r'``.  The default is to use text mode, which may convert
+   ``'\n'`` characters to a platform-specific representation on writing and back
+   on reading.  Thus, when opening a binary file, you should append ``'b'`` to
    the *mode* value to open the file in binary mode, which will improve
    portability.  (Appending ``'b'`` is useful even on systems that don't treat
    binary and text files differently, where it serves as documentation.)  See below
    for more possible values of *mode*.
 
    .. index::
       single: line-buffered I/O
       single: unbuffered I/O
       single: buffer size, I/O
       single: I/O control; buffering
 
    The optional *bufsize* argument specifies the file's desired buffer size: 0
@@ -733,24 +763,28 @@
    following: the Unix end-of-line convention ``'\n'``,  the Macintosh convention
    ``'\r'``, or the Windows convention ``'\r\n'``. All of these external
    representations are seen as ``'\n'`` by the Python program. If Python is built
    without universal newline support a *mode* with ``'U'`` is the same as normal
    text mode.  Note that file objects so opened also have an attribute called
    :attr:`newlines` which has a value of ``None`` (if no newlines have yet been
    seen), ``'\n'``, ``'\r'``, ``'\r\n'``, or a tuple containing all the newline
    types seen.
 
    Python enforces that the mode, after stripping ``'U'``, begins with ``'r'``,
    ``'w'`` or ``'a'``.
 
+   Python provides many file handling modules including
+   :mod:`fileinput`, :mod:`os`, :mod:`os.path`, :mod:`tempfile`, and
+   :mod:`shutil`.
+
    .. versionchanged:: 2.5
       Restriction on first letter of mode string introduced.
 
 
 .. function:: ord(c)
 
    Given a string of length one, return an integer representing the Unicode code
    point of the character when the argument is a unicode object, or the value of
    the byte when the argument is an 8-bit string. For example, ``ord('a')`` returns
    the integer ``97``, ``ord(u'\u2020')`` returns ``8224``.  This is the inverse of
    :func:`chr` for 8-bit strings and of :func:`unichr` for unicode objects.  If a
    unicode argument is given and Python was built with UCS2 Unicode, then the
@@ -770,73 +804,137 @@
    argument is negative; in that case, all arguments are converted to float and a
    float result is delivered.  For example, ``10**2`` returns ``100``, but
    ``10**-2`` returns ``0.01``.  (This last feature was added in Python 2.2.  In
    Python 2.1 and before, if both arguments were of integer types and the second
    argument was negative, an exception was raised.) If the second argument is
    negative, the third argument must be omitted. If *z* is present, *x* and *y*
    must be of integer types, and *y* must be non-negative.  (This restriction was
    added in Python 2.2.  In Python 2.1 and before, floating 3-argument ``pow()``
    returned platform-dependent results depending on floating-point rounding
    accidents.)
 
 
+.. function:: print([object, ...][, sep=' '][, end='\n'][, file=sys.stdout])
+
+   Print *object*\(s) to the stream *file*, separated by *sep* and followed by
+   *end*.  *sep*, *end* and *file*, if present, must be given as keyword
+   arguments.
+
+   All non-keyword arguments are converted to strings like :func:`str` does and
+   written to the stream, separated by *sep* and followed by *end*.  Both *sep*
+   and *end* must be strings; they can also be ``None``, which means to use the
+   default values.  If no *object* is given, :func:`print` will just write
+   *end*.
+
+   The *file* argument must be an object with a ``write(string)`` method; if it
+   is not present or ``None``, :data:`sys.stdout` will be used.
+
+   .. note::
+
+      This function is not normally available as a builtin since the name
+      ``print`` is recognized as the :keyword:`print` statement.  To disable the
+      statement and use the :func:`print` function, use this future statement at
+      the top of your module::
+
+         from __future__ import print_function
+
+   .. versionadded:: 2.6
+
+
 .. function:: property([fget[, fset[, fdel[, doc]]]])
 
-   Return a property attribute for new-style classes (classes that derive from
-   :class:`object`).
+   Return a property attribute for :term:`new-style class`\es (classes that
+   derive from :class:`object`).
 
