Pint is Python module/package to define, operate and manipulate physical quantities: the product of a numerical value and a unit of measurement. It allows arithmetic operations between them and conversions from and to different units.
It is distributed with a comprehensive list of physical units, prefixes and constants. Due to it’s modular design, you to extend (or even rewrite!) the complete list without changing the source code.
- It has a complete test coverage. It runs in Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2
with no other dependency. It licensed under BSD.
Design principles
Although there are already a few very good Python packages to handle physical quantities, no one was really fitting my needs. Like most developers, I programed Pint to scratch my own itches.
Unit parsing: prefixed and pluralized forms of units are recognized without explicitly defining them. In other words: as the prefix kilo and the unit meter are defined, Pint understands kilometers. This results in a much shorter and maintainable unit definition list as compared to other packages.
Standalone unit definitions: units definitions are loaded from simple and easy to edit text file. Adding and changing units and their definitions does not involve changing the code.
Handle temperature conversion: it can convert between units with different point of reference, like positions on a map or absolute temperature scales.
Advanced string formatting: a quantity can be formatted into string using PEP 3101 syntax. Extended conversion flags are given to provide latex and pretty formatting.
Small codebase: small and easy to maintain codebase with a flat hierarchy. It is a single stand-alone module that can be installed as a package or added side by side to your project.
Dependency free: it depends only on Python and it’s standard library.
Python 2 and 3: A single codebase that runs unchanged in Python 2.6+ and Python 3.0+.