$ prlimit --core=unlimited: --pid $$
$ prlimit --core --pid $$
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION             SOFT      HARD UNITS
CORE     max core file size unlimited unlimited blocks

int prlimit(pid_t pid, int resource, const struct rlimit *new_limit, struct rlimit *old_limit);

$ gdb -p $PID
...
(gdb) set $rlim = &{0ll, 0ll}
(gdb) print getrlimit(9, $rlim)
$1 = 0
(gdb) print *$rlim
$2 = {-1, -1}
(gdb) set *$rlim[0] = 1024*1024
(gdb) print setrlimit(9, $rlim)
$3 = 0

# PID=966
# grep 'open file' /proc/$PID/limits
Max open files            1024                 4096                 files
# python3 -c "import resource; resource.prlimit($PID, resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE, (2048, 12345))"
# grep 'open file' /proc/$PID/limits
Max open files            2048                 12345                files

# python3
Python 3.4.3 (default, Nov 28 2017, 16:41:13)
[GCC 4.8.4] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import resource
>>> import os
>>> resource.prlimit(os.getpid(), resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
(1024, 4096)
>>> resource.prlimit(os.getpid(), resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE, (1369, 9999))
(1024, 4096)
>>> resource.prlimit(os.getpid(), resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
(1369, 9999)

# grep 'open file' /proc/1472/limits
Max open files            1369                 9999                 files