    *fget* is a function for getting an attribute value, likewise *fset* is a
    function for setting, and *fdel* a function for del'ing, an attribute.  Typical
    use is to define a managed attribute x::
 
       class C(object):
-          def __init__(self): self.__x = None
-          def getx(self): return self._x
-          def setx(self, value): self._x = value
-          def delx(self): del self._x
+          def __init__(self):
+              self._x = None
+
+          def getx(self):
+              return self._x
+          def setx(self, value):
+              self._x = value
+          def delx(self):
+              del self._x
           x = property(getx, setx, delx, "I'm the 'x' property.")
 
    If given, *doc* will be the docstring of the property attribute. Otherwise, the
    property will copy *fget*'s docstring (if it exists).  This makes it possible to
-   create read-only properties easily using :func:`property` as a decorator::
+   create read-only properties easily using :func:`property` as a :term:`decorator`::
 
       class Parrot(object):
           def __init__(self):
               self._voltage = 100000
 
           @property
           def voltage(self):
               """Get the current voltage."""
               return self._voltage
 
-   turns the :meth:`voltage` method into a "getter" for a read-only attribute with
-   the same name.
+   turns the :meth:`voltage` method into a "getter" for a read-only attribute
+   with the same name.
+
+   A property object has :attr:`getter`, :attr:`setter`, and :attr:`deleter`
+   methods usable as decorators that create a copy of the property with the
+   corresponding accessor function set to the decorated function.  This is
+   best explained with an example::
+
+      class C(object):
+          def __init__(self):
+              self._x = None
+
+          @property
+          def x(self):
+              """I'm the 'x' property."""
+              return self._x
+
+          @x.setter
+          def x(self, value):
+              self._x = value
+
+          @x.deleter
+          def x(self):
+              del self._x
+
+   This code is exactly equivalent to the first example.  Be sure to give the
+   additional functions the same name as the original property (``x`` in this
+   case.)
+
+   The returned property also has the attributes ``fget``, ``fset``, and
+   ``fdel`` corresponding to the constructor arguments.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.5
       Use *fget*'s docstring if no *doc* given.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.6
+      The ``getter``, ``setter``, and ``deleter`` attributes were added.
+
 
 .. function:: range([start,] stop[, step])
 
    This is a versatile function to create lists containing arithmetic progressions.
    It is most often used in :keyword:`for` loops.  The arguments must be plain
    integers.  If the *step* argument is omitted, it defaults to ``1``.  If the
    *start* argument is omitted, it defaults to ``0``.  The full form returns a list
    of plain integers ``[start, start + step, start + 2 * step, ...]``.  If *step*
    is positive, the last element is the largest ``start + i * step`` less than
    *stop*; if *step* is negative, the last element is the smallest ``start + i *
    step`` greater than *stop*.  *step* must not be zero (or else :exc:`ValueError`
-   is raised).  Example::
+   is raised).  Example:
 
       >>> range(10)
       [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
       >>> range(1, 11)
       [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
       >>> range(0, 30, 5)
       [0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25]
       >>> range(0, 10, 3)
       [0, 3, 6, 9]
       >>> range(0, -10, -1)
       [0, -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9]
       >>> range(0)
@@ -852,58 +950,58 @@
    string (stripping a trailing newline), and returns that. When EOF is read,
    :exc:`EOFError` is raised. Example::
 
       >>> s = raw_input('--> ')
       --> Monty Python's Flying Circus
       >>> s
       "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
 
    If the :mod:`readline` module was loaded, then :func:`raw_input` will use it to
    provide elaborate line editing and history features.
 
