.. testsetup:: # These are hidden from the docs, but these are necessary for `doctest` # since the `inspect` module doesn't play nicely with the execution # environment for `doctest` import torch original_script = torch.jit.script def script_wrapper(obj, *args, **kwargs): obj.__module__ = 'FakeMod' return original_script(obj, *args, **kwargs) torch.jit.script = script_wrapper original_trace = torch.jit.trace def trace_wrapper(obj, *args, **kwargs): obj.__module__ = 'FakeMod' return original_trace(obj, *args, **kwargs) torch.jit.trace = trace_wrapper
This reference manual describes the syntax and core semantics of the TorchScript language. TorchScript is a statically typed subset of the Python language. This document explains the supported features of Python in TorchScript and also how the language diverges from regular Python. Any features of Python that are not mentioned in this reference manual are not part of TorchScript. TorchScript focuses specifically on the features of Python that are needed to represent neural network models in PyTorch.
This document uses the following terminologies:
Pattern | Notes |
---|---|
::= |
Indicates that the given symbol is defined as. |
" " |
Represents real keywords and delimiters that are part of the syntax. |
A | B |
Indicates either A or B. |
( ) |
Indicates grouping. |
[] |
Indicates optional. |
A+ |
Indicates a regular expression where term A is repeated at least once. |
A* |
Indicates a regular expression where term A is repeated zero or more times. |
TorchScript is a statically typed subset of Python. The largest difference between TorchScript and the full Python language is that TorchScript only supports a small set of types that are needed to express neural net models.
The TorchScript type system consists of TSType
and TSModuleType
as defined below.
TSAllType ::= TSType | TSModuleType TSType ::= TSMetaType | TSPrimitiveType | TSStructuralType | TSNominalType
TSType
represents the majority of TorchScript types that are composable and that can be used in TorchScript type annotations.
TSType
refers to any of the following:
- Meta Types, e.g.,
Any
- Primitive Types, e.g.,
int
,float
, andstr
- Structural Types, e.g.,
Optional[int]
orList[MyClass]
- Nominal Types (Python classes), e.g.,
MyClass
(user-defined),torch.tensor
(built-in)
TSModuleType
represents torch.nn.Module
and its subclasses. It is treated differently from TSType
because its type schema is inferred partly from the object instance and partly from the class definition.
As such, instances of a TSModuleType
may not follow the same static type schema. TSModuleType
cannot be used as a TorchScript type annotation or be composed with TSType
for type safety considerations.
Meta types are so abstract that they are more like type constraints than concrete types.
Currently TorchScript defines one meta-type, Any
, that represents any TorchScript type.
The Any
type represents any TorchScript type. Any
specifies no type constraints, thus there is no type-checking on Any
.
As such it can be bound to any Python or TorchScript data types (e.g., int
, TorchScript tuple
, or an arbitrary Python class that is not scripted).
TSMetaType ::= "Any"
Where:
Any
is the Python class name from the typing module. Therefore, to use theAny
type, you must import it fromtyping
(e.g.,from typing import Any
).- Since
Any
can represent any TorchScript type, the set of operators that are allowed to operate on values of this type onAny
is limited.
- Assignment to data of
Any
type. - Binding to parameter or return of
Any
type. x is
,x is not
wherex
is ofAny
type.isinstance(x, Type)
wherex
is ofAny
type.- Data of
Any
type is printable. - Data of
List[Any]
type may be sortable if the data is a list of values of the same typeT
and thatT
supports comparison operators.
Compared to Python
Any
is the least constrained type in the TorchScript type system. In that sense, it is quite similar to the
Object
class in Python. However, Any
only supports a subset of the operators and methods that are supported by Object
.
When we script a PyTorch module, we may encounter data that is not involved in the execution of the script. Nevertheless, it has to be described
by a type schema. It is not only cumbersome to describe static types for unused data (in the context of the script), but also may lead to unnecessary
scripting failures. Any
is introduced to describe the type of the data where precise static types are not necessary for compilation.
Example 1
This example illustrates how Any
can be used to allow the second element of the tuple parameter to be of any type. This is possible
because x[1]
is not involved in any computation that requires knowing its precise type.
.. testcode:: import torch from typing import Tuple from typing import Any @torch.jit.export def inc_first_element(x: Tuple[int, Any]): return (x[0]+1, x[1]) m = torch.jit.script(inc_first_element) print(m((1,2.0))) print(m((1,(100,200))))
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: (2, 2.0) (2, (100, 200))
The second element of the tuple is of Any
type, thus can bind to multiple types.
