Serializing Python Objects using Pickle

Pickle is the native data serialization module for Python.¹ It is the simplest and most effective way for storing and sharing Python data in the short-term.

Data Serialization

It is the process of converting structured data into a format through which storing and sharing of the data is possible. Without serialization, the data would be force converted into a str, where the

The serialized data can be recovered to its original structure.

Some of the other common serializing methods are:

Flat data	Nested data
repr	YAML
csv	JSON
NumPy Array	XML

Code

import pickle
with open('file.pkl', 'rb') as f:  # The 'b' stands for byte.
    data = pickle.load(f)

with open('file.pkl', 'wb') as f:
    pickle.dump(data, f)

Resources

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Data Serialization. ↩