 
-.. function:: reduce(function, sequence[, initializer])
+.. function:: reduce(function, iterable[, initializer])
 
-   Apply *function* of two arguments cumulatively to the items of *sequence*, from
-   left to right, so as to reduce the sequence to a single value.  For example,
+   Apply *function* of two arguments cumulatively to the items of *iterable*, from
+   left to right, so as to reduce the iterable to a single value.  For example,
    ``reduce(lambda x, y: x+y, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5])`` calculates ``((((1+2)+3)+4)+5)``.
    The left argument, *x*, is the accumulated value and the right argument, *y*, is
-   the update value from the *sequence*.  If the optional *initializer* is present,
-   it is placed before the items of the sequence in the calculation, and serves as
-   a default when the sequence is empty.  If *initializer* is not given and
-   *sequence* contains only one item, the first item is returned.
+   the update value from the *iterable*.  If the optional *initializer* is present,
+   it is placed before the items of the iterable in the calculation, and serves as
+   a default when the iterable is empty.  If *initializer* is not given and
+   *iterable* contains only one item, the first item is returned.
 
 
 .. function:: reload(module)
 
    Reload a previously imported *module*.  The argument must be a module object, so
    it must have been successfully imported before.  This is useful if you have
    edited the module source file using an external editor and want to try out the
    new version without leaving the Python interpreter.  The return value is the
    module object (the same as the *module* argument).
 
    When ``reload(module)`` is executed:
 
-* Python modules' code is recompiled and the module-level code reexecuted,
+   * Python modules' code is recompiled and the module-level code reexecuted,
      defining a new set of objects which are bound to names in the module's
      dictionary.  The ``init`` function of extension modules is not called a second
      time.
 
-* As with all other objects in Python the old objects are only reclaimed after
+   * As with all other objects in Python the old objects are only reclaimed after
      their reference counts drop to zero.
 
-* The names in the module namespace are updated to point to any new or changed
+   * The names in the module namespace are updated to point to any new or changed
      objects.
 
-* Other references to the old objects (such as names external to the module) are
+   * Other references to the old objects (such as names external to the module) are
      not rebound to refer to the new objects and must be updated in each namespace
      where they occur if that is desired.
 
    There are a number of other caveats:
 
    If a module is syntactically correct but its initialization fails, the first
    :keyword:`import` statement for it does not bind its name locally, but does
    store a (partially initialized) module object in ``sys.modules``.  To reload the
    module you must first :keyword:`import` it again (this will bind the name to the
    partially initialized module object) before you can :func:`reload` it.
 
    When a module is reloaded, its dictionary (containing the module's global
@@ -928,228 +1026,286 @@
    :keyword:`import` ..., calling :func:`reload` for the other module does not
    redefine the objects imported from it --- one way around this is to re-execute
    the :keyword:`from` statement, another is to use :keyword:`import` and qualified
    names (*module*.*name*) instead.
 
    If a module instantiates instances of a class, reloading the module that defines
    the class does not affect the method definitions of the instances --- they
    continue to use the old class definition.  The same is true for derived classes.
 
 
 .. function:: repr(object)
 
-   Return a string containing a printable representation of an object. This is the
-   same value yielded by conversions (reverse quotes). It is sometimes useful to be
-   able to access this operation as an ordinary function.  For many types, this
-   function makes an attempt to return a string that would yield an object with the
-   same value when passed to :func:`eval`.
+   Return a string containing a printable representation of an object.  This is
+   the same value yielded by conversions (reverse quotes).  It is sometimes
+   useful to be able to access this operation as an ordinary function.  For many
+   types, this function makes an attempt to return a string that would yield an
+   object with the same value when passed to :func:`eval`, otherwise the
+   representation is a string enclosed in angle brackets that contains the name
+   of the type of the object together with additional information often
+   including the name and address of the object.  A class can control what this
+   function returns for its instances by defining a :meth:`__repr__` method.
 
 
 .. function:: reversed(seq)
 
-   Return a reverse iterator.  *seq* must be an object which supports the sequence
-   protocol (the __len__() method and the :meth:`__getitem__` method with integer
+   Return a reverse :term:`iterator`.  *seq* must be an object which has
+   a :meth:`__reversed__` method or supports the sequence protocol (the
+   :meth:`__len__` method and the :meth:`__getitem__` method with integer
    arguments starting at ``0``).
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.4
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.6
+      Added the possibility to write a custom :meth:`__reversed__` method.
+
 
 .. function:: round(x[, n])
 
    Return the floating point value *x* rounded to *n* digits after the decimal
    point.  If *n* is omitted, it defaults to zero. The result is a floating point
    number.  Values are rounded to the closest multiple of 10 to the power minus
    *n*; if two multiples are equally close, rounding is done away from 0 (so. for
    example, ``round(0.5)`` is ``1.0`` and ``round(-0.5)`` is ``-1.0``).
 
