Pickle - Revision history

Thorsted at 16:14, 12 November 2025

2025-11-12T16:14:39Z

Mark0: added v5

2025-09-09T14:08:11Z

added v5

Dan Tobias: wikidata

2020-02-12T00:01:38Z

wikidata

Dan Tobias: /* Sample data */

2020-02-12T00:00:59Z

‎Sample data

Dan Tobias: /* Links */

2014-05-17T21:46:40Z

‎Links

Dan Tobias at 21:33, 17 May 2014

2014-05-17T21:33:22Z

Dan Tobias: Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=electronic |subcat=Serialization |extensions={{ext|pickle}} }} :''I don't want a pickle; Just want to ride on my motorsickle.'' :-- [http://www.youtub..."

2014-05-17T21:31:13Z

Created page with "{{FormatInfo |formattype=electronic |subcat=Serialization |extensions={{ext|pickle}} }} :''I don't want a pickle; Just want to ride on my motorsickle.'' :-- [http://www.youtub..."

New page

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Serialization
|extensions={{ext|pickle}}
}}
:''I don't want a pickle; Just want to ride on my motorsickle.''
:-- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvLtNBm1yyA Arlo Guthrie]

'''Pickle''' is a serialization format used by the [[Python]] programming language. There have been several different protocols, introduced in different versions of Python. Newer Python versions support the earlier protocols, but data using them wouldn't be compatible with earlier Python versions not supporting that version of the protocol. Pickle is Python-specific, so data intended to be used across different programs in different programming languages would be better off using a more standardized format such as [[JSON]] (which is also supported by a standard Python library), but Pickle is optimized for Python, supporting greater speed and compactness and able to encode just about anything that can be stored in a Python variable, including the quirkier Python constructs which might not be easy to represent in other formats. By the same token, however, this makes Pickle a potentially dangerous format since it can encapsulate such things as functions which do harmful things, allowing it to become a medium for transmitting trojan horse programs. For this reason, it is not a good idea to use Pickle as a format for exchanging data from untrusted sources, or as input/output in public-facing APIs.

== Pickle protocols ==
* 0: Text-based format used in early Python versions
* 1: Binary format used in early Python versions
* 2: Introduced in Python 2.3; better support for new-style classes
* 3: Introduced in Python 3.0; supports new Python 3.0 types
* 4: Introduced in Python 3.4; some improvements to efficiency, and added support for more data types

== Sample data ==
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data0.pickle Protocol 0]
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data1.pickle Protocol 1]
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data2.pickle Protocol 2]
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data3.pickle Protocol 3]
* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data4.pickle Protocol 4]

== Links ==
* [https://docs.python.org/2/library/pickle.html Python 2 Pickle library docs]
* [https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html Python 3 Pickle library docs]
* [[Wikipedia:Pickle (Python)|Wikipedia article]]
* [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8968884/python-serialization-why-pickle Why Pickle?]
* [http://python.about.com/od/pythonstandardlibrary/a/pickle_intro.htm Pickle intro]
* [https://blog.nelhage.com/2011/03/exploiting-pickle/ Exploiting Misuse of Python's "Pickle"]

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:33, 17 May 2014
Line 8:		Line 8:

	'''Pickle''' is a serialization format used by the [[Python]] programming language. There have been several different protocols, introduced in different versions of Python. Newer Python versions support the earlier protocols, but data using them wouldn't be compatible with earlier Python versions not supporting that version of the protocol. Pickle is Python-specific, so data intended to be used across different programs in different programming languages would be better off using a more standardized format such as [[JSON]] (which is also supported by a standard Python library), but Pickle is optimized for Python, supporting greater speed and compactness and able to encode just about anything that can be stored in a Python variable, including the quirkier Python constructs which might not be easy to represent in other formats. By the same token, however, this makes Pickle a potentially dangerous format since it can encapsulate such things as functions which do harmful things, allowing it to become a medium for transmitting trojan horse programs. For this reason, it is not a good idea to use Pickle as a format for exchanging data from untrusted sources, or as input/output in public-facing APIs.		'''Pickle''' is a serialization format used by the [[Python]] programming language. There have been several different protocols, introduced in different versions of Python. Newer Python versions support the earlier protocols, but data using them wouldn't be compatible with earlier Python versions not supporting that version of the protocol. Pickle is Python-specific, so data intended to be used across different programs in different programming languages would be better off using a more standardized format such as [[JSON]] (which is also supported by a standard Python library), but Pickle is optimized for Python, supporting greater speed and compactness and able to encode just about anything that can be stored in a Python variable, including the quirkier Python constructs which might not be easy to represent in other formats. By the same token, however, this makes Pickle a potentially dangerous format since it can encapsulate such things as functions which do harmful things, allowing it to become a medium for transmitting trojan horse programs. For this reason, it is not a good idea to use Pickle as a format for exchanging data from untrusted sources, or as input/output in public-facing APIs.
		+
		+	Pickle data may be saved to a file, a database, or a network; it does not necessarily have a distinctive file extension, but .pickle is sometimes used.

	== Pickle protocols ==		== Pickle protocols ==

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |formattype=electronic
 |subcat=Serialization
-|extensions={{ext|pickle}}
+|extensions={{ext|pickle}}, {{ext|pkl}}
 |wikidata={{wikidata|Q28206437}}
 }}

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 * 3: Introduced in Python 3.0; supports new Python 3.0 types
 * 4: Introduced in Python 3.4; some improvements to efficiency, and added support for more data types
 == Sample data ==

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 == Sample data ==
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data0.pickle Protocol 0]
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data0.pickle Protocol 0]
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data1.pickle Protocol 1]
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data1.pickle Protocol 1]
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data2.pickle Protocol 2]
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data2.pickle Protocol 2]
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data3.pickle Protocol 3]
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data3.pickle Protocol 3]
-* [http://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data4.pickle Protocol 4]
+* [https://www.dan.info/sampledata/pickle/data4.pickle Protocol 4]
 == Links ==

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 * [https://docs.python.org/2/library/pickle.html Python 2 Pickle library docs]
 * [https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html Python 3 Pickle library docs]
 * [[Wikipedia:Pickle (Python)|Wikipedia article]]
 * [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8968884/python-serialization-why-pickle Why Pickle?]
 * [http://python.about.com/od/pythonstandardlibrary/a/pickle_intro.htm Pickle intro]
 * [https://blog.nelhage.com/2011/03/exploiting-pickle/ Exploiting Misuse of Python's "Pickle"]