Built-in Python Modules and Command-line Interfaces

Useful built-in Python features to use without any coding.

Built-in Python Command-line Interfaces

This article explores interesting built-in Python features that could be useful for Python and non-Python developers.

Getting Started

With Python installed, we can use many of the built-in modules and command-line interfaces without any coding.

We can view more information on a particular command-line interface using the -h option.

For example, to view the help information of the HTTP server module.

python -m http.server -h

View the Help Information

HTTP Server

With a one-liner, we can use Python to create an HTTP server.

This command serves files relative to the current directory, using port 8000.

python -m http.server

A Python HTTP Server

The server listens to port 8000 by default. The default can be overridden by passing the desired port number as an argument.

python -m http.server 9000

By default, the server binds itself to all interfaces. The option -b/--bind specifies a specific address to which it should bind. Both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are supported.

For example, the following command causes the server to bind to localhost only.

python -m http.server --bind 127.0.0.1

By default, the server uses the current directory. The option -d/--directory specifies a directory to which it should serve the files.

For example, the following command uses a specific directory.

python -m http.server --directory /tmp/

By default, the server is conformant to HTTP/1.0. The option -p/--protocol specifies the HTTP version to which the server is conformant.