 
 .. function:: set([iterable])
+   :noindex:
+
+   Return a new set, optionally with elements are taken from *iterable*.
+   The set type is described in :ref:`types-set`.
 
-   Return a set whose elements are taken from *iterable*.  The elements must be
-   immutable.  To represent sets of sets, the inner sets should be
-   :class:`frozenset` objects.  If *iterable* is not specified, returns a new empty
-   set, ``set([])``.
+   For other containers see the built in :class:`dict`, :class:`list`, and
+   :class:`tuple` classes, and the :mod:`collections` module.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.4
 
 
 .. function:: setattr(object, name, value)
 
    This is the counterpart of :func:`getattr`.  The arguments are an object, a
    string and an arbitrary value.  The string may name an existing attribute or a
    new attribute.  The function assigns the value to the attribute, provided the
    object allows it.  For example, ``setattr(x, 'foobar', 123)`` is equivalent to
    ``x.foobar = 123``.
 
 
 .. function:: slice([start,] stop[, step])
 
    .. index:: single: Numerical Python
 
-   Return a slice object representing the set of indices specified by
+   Return a :term:`slice` object representing the set of indices specified by
    ``range(start, stop, step)``.  The *start* and *step* arguments default to
    ``None``.  Slice objects have read-only data attributes :attr:`start`,
    :attr:`stop` and :attr:`step` which merely return the argument values (or their
    default).  They have no other explicit functionality; however they are used by
    Numerical Python and other third party extensions.  Slice objects are also
    generated when extended indexing syntax is used.  For example:
-   ``a[start:stop:step]`` or ``a[start:stop, i]``.
+   ``a[start:stop:step]`` or ``a[start:stop, i]``.  See :func:`itertools.islice`
+   for an alternate version that returns an iterator.
 
 
 .. function:: sorted(iterable[, cmp[, key[, reverse]]])
 
    Return a new sorted list from the items in *iterable*.
 
    The optional arguments *cmp*, *key*, and *reverse* have the same meaning as
    those for the :meth:`list.sort` method (described in section
    :ref:`typesseq-mutable`).
 
    *cmp* specifies a custom comparison function of two arguments (iterable
    elements) which should return a negative, zero or positive number depending on
    whether the first argument is considered smaller than, equal to, or larger than
-   the second argument: ``cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())``
+   the second argument: ``cmp=lambda x,y: cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())``.  The default
+   value is ``None``.
 
    *key* specifies a function of one argument that is used to extract a comparison
-   key from each list element: ``key=str.lower``
+   key from each list element: ``key=str.lower``.  The default value is ``None``.
 
    *reverse* is a boolean value.  If set to ``True``, then the list elements are
    sorted as if each comparison were reversed.
 
-   In general, the *key* and *reverse* conversion processes are much faster than
-   specifying an equivalent *cmp* function.  This is because *cmp* is called
-   multiple times for each list element while *key* and *reverse* touch each
-   element only once.
+   In general, the *key* and *reverse* conversion processes are much faster
+   than specifying an equivalent *cmp* function.  This is because *cmp* is
+   called multiple times for each list element while *key* and *reverse* touch
+   each element only once.  To convert an old-style *cmp* function to a *key*
+   function, see the `CmpToKey recipe in the ASPN cookbook
+   <http://code.activestate.com/recipes/576653/>`_\.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.4
 
 
 .. function:: staticmethod(function)
 
    Return a static method for *function*.
 
    A static method does not receive an implicit first argument. To declare a static
    method, use this idiom::
 
       class C:
           @staticmethod
           def f(arg1, arg2, ...): ...
 
-   The ``@staticmethod`` form is a function decorator -- see the description of
-   function definitions in chapter 7 of the Python Reference Manual (XXX reference:
-   ../ref/function.html) for details.
+   The ``@staticmethod`` form is a function :term:`decorator` -- see the
+   description of function definitions in :ref:`function` for details.
 