For example, (1, 2.0)
binds a float type to Any
as in Tuple[int, Any]
,
whereas (1, (100, 200))
binds a tuple to Any
in the second invocation.
Example 2
This example illustrates how we can use isinstance
to dynamically check the type of the data that is annotated as Any
type:
.. testcode:: import torch from typing import Any def f(a:Any): print(a) return (isinstance(a, torch.Tensor)) ones = torch.ones([2]) m = torch.jit.script(f) print(m(ones))
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: 1 1 [ CPUFloatType{2} ] True
Primitive TorchScript types are types that represent a single type of value and go with a single pre-defined type name.
TSPrimitiveType ::= "int" | "float" | "double" | "complex" | "bool" | "str" | "None"
Structural types are types that are structurally defined without a user-defined name (unlike nominal types),
such as Future[int]
. Structural types are composable with any TSType
.
TSStructuralType ::= TSTuple | TSNamedTuple | TSList | TSDict | TSOptional | TSUnion | TSFuture | TSRRef TSTuple ::= "Tuple" "[" (TSType ",")* TSType "]" TSNamedTuple ::= "namedtuple" "(" (TSType ",")* TSType ")" TSList ::= "List" "[" TSType "]" TSOptional ::= "Optional" "[" TSType "]" TSUnion ::= "Union" "[" (TSType ",")* TSType "]" TSFuture ::= "Future" "[" TSType "]" TSRRef ::= "RRef" "[" TSType "]" TSDict ::= "Dict" "[" KeyType "," TSType "]" KeyType ::= "str" | "int" | "float" | "bool" | TensorType | "Any"
Where:
Tuple
,List
,Optional
,Union
,Future
,Dict
represent Python type class names that are defined in the moduletyping
. To use these type names, you must import them fromtyping
(e.g.,from typing import Tuple
).namedtuple
represents the Python classcollections.namedtuple
ortyping.NamedTuple
.Future
andRRef
represent the Python classestorch.futures
andtorch.distributed.rpc
.
Compared to Python
Apart from being composable with TorchScript types, these TorchScript structural types often support a common subset of the operators and methods of their Python counterparts.
Example 1
This example uses typing.NamedTuple
syntax to define a tuple:
.. testcode:: import torch from typing import NamedTuple from typing import Tuple class MyTuple(NamedTuple): first: int second: int def inc(x: MyTuple) -> Tuple[int, int]: return (x.first+1, x.second+1) t = MyTuple(first=1, second=2) scripted_inc = torch.jit.script(inc) print("TorchScript:", scripted_inc(t))
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: TorchScript: (2, 3)
Example 2
This example uses collections.namedtuple
syntax to define a tuple:
.. testcode:: import torch from typing import NamedTuple from typing import Tuple from collections import namedtuple _AnnotatedNamedTuple = NamedTuple('_NamedTupleAnnotated', [('first', int), ('second', int)]) _UnannotatedNamedTuple = namedtuple('_NamedTupleAnnotated', ['first', 'second']) def inc(x: _AnnotatedNamedTuple) -> Tuple[int, int]: return (x.first+1, x.second+1) m = torch.jit.script(inc) print(inc(_UnannotatedNamedTuple(1,2)))
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: (2, 3)
Example 3
This example illustrates a common mistake of annotating structural types, i.e., not importing the composite type
classes from the typing
module:
import torch # ERROR: Tuple not recognized because not imported from typing @torch.jit.export def inc(x: Tuple[int, int]): return (x[0]+1, x[1]+1) m = torch.jit.script(inc) print(m((1,2)))
Running the above code yields the following scripting error:
File "test-tuple.py", line 5, in <module> def inc(x: Tuple[int, int]): NameError: name 'Tuple' is not defined
The remedy is to add the line from typing import Tuple
to the beginning of the code.
Nominal TorchScript types are Python classes. These types are called nominal because they are declared with a custom name and are compared using class names. Nominal classes are further classified into the following categories:
TSNominalType ::= TSBuiltinClasses | TSCustomClass | TSEnum
Among them, TSCustomClass
and TSEnum
must be compilable to TorchScript Intermediate Representation (IR). This is enforced by the type-checker.
Built-in nominal types are Python classes whose semantics are built into the TorchScript system (e.g., tensor types). TorchScript defines the semantics of these built-in nominal types, and often supports only a subset of the methods or attributes of its Python class definition.
