Python compile() Function

The python compile() function takes source code as input and returns a code object which can later be executed by exec() function.

Signature

compile(source, filename, mode, flag, dont_inherit, optimize)

Parameters

• source – normal string, a byte string, or an AST (Abstract Syntax Trees) object.
• filename – File from which the code is read.
• mode – mode can be either exec or eval or single.
  • eval – if the source is a single expression.
  • exec – if the source is block of statements.
  • single – if the source is single statement.
• flags and dont_inherit – Default Value= 0. Both are optional parameters. It monitors that which future statements affect the compilation of the source.
• optimize (optional) – Default value -1. It defines the optimization level of the compiler.

Return

It returns a Python code object.

Let’s see some examples of compile() function which are given below:

Python compile() Function Example 1

This example shows to compile a string source to the code object.

Output:

<class 'code'>  sum = 15  

Python compile() Function Example 2

This example shows to read a code from the file and compile.

Let’s say we have mycode.py file with following content.

We can read this file content as a string ,compile it to code object and execute it.

Output:

Multiplication =200