    It can be called either on the class (such as ``C.f()``) or on an instance (such
    as ``C().f()``).  The instance is ignored except for its class.
 
    Static methods in Python are similar to those found in Java or C++. For a more
    advanced concept, see :func:`classmethod` in this section.
 
    For more information on static methods, consult the documentation on the
-   standard type hierarchy in chapter 3 of the Python Reference Manual (XXX
-   reference: ../ref/types.html) (at the bottom).
+   standard type hierarchy in :ref:`types`.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       Function decorator syntax added.
 
 
 .. function:: str([object])
 
    Return a string containing a nicely printable representation of an object.  For
    strings, this returns the string itself.  The difference with ``repr(object)``
    is that ``str(object)`` does not always attempt to return a string that is
    acceptable to :func:`eval`; its goal is to return a printable string.  If no
    argument is given, returns the empty string, ``''``.
 
+   For more information on strings see :ref:`typesseq` which describes sequence
+   functionality (strings are sequences), and also the string-specific methods
+   described in the :ref:`string-methods` section. To output formatted strings
+   use template strings or the ``%`` operator described in the
+   :ref:`string-formatting` section. In addition see the :ref:`stringservices`
+   section. See also :func:`unicode`.
 
-.. function:: sum(sequence[, start])
 
-   Sums *start* and the items of a *sequence*, from left to right, and returns the
-   total.  *start* defaults to ``0``. The *sequence*'s items are normally numbers,
-   and are not allowed to be strings.  The fast, correct way to concatenate
+.. function:: sum(iterable[, start])
+
+   Sums *start* and the items of an *iterable* from left to right and returns the
+   total.  *start* defaults to ``0``. The *iterable*'s items are normally numbers,
+   and are not allowed to be strings.  The fast, correct way to concatenate a
    sequence of strings is by calling ``''.join(sequence)``. Note that
    ``sum(range(n), m)`` is equivalent to ``reduce(operator.add, range(n), m)``
+   To add floating point values with extended precision, see :func:`math.fsum`\.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.3
 
 
 .. function:: super(type[, object-or-type])
 
-   Return the superclass of *type*.  If the second argument is omitted the super
-   object returned is unbound.  If the second argument is an object,
-   ``isinstance(obj, type)`` must be true.  If the second argument is a type,
-   ``issubclass(type2, type)`` must be true. :func:`super` only works for new-style
-   classes.
+   Return a proxy object that delegates method calls to a parent or sibling
+   class of *type*.  This is useful for accessing inherited methods that have
+   been overridden in a class. The search order is same as that used by
+   :func:`getattr` except that the *type* itself is skipped.
+
+   The :attr:`__mro__` attribute of the *type* lists the method resolution
+   search order used by both :func:`getattr` and :func:`super`.  The attribute
+   is dynamic and can change whenever the inheritance hierarchy is updated.
+
+   If the second argument is omitted, the super object returned is unbound.  If
+   the second argument is an object, ``isinstance(obj, type)`` must be true.  If
+   the second argument is a type, ``issubclass(type2, type)`` must be true (this
+   is useful for classmethods).
 
-   A typical use for calling a cooperative superclass method is::
+   .. note::
+      :func:`super` only works for :term:`new-style class`\es.
+
+   There are two typical use cases for *super*.  In a class hierarchy with
+   single inheritance, *super* can be used to refer to parent classes without
+   naming them explicitly, thus making the code more maintainable.  This use
+   closely parallels the use of *super* in other programming languages.
+
+   The second use case is to support cooperative multiple inheritance in a
+   dynamic execution environment.  This use case is unique to Python and is
+   not found in statically compiled languages or languages that only support
+   single inheritance.  This makes it possible to implement "diamond diagrams"
+   where multiple base classes implement the same method.  Good design dictates
+   that this method have the same calling signature in every case (because the
+   order of calls is determined at runtime, because that order adapts
+   to changes in the class hierarchy, and because that order can include
+   sibling classes that are unknown prior to runtime).
+
+   For both use cases, a typical superclass call looks like this::
 
       class C(B):
-          def meth(self, arg):
-              super(C, self).meth(arg)
+          def method(self, arg):
+              super(C, self).method(arg)
 
