Question

I am trying to create a simple python extension module. I compiled the following code into a transit.so dynamic module

#include <python2.6/Python.h>

static PyObject*
_print(PyObject* self, PyObject* args)
{
    return Py_BuildValue("i", 10);
}

static PyMethodDef TransitMethods[] = {
    {"print", _print, METH_VARARGS, ""},
    {NULL, NULL, 0, NULL}
};

PyMODINIT_FUNC
inittransit(void)
{
    Py_InitModule("transit", TransitMethods);
}

However, trying to call this from python

import transit
transit.print()

I obtain an error message

  File "test.py", line 2
    transit.print()
                ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

What’s wrong with my code?

Answer 1

I’m guessing that it has to do with using a keyword as a function name. I tried defining a function print() in a module just now for testing and got the same sort of error. Try changing the name of this function slightly and see if it fixes the problem.