Python: Check whether Python shell is executing in 32bit or 64bit mode on OS

Last update on December 21 2024 07:22:37 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Shell Mode Detector

Write a Python program to determine if a Python shell is executing in 32bit or 64bit mode on OS.

Sample Solution-1:

Python Code:

# Import the 'struct' module, which provides pack and unpack functions for working with variable-length binary data.
import struct

# Use the 'calcsize' function to determine the size (in bytes) of the C int type for the current platform.
# The format string "P" is used to represent the C void pointer type, and multiplying it by 8 gives the size in bits.
# The result will be 32 for 32-bit platforms and 64 for 64-bit platforms.
print(struct.calcsize("P") * 8)

Sample Output:

64  

Explanation:

The said Python code imports the "struct" module, which converts between Python values and C structs represented as Python bytes objects.

The struct.calcsize() function is used to determine the size of a C data type, in bytes. In this case, the argument passed to the function is "P", which represents the C char * data type.

The value returned by struct.calcsize("P") is then multiplied by 8, which is used to convert the size from bytes to bits. This is because the size of a pointer is typically represented in bits, rather than bytes.

Finally, the result is printed to the console.

Sample Solution-2:

Python Code:

# Import the 'platform' and 'struct' modules.
import platform
import struct

# Use the 'architecture' function from the 'platform' module to get the bit architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) of the current platform.
# The [0] index retrieves the first element of the result, which is the architecture string.
architecture = platform.architecture()[0]

# Print the bit architecture string, which will be "32bit" or "64bit."
print(architecture)

# Use the 'calcsize' function from the 'struct' module to determine the size (in bytes) of the C int type for the current platform.
# The format string "P" is used to represent the C void pointer type, and multiplying it by 8 gives the size in bits.
# The result will be 32 for 32-bit platforms and 64 for 64-bit platforms.
print(struct.calcsize("P") * 8)

Sample Output:

64bit
64

Explanation:

The said Python code imports two modules platform and struct.

The "platform" module provides an access to underlying platform’s identifying data. Specific platforms listed alphabetically, with Linux included in the Unix section.

The "platform.architecture()" function returns a tuple (bits, linkage) which contain information about the bit architecture and the linkage format used for the executable. Both values are returned as strings.

This "struct" module converts between Python values and C structs represented as Python bytes objects. The "struct.calcsize" returns the size of the struct (and hence of the bytes object produced by pack(format, ...)) corresponding to the format string format.

The struct.calcsize("P") function is used to determine the size of a C data type, in bytes. In this case, the argument passed to the function is "P", which represents the C char * data type.

The value returned by struct.calcsize("P") is then multiplied by 8, which is used to convert the size from bytes to bits. This is because the size of a pointer is typically represented in bits, rather than bytes.

Then both the values are printed to the console, first the architecture of the system and then the size of pointer in bits.

Python Code Editor:

Previous: Write a Python program to check whether a file exists.
Next: Write a Python program to get OS name, platform and release information.