Question

What function do you call to pickle an object?

Short answer

Answer: To pickle an object in Python, you should call the `dump` or `dumps` function from the `pickle` module. To use it, first import the `pickle` module using `import pickle`. Then, use the `dump` function to pickle the object and store it in a file by opening a binary file and passing the object and file-like object to the `dump` function. Alternatively, you can use the `dumps` function to pickle the object and obtain it as a pickled byte string, which can then be stored or transmitted as needed.

Step-by-step solution

Understand pickling

Pickling is a way to convert a Python object into a byte stream that can be easily stored in a file or transmitted over a network. By doing this, we can save the object's state, so it can later be restored or used in another program.

The pickle module

Python provides a built-in module called `pickle` which has functions for pickling and unpickling objects. To pickle an object, you need to call the `dump` or `dumps` function from the `pickle` module.

Import pickle module

First, you need to import the `pickle` module in your Python program. To do this, simply use the import statement like this: ```python import pickle ```

Pickle the object using the dump function

To pickle the object, you need to call the `dump` function from the `pickle` module. The `dump` function takes two arguments: the first is the object you want to pickle, and the second is a file-like object with write-binary mode where the pickled object will be stored. Here's an example of how to use the `dump` function to pickle an object: ```python # Let's say you have a dictionary you want to pickle data = {'name': 'John', 'age': 30, 'city': 'New York'} # Open a binary file to store the pickled object with open('data.pkl', 'wb') as file: # Use the pickle.dump function to pickle the 'data' object and store it in the file pickle.dump(data, file) ```

Alternate method: Pickle the object using the dumps function

Alternatively, you can use the `dumps` function to pickle an object and obtain it as a pickled byte string. This is useful when you want to transmit the pickled object over a network or store it in a different format. Here's an example of using the `dumps` function: ```python # Let's say you have a dictionary you want to pickle data = {'name': 'John', 'age': 30, 'city': 'New York'} # Use the pickle.dumps function to pickle the 'data' object and obtain the pickled byte string pickled_data = pickle.dumps(data) # You can now store or transmit the pickled byte string as needed ```