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<div class="section" id="module-multiprocessing">
<span id="multiprocessing-manage-processes-like-threads"></span><h1>multiprocessing – Manage processes like threads<a class="headerlink" href="#module-multiprocessing" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
<col class="field-name" />
<col class="field-body" />
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Purpose:</th><td class="field-body">Provides an API for managing processes.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Python Version:</th><td class="field-body">2.6</td>
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<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-multiprocessing" title="multiprocessing: Manage processes like threads."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">multiprocessing</span></tt></a> module includes a relatively simple API for
dividing work up between multiple processes. It is based on the API
for <a class="reference internal" href="../threading/index.html#module-threading" title="threading: Manage several concurrent threads of execution."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt></a>, and in some cases is a drop-in replacement. Due
to the similarity, the first few examples here are modified from the
<a class="reference internal" href="../threading/index.html#module-threading" title="threading: Manage several concurrent threads of execution."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt></a> examples. Features provided by
<a class="reference internal" href="#module-multiprocessing" title="multiprocessing: Manage processes like threads."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">multiprocessing</span></tt></a> but not available in <a class="reference internal" href="../threading/index.html#module-threading" title="threading: Manage several concurrent threads of execution."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt></a> are
covered later.</p>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html">multiprocessing Basics</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#importable-target-functions">Importable Target Functions</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#determining-the-current-process">Determining the Current Process</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#daemon-processes">Daemon Processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#waiting-for-processes">Waiting for Processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#terminating-processes">Terminating Processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#process-exit-status">Process Exit Status</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#logging">Logging</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="basics.html#subclassing-process">Subclassing Process</a></li>
</ul>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html">Communication Between Processes</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#passing-messages-to-processes">Passing Messages to Processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#signaling-between-processes">Signaling between Processes</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#controlling-access-to-resources">Controlling Access to Resources</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#synchronizing-operations">Synchronizing Operations</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#controlling-concurrent-access-to-resources">Controlling Concurrent Access to Resources</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#managing-shared-state">Managing Shared State</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#shared-namespaces">Shared Namespaces</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="communication.html#process-pools">Process Pools</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="mapreduce.html">Implementing MapReduce with multiprocessing</a><ul>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mapreduce.html#simplemapreduce">SimpleMapReduce</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="mapreduce.html#counting-words-in-files">Counting Words in Files</a></li>
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<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt><a class="reference external" href="http://docs.python.org/library/multiprocessing.html">multiprocessing</a></dt>
<dd>The standard library documentation for this module.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="../threading/index.html#module-threading" title="threading: Manage several concurrent threads of execution."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">threading</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>High-level API for working with threads.</dd>
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