pickle

# pickle.dumps takes an object as a parameter and returns a string representation (dumps is short for “dump string”):
>>> import pickle
>>> t = [1, 2, 3]
>>> pickle.dumps(t)
'(lp0\nI1\naI2\naI3\na.'

# The format isn’t obvious to human readers; it is meant to be easy for pickle to interpret.
# pickle.loads (“load string”) reconstitutes the object:
>>> t1 = [1, 2, 3]
>>> s = pickle.dumps(t1)
>>> t2 = pickle.loads(s)
>>> print t2
[1, 2, 3]

# Although the new object has the same value as the old, it is not the same object:
>>> t1 == t2
True
>>> t1 is t2
False