STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 0 Try again with a "binary" pickle. >>> pkl1 = pickle.dumps(x, 1) >>> dis(pkl1) 0: ] EMPTY_LIST 1: q BINPUT 0 3: ( MARK 4: K BININT1 1 6: K BININT1 2 8: ( MARK 9: K BININT1 3 11: K BININT1 4 13: t TUPLE (MARK at 8) 14: q BINPUT 1 16: } EMPTY_DICT 17: q BINPUT 2 19: c GLOBAL '_codecs encode' 35: q BINPUT 3 37: ( MARK 38: X BINUNICODE 'abc' 46: q BINPUT 4 48: X BINUNICODE 'latin1' 59: q BINPUT 5 61: t TUPLE (MARK at 37) 62: q BINPUT 6 64: R REDUCE 65: q BINPUT 7 67: X BINUNICODE 'def' 75: q BINPUT 8 77: s SETITEM 78: e APPENDS (MARK at 3) 79: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 1 Exercise the INST/OBJ/BUILD family. >>> import pickletools >>> dis(pickle.dumps(pickletools.dis, 0)) 0: c GLOBAL 'pickletools dis' 17: p PUT 0 20: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 0 >>> from pickletools import _Example >>> x = [_Example(42)] * 2 >>> dis(pickle.dumps(x, 0)) 0: ( MARK 1: l LIST (MARK at 0) 2: p PUT 0 5: c GLOBAL 'copy_reg _reconstructor' 30: p PUT 1 33: ( MARK 34: c GLOBAL 'pickletools _Example' 56: p PUT 2 59: c GLOBAL '__builtin__ object' 79: p PUT 3 82: N NONE 83: t TUPLE (MARK at 33) 84: p PUT 4 87: R REDUCE 88: p PUT 5 91: ( MARK 92: d DICT (MARK at 91) 93: p PUT 6 96: V UNICODE 'value' 103: p PUT 7 106: I INT 42 110: s SETITEM 111: b BUILD 112: a APPEND 113: g GET 5 116: a APPEND 117: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 0 >>> dis(pickle.dumps(x, 1)) 0: ] EMPTY_LIST 1: q BINPUT 0 3: ( MARK 4: c GLOBAL 'copy_reg _reconstructor' 29: q BINPUT 1 31: ( MARK 32: c GLOBAL 'pickletools _Example' 54: q BINPUT 2 56: c GLOBAL '__builtin__ object' 76: q BINPUT 3 78: N NONE 79: t TUPLE (MARK at 31) 80: q BINPUT 4 82: R REDUCE 83: q BINPUT 5 85: } EMPTY_DICT 86: q BINPUT 6 88: X BINUNICODE 'value' 98: q BINPUT 7 100: K BININT1 42 102: s SETITEM 103: b BUILD 104: h BINGET 5 106: e APPENDS (MARK at 3) 107: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 1 Try "the canonical" recursive-object test. >>> L = [] >>> T = L, >>> L.append(T) >>> L[0] is T True >>> T[0] is L True >>> L[0][0] is L True >>> T[0][0] is T True >>> dis(pickle.dumps(L, 0)) 0: ( MARK 1: l LIST (MARK at 0) 2: p PUT 0 5: ( MARK 6: g GET 0 9: t TUPLE (MARK at 5) 10: p PUT 1 13: a APPEND 14: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 0 >>> dis(pickle.dumps(L, 1)) 0: ] EMPTY_LIST 1: q BINPUT 0 3: ( MARK 4: h BINGET 0 6: t TUPLE (MARK at 3) 7: q BINPUT 1 9: a APPEND 10: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 1 Note that, in the protocol 0 pickle of the recursive tuple, the disassembler has to emulate the stack in order to realize that the POP opcode at 16 gets rid of the MARK at 0. >>> dis(pickle.dumps(T, 0)) 0: ( MARK 1: ( MARK 2: l LIST (MARK at 1) 3: p PUT 0 6: ( MARK 7: g GET 0 10: t TUPLE (MARK at 6) 11: p PUT 1 14: a APPEND 15: 0 POP 16: 0 POP (MARK at 0) 17: g GET 1 20: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 0 >>> dis(pickle.dumps(T, 1)) 0: ( MARK 1: ] EMPTY_LIST 2: q BINPUT 0 4: ( MARK 5: h BINGET 0 7: t TUPLE (MARK at 4) 8: q BINPUT 1 10: a APPEND 11: 1 POP_MARK (MARK at 0) 12: h BINGET 1 14: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 1 Try protocol 2. >>> dis(pickle.dumps(L, 2)) 0: \x80 PROTO 2 2: ] EMPTY_LIST 3: q BINPUT 0 5: h BINGET 0 7: \x85 TUPLE1 8: q BINPUT 1 10: a APPEND 11: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 2 >>> dis(pickle.dumps(T, 2)) 0: \x80 PROTO 2 2: ] EMPTY_LIST 3: q BINPUT 0 5: h BINGET 0 7: \x85 TUPLE1 8: q BINPUT 1 10: a APPEND 11: 0 POP 12: h BINGET 1 14: . STOP highest protocol among opcodes = 2 Try protocol 3 with annotations: >>> dis(pickle.dumps(T, 3), annotate=1) 0: \x80 PROTO 3 Protocol version indicator. 2: ] EMPTY_LIST Push an empty list. 3: q BINPUT 0 Store the stack top into the memo. The stack is not popped. 5: h BINGET 0 Read an object from the memo and push it on the stack. 7: \x85 TUPLE1 Build a one-tuple out of the topmost item on the stack. 8: q BINPUT 1 Store the stack top into the memo. The stack is not popped. 10: a APPEND Append an object to a list. 11: 0 POP Discard the top stack item, shrinking the stack by one item. 12: h BINGET 1 Read an object from the memo and push it on the stack. 14: . STOP Stop the unpickling machine. highest protocol among opcodes = 2 a=