[python] What is __future__ in Python used for and how/when to use it, and how it works

There are some great answers already, but none of them address a complete list of what the __future__ statement currently supports.

Put simply, the __future__ statement forces Python interpreters to use newer features of the language.

The features that it currently supports are the following:

nested_scopes

Prior to Python 2.1, the following code would raise a NameError:

def f():
    ...
    def g(value):
        ...
        return g(value-1) + 1
    ...

The from __future__ import nested_scopes directive will allow for this feature to be enabled.

generators

Introduced generator functions such as the one below to save state between successive function calls:

def fib():
    a, b = 0, 1
    while 1:
       yield b
       a, b = b, a+b

division

Classic division is used in Python 2.x versions. Meaning that some division statements return a reasonable approximation of division ("true division") and others return the floor ("floor division"). Starting in Python 3.0, true division is specified by x/y, whereas floor division is specified by x//y.

The from __future__ import division directive forces the use of Python 3.0 style division.

absolute_import

Allows for parenthesis to enclose multiple import statements. For example:

from Tkinter import (Tk, Frame, Button, Entry, Canvas, Text,
    LEFT, DISABLED, NORMAL, RIDGE, END)

Instead of:

from Tkinter import Tk, Frame, Button, Entry, Canvas, Text, \
    LEFT, DISABLED, NORMAL, RIDGE, END

Or:

from Tkinter import Tk, Frame, Button, Entry, Canvas, Text
from Tkinter import LEFT, DISABLED, NORMAL, RIDGE, END

with_statement

Adds the statement with as a keyword in Python to eliminate the need for try/finally statements. Common uses of this are when doing file I/O such as:

with open('workfile', 'r') as f:
     read_data = f.read()

print_function:

Forces the use of Python 3 parenthesis-style print() function call instead of the print MESSAGE style statement.

unicode_literals

Introduces the literal syntax for the bytes object. Meaning that statements such as bytes('Hello world', 'ascii') can be simply expressed as b'Hello world'.

generator_stop

Replaces the use of the StopIteration exception used inside generator functions with the RuntimeError exception.

One other use not mentioned above is that the __future__ statement also requires the use of Python 2.1+ interpreters since using an older version will throw a runtime exception.

References

• https://docs.python.org/2/library/future.html
• https://docs.python.org/3/library/future.html
• https://docs.python.org/2.2/whatsnew/node9.html
• https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0255/
• https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0238/
• https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0328/
• https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3112/
• https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0479/