\section{\module{py_compile} ---

Compile Python source files.}

\declaremodule[pycompile]{standard}{py_compile}

\modulesynopsis{Compile Python source files to byte-code files.}

\indexii{file}{byte-code}

The \module{py_compile} module provides a single function to generate

a byte-code file from a source file.

Though not often needed, this function can be useful when installing

modules for shared use, especially if some of the users may not have

permission to write the byte-code cache files in the directory

containing the source code.

\begin{funcdesc}{compile}{file\optional{, cfile\optional{, dfile}}}

Compile a source file to byte-code and write out the byte-code cache

file. The source code is loaded from the file name \var{file}. The

byte-code is written to \var{cfile}, which defaults to \var{file}

\code{+} \code{'c'} (\code{'o'} if optimization is enabled in the

current interpreter). If \var{dfile} is specified, it is used as

the name of the source file in error messages instead of \var{file}.

\end{funcdesc}

\begin{seealso}

\seemodule{compileall}{Utilities to compile all Python source files

in a directory tree.}

\end{seealso}