.. _data-persistence:
     
     ================
     Data Persistence
     ================
     
     The standard library includes a variety of modules for persisting data.  The most common pattern for storing data from Python objects for reuse is to serialize them with :mod:`pickle` and then either write them directly to a file or store them using one of the many key-value pair database formats available with the *dbm* API.  If you don't care about the underlying dbm format, the best persistence interface is provided by :mod:`shelve`.  If you do care, you can use one of the other dbm-based modules directly.
     
     .. toctree::
         :maxdepth: 1
     
         anydbm/index
         dbhash/index
         dbm/index
         dumbdbm/index
         gdbm/index
         pickle/index
         shelve/index
         whichdb/index
         sqlite3/index
     
     For serializing over the web, the :mod:`json` module may be a better choice since its format is more portable.
     
     .. seealso::
     
         :ref:`article-data-persistence`