TSBuiltinClass ::= TSTensor | "torch.device" | "torch.Stream" | "torch.dtype" | "torch.nn.ModuleList" | "torch.nn.ModuleDict" | ... TSTensor ::= "torch.Tensor" | "common.SubTensor" | "common.SubWithTorchFunction" | "torch.nn.parameter.Parameter" | and subclasses of torch.Tensor
Although torch.nn.ModuleList
and torch.nn.ModuleDict
are defined as a list and dictionary in Python,
they behave more like tuples in TorchScript:
- In TorchScript, instances of
torch.nn.ModuleList
ortorch.nn.ModuleDict
are immutable. - Code that iterates over
torch.nn.ModuleList
ortorch.nn.ModuleDict
is completely unrolled so that elements oftorch.nn.ModuleList
or keys oftorch.nn.ModuleDict
can be of different subclasses oftorch.nn.Module
.
Example
The following example highlights the use of a few built-in Torchscript classes (torch.*
):
import torch @torch.jit.script class A: def __init__(self): self.x = torch.rand(3) def f(self, y: torch.device): return self.x.to(device=y) def g(): a = A() return a.f(torch.device("cpu")) script_g = torch.jit.script(g) print(script_g.graph)
Unlike built-in classes, semantics of custom classes are user-defined and the entire class definition must be compilable to TorchScript IR and subject to TorchScript type-checking rules.
TSClassDef ::= [ "@torch.jit.script" ] "class" ClassName [ "(object)" ] ":" MethodDefinition | [ "@torch.jit.ignore" ] | [ "@torch.jit.unused" ] MethodDefinition
Where:
- Classes must be new-style classes. Python 3 supports only new-style classes. In Python 2.x, a new-style class is specified by subclassing from the object.
- Instance data attributes are statically typed, and instance attributes must be declared by assignments inside the
__init__()
method. - Method overloading is not supported (i.e., you cannot have multiple methods with the same method name).
MethodDefinition
must be compilable to TorchScript IR and adhere to TorchScript’s type-checking rules, (i.e., all methods must be valid TorchScript functions and class attribute definitions must be valid TorchScript statements).torch.jit.ignore
andtorch.jit.unused
can be used to ignore the method or function that is not fully torchscriptable or should be ignored by the compiler.
Compared to Python
TorchScript custom classes are quite limited compared to their Python counterpart. Torchscript custom classes:
- Do not support class attributes.
- Do not support subclassing except for subclassing an interface type or object.
- Do not support method overloading.
- Must initialize all its instance attributes in
__init__()
; this is because TorchScript constructs a static schema of the class by inferring attribute types in__init__()
. - Must contain only methods that satisfy TorchScript type-checking rules and are compilable to TorchScript IRs.
Example 1
Python classes can be used in TorchScript if they are annotated with @torch.jit.script
, similar to how a TorchScript function would be declared:
@torch.jit.script class MyClass: def __init__(self, x: int): self.x = x def inc(self, val: int): self.x += val
Example 2
A TorchScript custom class type must "declare" all its instance attributes by assignments in __init__()
. If an instance attribute is not defined in __init__()
but accessed in other methods of the class, the class cannot be compiled as a TorchScript class, as shown in the following example:
import torch @torch.jit.script class foo: def __init__(self): self.y = 1 # ERROR: self.x is not defined in __init__ def assign_x(self): self.x = torch.rand(2, 3)
The class will fail to compile and issue the following error:
RuntimeError: Tried to set nonexistent attribute: x. Did you forget to initialize it in __init__()?: def assign_x(self): self.x = torch.rand(2, 3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <--- HERE
Example 3
In this example, a TorchScript custom class defines a class variable name, which is not allowed:
import torch @torch.jit.script class MyClass(object): name = "MyClass" def __init__(self, x: int): self.x = x def fn(a: MyClass): return a.name
It leads to the following compile-time error:
RuntimeError: '__torch__.MyClass' object has no attribute or method 'name'. Did you forget to initialize an attribute in __init__()?: File "test-class2.py", line 10 def fn(a: MyClass): return a.name ~~~~~~ <--- HERE
Like custom classes, semantics of the enum type are user-defined and the entire class definition must be compilable to TorchScript IR and adhere to TorchScript type-checking rules.