    Note that :func:`super` is implemented as part of the binding process for
-   explicit dotted attribute lookups such as ``super(C, self).__getitem__(name)``.
+   explicit dotted attribute lookups such as ``super().__getitem__(name)``.
+   It does so by implementing its own :meth:`__getattribute__` method for searching
+   classes in a predictable order that supports cooperative multiple inheritance.
    Accordingly, :func:`super` is undefined for implicit lookups using statements or
-   operators such as ``super(C, self)[name]``.
+   operators such as ``super()[name]``.
+
+   Also note that :func:`super` is not limited to use inside methods.  The two
+   argument form specifies the arguments exactly and makes the appropriate
+   references.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
 
-.. function:: tuple([sequence])
+.. function:: tuple([iterable])
 
-   Return a tuple whose items are the same and in the same order as *sequence*'s
-   items.  *sequence* may be a sequence, a container that supports iteration, or an
-   iterator object. If *sequence* is already a tuple, it is returned unchanged.
+   Return a tuple whose items are the same and in the same order as *iterable*'s
+   items.  *iterable* may be a sequence, a container that supports iteration, or an
+   iterator object. If *iterable* is already a tuple, it is returned unchanged.
    For instance, ``tuple('abc')`` returns ``('a', 'b', 'c')`` and ``tuple([1, 2,
    3])`` returns ``(1, 2, 3)``.  If no argument is given, returns a new empty
    tuple, ``()``.
 
+   :class:`tuple` is an immutable sequence type, as documented in
+   :ref:`typesseq`. For other containers see the built in :class:`dict`,
+   :class:`list`, and :class:`set` classes, and the :mod:`collections` module.
+
 
 .. function:: type(object)
 
    .. index:: object: type
 
    Return the type of an *object*.  The return value is a type object.  The
    :func:`isinstance` built-in function is recommended for testing the type of an
    object.
 
    With three arguments, :func:`type` functions as a constructor as detailed below.
 
 
 .. function:: type(name, bases, dict)
+   :noindex:
 
    Return a new type object.  This is essentially a dynamic form of the
    :keyword:`class` statement. The *name* string is the class name and becomes the
    :attr:`__name__` attribute; the *bases* tuple itemizes the base classes and
    becomes the :attr:`__bases__` attribute; and the *dict* dictionary is the
    namespace containing definitions for class body and becomes the :attr:`__dict__`
    attribute.  For example, the following two statements create identical
-   :class:`type` objects::
+   :class:`type` objects:
 
       >>> class X(object):
       ...     a = 1
-      ...     
+      ...
       >>> X = type('X', (object,), dict(a=1))
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.2
 
 
 .. function:: unichr(i)
 
    Return the Unicode string of one character whose Unicode code is the integer
    *i*.  For example, ``unichr(97)`` returns the string ``u'a'``.  This is the
    inverse of :func:`ord` for Unicode strings.  The valid range for the argument
    depends how Python was configured -- it may be either UCS2 [0..0xFFFF] or UCS4
-   [0..0x10FFFF]. :exc:`ValueError` is raised otherwise.
+   [0..0x10FFFF]. :exc:`ValueError` is raised otherwise. For ASCII and 8-bit
+   strings see :func:`chr`.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.0
 
 
 .. function:: unicode([object[, encoding [, errors]]])
 
    Return the Unicode string version of *object* using one of the following modes:
 
    If *encoding* and/or *errors* are given, ``unicode()`` will decode the object
    which can either be an 8-bit string or a character buffer using the codec for
    *encoding*. The *encoding* parameter is a string giving the name of an encoding;
    if the encoding is not known, :exc:`LookupError` is raised. Error handling is
@@ -1161,105 +1317,210 @@
    characters which cannot be decoded.  See also the :mod:`codecs` module.
 
    If no optional parameters are given, ``unicode()`` will mimic the behaviour of
    ``str()`` except that it returns Unicode strings instead of 8-bit strings. More
    precisely, if *object* is a Unicode string or subclass it will return that
    Unicode string without any additional decoding applied.
 
