8.10. queue — A synchronized queue class

Note

The Queue module has been renamed to queue in Python 3.0. The 2to3 tool will automatically adapt imports when converting your sources to 3.0.

The Queue module implements multi-producer, multi-consumer queues. It is especially useful in threaded programming when information must be exchanged safely between multiple threads. The Queue class in this module implements all the required locking semantics. It depends on the availability of thread support in Python; see the threading module.

Implements three types of queue whose only difference is the order that the entries are retrieved. In a FIFO queue, the first tasks added are the first retrieved. In a LIFO queue, the most recently added entry is the first retrieved (operating like a stack). With a priority queue, the entries are kept sorted (using the heapq module) and the lowest valued entry is retrieved first.

The Queue module defines the following classes and exceptions:

class Queue.Queue(maxsize=0)

Constructor for a FIFO queue. maxsize is an integer that sets the upperbound limit on the number of items that can be placed in the queue. Insertion will block once this size has been reached, until queue items are consumed. If maxsize is less than or equal to zero, the queue size is infinite.

class Queue.LifoQueue(maxsize=0)

Constructor for a LIFO queue. maxsize is an integer that sets the upperbound limit on the number of items that can be placed in the queue. Insertion will block once this size has been reached, until queue items are consumed. If maxsize is less than or equal to zero, the queue size is infinite.

New in version 2.6:

New in version 2.6.

class Queue.PriorityQueue(maxsize=0)

Constructor for a priority queue. maxsize is an integer that sets the upperbound limit on the number of items that can be placed in the queue. Insertion will block once this size has been reached, until queue items are consumed. If maxsize is less than or equal to zero, the queue size is infinite.

The lowest valued entries are retrieved first (the lowest valued entry is the one returned by sorted(list(entries))[0]). A typical pattern for entries is a tuple in the form: (priority_number, data).

New in version 2.6:

New in version 2.6.