pysword 0.2.1

Use modules from default datapath

from pysword.modules import SwordModules
# Find available modules/bibles in standard data path.
# For non-standard data path, pass it as an argument to the SwordModules constructor.
modules = SwordModules()
# In this case we'll assume the modules found is something like:
# {'KJV': {'description': 'KingJamesVersion(1769)withStrongsNumbersandMorphology', 'encoding': 'UTF-8', ...}}
found_modules = modules.parse_modules()
bible = modules.get_bible_from_module('KJV')
# Get John chapter 3 verse 16
output = bible.get(books=['john'], chapters=[3], verses=[16])

Load module from zip-file

from pysword.modules import SwordModules
# Load module in zip
# NB: the zip content is only available as long as the SwordModules object exists
modules = SwordModules('KJV.zip')
# In this case the module found is:
# {'KJV': {'description': 'KingJamesVersion(1769)withStrongsNumbersandMorphology', 'encoding': 'UTF-8', ...}}
found_modules = modules.parse_modules()
bible = modules.get_bible_from_module('KJV')
# Get John chapter 3 verse 16
output = bible.get(books=['john'], chapters=[3], verses=[16])

Manually create bible

from pysword.bible import SwordBible
# Create the bible. The arguments are:
# SwordBible(<module path>, <module type>, <versification>, <encoding>, <text formatting>)
# Only the first is required, the rest have default values which should work in most cases.
bible = SwordBible('/home/me/.sword/modules/texts/ztext/kjv/', 'ztext', 'default', 'utf8', 'OSIS')
# Get John chapter 3 verse 16
output = bible.get(books=['john'], chapters=[3], verses=[16])

ztext format documentation

Take the Old Testament (OT) for example. Three files:

• ot.bzv: Maps verses to character ranges in compressed buffers. 10 bytes (‘<IIH’) for each verse in the Bible:

  • buffer_num (I): which compressed buffer the verse is located in

  • verse_start (I): the location in the uncompressed buffer where the verse begins

  • verse_len (H): length of the verse, in uncompressed characters

These 10-byte records are densely packed, indexed by VerseKey ‘Indicies’ (docs later). So the record for the verse with index x starts at byte 10*x.

• ot.bzs: Tells where the compressed buffers start and end. 12 bytes (‘<III’) for each compressed buffer:

  • offset (I): where the compressed buffer starts in the file

  • size (I): the length of the compressed data, in bytes

  • uc_size (I): the length of the uncompressed data, in bytes (unused)

These 12-byte records are densely packed, indexed by buffer_num (see previous). So the record for compressed buffer buffer_num starts at byte 12*buffer_num.

• ot.bzz: Contains the compressed text. Read ‘size’ bytes starting at ‘offset’.

ztext4 format documentation

ztext4 is the same as ztext, except that in the bzv-file the verse_len is now represented by 4-byte integer (I), making the record 12 bytes in all.

rawtext format documentation

Again OT example. Two files:

• ot.vss: Maps verses to character ranges in text file. 6 bytes (‘<IH’) for each verse in the Bible:

  • verse_start (I): the location in the textfile where the verse begins

  • verse_len (H): length of the verse, in characters

• ot: Contains the text. Read ‘verse_len’ characters starting at ‘verse_start’.

rawtext4 format documentation

rawtext4 is the same as rawtext, except that in the vss-file the verse_len is now represented by 4-byte integer (I), making the record 8 bytes in all.