    For objects which provide a :meth:`__unicode__` method, it will call this method
    without arguments to create a Unicode string. For all other objects, the 8-bit
    string version or representation is requested and then converted to a Unicode
    string using the codec for the default encoding in ``'strict'`` mode.
 
+   For more information on Unicode strings see :ref:`typesseq` which describes
+   sequence functionality (Unicode strings are sequences), and also the
+   string-specific methods described in the :ref:`string-methods` section. To
+   output formatted strings use template strings or the ``%`` operator described
+   in the :ref:`string-formatting` section. In addition see the
+   :ref:`stringservices` section. See also :func:`str`.
+
    .. versionadded:: 2.0
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.2
       Support for :meth:`__unicode__` added.
 
 
 .. function:: vars([object])
 
    Without arguments, return a dictionary corresponding to the current local symbol
    table.  With a module, class or class instance object as argument (or anything
    else that has a :attr:`__dict__` attribute), returns a dictionary corresponding
-   to the object's symbol table.  The returned dictionary should not be modified:
-   the effects on the corresponding symbol table are undefined. [#]_
+   to the object's symbol table.
+
+   .. warning::
+
+      The returned dictionary should not be modified:
+      the effects on the corresponding symbol table are undefined. [#]_
 
 
 .. function:: xrange([start,] stop[, step])
 
    This function is very similar to :func:`range`, but returns an "xrange object"
    instead of a list.  This is an opaque sequence type which yields the same values
    as the corresponding list, without actually storing them all simultaneously.
    The advantage of :func:`xrange` over :func:`range` is minimal (since
    :func:`xrange` still has to create the values when asked for them) except when a
    very large range is used on a memory-starved machine or when all of the range's
    elements are never used (such as when the loop is usually terminated with
    :keyword:`break`).
 
    .. note::
 
       :func:`xrange` is intended to be simple and fast. Implementations may impose
       restrictions to achieve this. The C implementation of Python restricts all
       arguments to native C longs ("short" Python integers), and also requires that
-      the number of elements fit in a native C long.
+      the number of elements fit in a native C long.  If a larger range is needed,
+      an alternate version can be crafted using the :mod:`itertools` module:
+      ``islice(count(start, step), (stop-start+step-1)//step)``.
 
 
 .. function:: zip([iterable, ...])
 
    This function returns a list of tuples, where the *i*-th tuple contains the
    *i*-th element from each of the argument sequences or iterables. The returned
    list is truncated in length to the length of the shortest argument sequence.
    When there are multiple arguments which are all of the same length, :func:`zip`
    is similar to :func:`map` with an initial argument of ``None``. With a single
    sequence argument, it returns a list of 1-tuples. With no arguments, it returns
    an empty list.
 
+   The left-to-right evaluation order of the iterables is guaranteed. This
+   makes possible an idiom for clustering a data series into n-length groups
+   using ``zip(*[iter(s)]*n)``.
+
+   :func:`zip` in conjunction with the ``*`` operator can be used to unzip a
+   list::
+
+      >>> x = [1, 2, 3]
+      >>> y = [4, 5, 6]
+      >>> zipped = zip(x, y)
+      >>> zipped
+      [(1, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6)]
+      >>> x2, y2 = zip(*zipped)
+      >>> x == x2, y == y2
+      True
+
    .. versionadded:: 2.0
 
    .. versionchanged:: 2.4
       Formerly, :func:`zip` required at least one argument and ``zip()`` raised a
       :exc:`TypeError` instead of returning an empty list.
 
