5. Installation

The recommended way to install jsre is to use the Python pip utility which will download the module from the pypi repository then install it.

This section briefly describes module installation, testing, and extending the installed set of encodings if required.

jsre is compatible with Python 3, it is not available for Python 2. It has a single python extension written in C which is pre-compiled in a wheel for Microsoft Windows, or is compiled by pip during Linux installation.

5.1. Windows Installation

Since Python 3.4, pip is installed with Python; jsre install should be straightforward:

pip install jsre

Earlier versions of Python may need to install pip as a module and invoke it with python -m pip .... If you have multiple versions of Python installed you may need to use pip3. If pip is not installed as a module (import pip or import pip3 both fail) then try python -m ensurepip to install the package - it will already be available as a wheel on the system.

Python Modules are installed to the site-packages directory; for Python 3.4 the installation directory is:

...Python3.4\Lib\site-packages\jsre

jsre documentation is installed in the docs subdirectory of the above path.

After installation, check that all the components of the module have been installed by navigating to the module directory using the command line, then using tools test. For example:

C:\Python34\Lib\site-packages\jsre>python tools.py test

The script will generate warnings as part of its testing; it should complete with a message:

Ran .. tests in .. seconds
OK

Finally, check that the module can be accessed from an external Python script:

C:\Users\student>Python
Python 3.4.2 ... on win32 ...
>>> import jsre
>>> res = jsre.findall('b\w*','quick brown fox')
>>> print(str(res))
[('brown',)]

This assumes that only one version of python is installed, if you have multiple versions then you may need to use version-specific commands (e.g. pip3.4). An alternative (better) solution is to use virtual environments.

5.2. Linux Installation

There is considerable variation in Linux systems; the examples in this section may need to be adjusted for your system, but the process is straightforward. pip is used to install the module and compile the associated C extension. There are no additional environmental libraries or modules required but since the extension must be compiled it is necessary to first install the Python development extensions. For example, in Debian based systems such as Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install build-essential python3.4-dev

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora users will need to use yum in place of apt-get.

In Python 3.4 pip should already be installed, this can be tested using pip3.4 -V. Note that Ubuntu users need to substitute pip3 and Python3, omitting the minor version:

user@ubuntu:~$ pip3 -V
pip 1.5.4 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (python 3.4)

Install pip if it is not present, for example in Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install python3-pip

Next use pip to download, compile and install the module:

sudo pip3 install jsre

In Linux, Python modules are installed in dist-packages, for example:

/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/jsre

After installation check that all the components of the module have been installed by navigating to the module directory, then using python tools.py test. For example:

user@ubuntu:/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/jsre$ sudo python3.4 tools.py test

The script will generate warnings as part of its testing; it should complete with a message:

Ran .. tests in .. seconds
OK

Finally, check that the module can be accessed from an external Python script:

user@ubuntu:~$ python3
Python 3.4.0 ... on linux ...
>>> import jsre
>>> res = jsre.findall('b\w*', 'quick brown fox')
>>> print(str(res))
[('brown',)]

Ubuntu is used as an example because it supports both python2 and python3, so the identification of versions in the commands is important. If you have only version 3 installed you may be able to simply use pip, python, etc.

5.3. Encodings

jsre uses pre-compiled Unicode character classes for each encoding that is required.

Unicode Encodings installed by default are:

utf_8, utf_16_be, utf_16_le, utf_32_be, utf_32_le

together with codepages for:

ascii, cp1250, cp1251, cp1252, cp1253, cp1254, cp1255, cp1256, cp1257, cp1258

Users can install additional encodings from the available Python codecs using the tools script as above with the argument compile followed by the codec name. For example, to install cp858 from the jsre install directory, use (Windows):

tools compile cp858

or Linux:

sudo python3.4 tools.py compile cp858

Compilation may take several minutes and should end with a Compilation Complete message.

Most user-installed encodings are likely to be ascii extensions/code pages; in this case expect warning messages that some character classes cannot be found, since not all classes can be represented in all encodings. You are still able to use the installed character classes.