The pickle module implements a fundamental, but powerful algorithm for serializing and de-serializing a Python object structure. Pickling - is the process whereby a Python object hierarchy is converted into a byte stream, and Unpickling - is the inverse operation, whereby a byte stream is converted back into an object hierarchy. Pickling (and unpickling) is alternatively known as serialization ...
Pickle is unsafe because it constructs arbitrary Python objects by invoking arbitrary functions. However, this is also gives it the power to serialize almost any Python object, without any boilerplate or even white-/black-listing (in the common case).
People using the pickle module should keep in mind that it is not secure and should only be used to unpickle data from trusted sources as there is the possibility for arbitrary code execution during the unpickling process.
I have looked through the information that the Python documentation for pickle gives, but I'm still a little confused. What would be some sample code that would write a new file and then use pickle...
How can I use pickle to save a dict (or any other Python object)?
The following is an example of how you might write and read a pickle file. Note that if you keep appending pickle data to the file, you will need to continue reading from the file until you find what you want or an exception is generated by reaching the end of the file. That is what the last function does.
The reason pickle fails, and dill doesn't, is that dill treats main like a module (for the most part), and also can pickle class definitions instead of pickling by reference (like pickle does).