-.. % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+.. function:: __import__(name[, globals[, locals[, fromlist[, level]]]])
+
+   .. index::
+      statement: import
+      module: imp
+
+   .. note::
+
+      This is an advanced function that is not needed in everyday Python
+      programming.
+
+   This function is invoked by the :keyword:`import` statement.  It can be
+   replaced (by importing the :mod:`builtins` module and assigning to
+   ``builtins.__import__``) in order to change semantics of the
+   :keyword:`import` statement, but nowadays it is usually simpler to use import
+   hooks (see :pep:`302`).  Direct use of :func:`__import__` is rare, except in
+   cases where you want to import a module whose name is only known at runtime.
+
+   The function imports the module *name*, potentially using the given *globals*
+   and *locals* to determine how to interpret the name in a package context.
+   The *fromlist* gives the names of objects or submodules that should be
+   imported from the module given by *name*.  The standard implementation does
+   not use its *locals* argument at all, and uses its *globals* only to
+   determine the package context of the :keyword:`import` statement.
+
+   *level* specifies whether to use absolute or relative imports.  The default
+   is ``-1`` which indicates both absolute and relative imports will be
+   attempted.  ``0`` means only perform absolute imports.  Positive values for
+   *level* indicate the number of parent directories to search relative to the
+   directory of the module calling :func:`__import__`.
+
+   When the *name* variable is of the form ``package.module``, normally, the
+   top-level package (the name up till the first dot) is returned, *not* the
+   module named by *name*.  However, when a non-empty *fromlist* argument is
+   given, the module named by *name* is returned.
+
+   For example, the statement ``import spam`` results in bytecode resembling the
+   following code::
+
+      spam = __import__('spam', globals(), locals(), [], -1)
+
+   The statement ``import spam.ham`` results in this call::
+
+      spam = __import__('spam.ham', globals(), locals(), [], -1)
+
+   Note how :func:`__import__` returns the toplevel module here because this is
+   the object that is bound to a name by the :keyword:`import` statement.
+
+   On the other hand, the statement ``from spam.ham import eggs, sausage as
+   saus`` results in ::
+
+      _temp = __import__('spam.ham', globals(), locals(), ['eggs', 'sausage'], -1)
+      eggs = _temp.eggs
+      saus = _temp.sausage
+
+   Here, the ``spam.ham`` module is returned from :func:`__import__`.  From this
+   object, the names to import are retrieved and assigned to their respective
+   names.
+
+   If you simply want to import a module (potentially within a package) by name,
+   you can get it from :data:`sys.modules`::
+
+      >>> import sys
+      >>> name = 'foo.bar.baz'
+      >>> __import__(name)
+      <module 'foo' from ...>
+      >>> baz = sys.modules[name]
+      >>> baz
+      <module 'foo.bar.baz' from ...>
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.5
+      The level parameter was added.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 2.5
+      Keyword support for parameters was added.
+
+..  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 .. _non-essential-built-in-funcs:
 
 Non-essential Built-in Functions
 ================================
 
 There are several built-in functions that are no longer essential to learn, know
 or use in modern Python programming.  They have been kept here to maintain
 backwards compatibility with programs written for older versions of Python.
 
-Python programmers, trainers, students and bookwriters should feel free to
+Python programmers, trainers, students and book writers should feel free to
 bypass these functions without concerns about missing something important.
 
 
 .. function:: apply(function, args[, keywords])
 
    The *function* argument must be a callable object (a user-defined or built-in
    function or method, or a class object) and the *args* argument must be a
    sequence.  The *function* is called with *args* as the argument list; the number
    of arguments is the length of the tuple. If the optional *keywords* argument is
    present, it must be a dictionary whose keys are strings.  It specifies keyword
    arguments to be added to the end of the argument list. Calling :func:`apply` is
    different from just calling ``function(args)``, since in that case there is
    always exactly one argument.  The use of :func:`apply` is equivalent to
-   ``function(*args, **keywords)``. Use of :func:`apply` is not necessary since the
-   "extended call syntax," as used in the last example, is completely equivalent.
+   ``function(*args, **keywords)``.
 
    .. deprecated:: 2.3
-      Use the extended call syntax instead, as described above.
+      Use the extended call syntax with ``*args`` and ``**keywords`` instead.
 
 
 .. function:: buffer(object[, offset[, size]])
 
    The *object* argument must be an object that supports the buffer call interface
    (such as strings, arrays, and buffers).  A new buffer object will be created
    which references the *object* argument. The buffer object will be a slice from
    the beginning of *object* (or from the specified *offset*). The slice will
    extend to the end of *object* (or will have a length given by the *size*
    argument).
 
 
