"builtins" --- Built-in objects ******************************* ====================================================================== This module provides direct access to all 'built-in' identifiers of Python; for example, "builtins.open" is the full name for the built-in function "open()". See Built-in Functions and Built-in Constants for documentation. This module is not normally accessed explicitly by most applications, but can be useful in modules that provide objects with the same name as a built-in value, but in which the built-in of that name is also needed. For example, in a module that wants to implement an "open()" function that wraps the built-in "open()", this module can be used directly: import builtins def open(path): f = builtins.open(path, 'r') return UpperCaser(f) class UpperCaser: '''Wrapper around a file that converts output to upper-case.''' def __init__(self, f): self._f = f def read(self, count=-1): return self._f.read(count).upper() # ... As an implementation detail, most modules have the name "__builtins__" made available as part of their globals. The value of "__builtins__" is normally either this module or the value of this module's "__dict__" attribute. Since this is an implementation detail, it may not be used by alternate implementations of Python.