How to efficiently read binary files?

[Alex Martelli]

David Lees <debl2NoSpam at verizon.net> wrote:

> I want to process large binary files (>2GB) in Python.  I have played
> around with prototypes in pure Python and profiled the code.  Most of
> the time seems to be spent converting back and forth to and from strings
> using the struct module.  Is there a way to directly read into an array
> of integers in Python?

>>> import array
>>> x=array.array('l')
>>> help(x.fromfile)

Help on built-in function fromfile:

fromfile(...)
    fromfile(f, n)
    
    Read n objects from the file object f and append them to the end of
    the array.  Also called as read.


Alex