reference and not for assignment. Local variables both read and write in the innermost scope. Likewise, global variables read and write to the global namespace. The nonlocal allows writing to outer scopes. Python Setup and Usage, Release 3.9.5 49 path-like object An object representing a file system path. A path-like object is either a$_{str}$ or$_{bytes}$ object representing a path, or an object implementing the$_{os.PathLike}$ protocol. An object that supports the$_{os.}$ PathLike protocol can be converted to a$_{str}$ or$_{bytes}$ file system path by calling the$_{os.fspath()}$ path based finder One of the default meta path finders which searches an import path for modules. path entry hook A callable on the$_{sys.path_hook}$list which returns a path entry finder if it knows how to find modules on a specific path entry . See$_{importlib.abc.PathEntryFinder}$ for the methods that path entry finders implement. path entry finder A finder returned by a callable on$_{sys.path_hooks}$(i.e. a path entry hook ) which knows how to locate modules given a path entry . path entry A single location on the import path which the path based finder consults to find modules for importing. See also the argument glossary entry, the FAQ question on the difference between arguments and parameters, the$_{inspect.Parameter}$ class, the function section, and PEP 362 . Parameters can specify both optional and required arguments, as well as default values for some optional arguments. def func(*args,**kwargs):... def func(arg,*, kw_only1, kw_only2): ... def func(posonly1, posonly2, /, positional_or_keyword): ... def func(foo, bar = None ):... new-style class Old name for the flavor of classes now used for all class objects. In earlier Python versions, only new-style classes could use Python’s newer, versatile features like __slots__ , descriptors, properties, __getattribute__() , class methods, and static methods. object Any data with state (attributes or value) and defined behavior (methods). Also the ultimate base class of any new-style class . package A Python module which can contain submodules or recursively, subpackages. Technically, a package is a Python module with an$_{__path__}$ attribute. See also regular package and namespace package . parameter A named entity in a function (or method) definition that specifies an argument (or in some cases, argu- ments) that the function can accept. There are five kinds of parameter: • positional-or-keyword : specifies an argument that can be passed either positionally or as a keyword argu- ment . This is the default kind of parameter, for example foo and bar in the following: • positional-only : specifies an argument that can be supplied only by position. Positional-only parameters can be defined by including a$_{/}$character in the parameter list of the function definition after them, for example posonly1 and posonly2 in the following: • keyword-only : specifies an argument that can be supplied only by keyword. Keyword-only parameters can be defined by including a single var-positional parameter or bare$_{*}$in the parameter list of the function definition before them, for example kw_only1 and kw_only2 in the following: • var-positional : specifies that an arbitrary sequence of positional arguments can be provided (in addition to any positional arguments already accepted by other parameters). Such a parameter can be defined by prepending the parameter name with$_{*}$ , for example args in the following: • var-keyword : specifies that arbitrarily many keyword arguments can be provided (in addition to any key- word arguments already accepted by other parameters). Such a parameter can be defined by prepending the parameter name with$_{**}$ , for example kwargs in the example above.