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Asked: 2026-05-24T07:41:49+00:00

I recently upgraded my Python 2.7.1 installation to 2.7.2 using the .msi installer and

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I recently upgraded my Python 2.7.1 installation to 2.7.2 using the .msi installer and the process seemed to go OK. However afterwards I happened to be looking at what the default values were for sys.path and noticed the entry for ‘C:\Windows\system32\python27.zip’. Wondering exactly what was in it, I decided to try opening it with a Zip utility to check out its contents — however I soon discovered that the file wasn’t there (although there is a python27.dll).

Anyhow I’m now wondering if something is wrong. Several existing Python programs I frequently use all seem to work without problems, so I’m not sure whether the installation is messed up or not (or how to fix it, if it is).

Update

I’m aware of and have read PEP273, so know about .zip file modules. That’s not what I’m asking about. What I want to know is the fact that there is no python27.zip installed on my system even though it’s referred to in my sys.path a problem? I’ve never encountered problems importing standard Python libraries, which is what I would expect not having one would affect.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    From PEP 273 — Import Modules from Zip Archives:

    Just as sys.path currently has default directory names, a default zip
    archive name is added too. Otherwise there is no way to import all
    Python library files from an archive.

    …

    The problem is what the name should be. The name should be linked
    with the Python version, so the Python executable can correctly find
    its corresponding libraries even when there are multiple Python
    versions on the same machine.

    We add one name to sys.path. On Unix, the directory is sys.prefix +
    “/lib”, and the file name is “python%s%s.zip” % (sys.version[0],
    sys.version[2]). So for Python 2.2 and prefix /usr/local, the path
    /usr/local/lib/python2.2/ is already on sys.path, and
    /usr/local/lib/python22.zip would be added. On Windows, the file is
    the full path to python22.dll, with “dll” replaced by “zip”. The zip
    archive name is always inserted as the second item in sys.path. The
    first is the directory of the main.py (thanks Tim).

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