TSEnumDef ::= "class" Identifier "(enum.Enum | TSEnumType)" ":" ( MemberIdentifier "=" Value )+ ( MethodDefinition )*
Where:
- Value must be a TorchScript literal of type
int
,float
, orstr
, and must be of the same TorchScript type. TSEnumType
is the name of a TorchScript enumerated type. Similar to Python enum, TorchScript allows restrictedEnum
subclassing, that is, subclassing an enumerated is allowed only if it does not define any members.
Compared to Python
- TorchScript supports only
enum.Enum
. It does not support other variations such asenum.IntEnum
,enum.Flag
,enum.IntFlag
, andenum.auto
. - Values of TorchScript enum members must be of the same type and can only be
int
,float
, orstr
types, whereas Python enum members can be of any type. - Enums containing methods are ignored in TorchScript.
Example 1
The following example defines the class Color
as an Enum
type:
import torch from enum import Enum class Color(Enum): RED = 1 GREEN = 2 def enum_fn(x: Color, y: Color) -> bool: if x == Color.RED: return True return x == y m = torch.jit.script(enum_fn) print("Eager: ", enum_fn(Color.RED, Color.GREEN)) print("TorchScript: ", m(Color.RED, Color.GREEN))
Example 2
The following example shows the case of restricted enum subclassing, where BaseColor
does not define any member, thus can be subclassed by Color
:
import torch from enum import Enum class BaseColor(Enum): def foo(self): pass class Color(BaseColor): RED = 1 GREEN = 2 def enum_fn(x: Color, y: Color) -> bool: if x == Color.RED: return True return x == y m = torch.jit.script(enum_fn) print("TorchScript: ", m(Color.RED, Color.GREEN)) print("Eager: ", enum_fn(Color.RED, Color.GREEN))
TSModuleType
is a special class type that is inferred from object instances that are created outside TorchScript. TSModuleType
is named by the Python class of the object instance. The __init__()
method of the Python class is not considered a TorchScript method, so it does not have to comply with TorchScript’s type-checking rules.
The type schema of a module instance class is constructed directly from an instance object (created outside the scope of TorchScript) rather than inferred from __init__()
like custom classes. It is possible that two objects of the same instance class type follow two different type schemas.
In this sense, TSModuleType
is not really a static type. Therefore, for type safety considerations, TSModuleType
cannot be used in a TorchScript type annotation or be composed with TSType
.
TorchScript module type represents the type schema of a user-defined PyTorch module instance. When scripting a PyTorch module, the module object is always created outside TorchScript (i.e., passed in as parameter to forward
). The Python module class is treated as a module instance class, so the __init__()
method of the Python module class is not subject to the type-checking rules of TorchScript.
TSModuleType ::= "class" Identifier "(torch.nn.Module)" ":" ClassBodyDefinition
Where:
forward()
and other methods decorated with@torch.jit.export
must be compilable to TorchScript IR and subject to TorchScript’s type-checking rules.
Unlike custom classes, only the forward method and other methods decorated with @torch.jit.export
of the module type need to be compilable. Most notably, __init__()
is not considered a TorchScript method. Consequently, module type constructors cannot be invoked within the scope of TorchScript. Instead, TorchScript module objects are always constructed outside and passed into torch.jit.script(ModuleObj)
.
Example 1
This example illustrates a few features of module types:
- The
TestModule
instance is created outside the scope of TorchScript (i.e., before invokingtorch.jit.script
). __init__()
is not considered a TorchScript method, therefore, it does not have to be annotated and can contain arbitrary Python code. In addition, the__init__()
method of an instance class cannot be invoked in TorchScript code. BecauseTestModule
instances are instantiated in Python, in this example,TestModule(2.0)
andTestModule(2)
create two instances with different types for its data attributes.self.x
is of typefloat
forTestModule(2.0)
, whereasself.y
is of typeint
forTestModule(2.0)
.- TorchScript automatically compiles other methods (e.g.,
mul()
) invoked by methods annotated via@torch.jit.export
orforward()
methods. - Entry-points to a TorchScript program are either
forward()
of a module type, functions annotated astorch.jit.script
, or methods annotated astorch.jit.export
.
.. testcode:: import torch class TestModule(torch.nn.Module): def __init__(self, v): super().__init__() self.x = v def forward(self, inc: int): return self.x + inc m = torch.jit.script(TestModule(1)) print(f"First instance: {m(3)}") m = torch.jit.script(TestModule(torch.ones([5]))) print(f"Second instance: {m(3)}")
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: First instance: 4 Second instance: tensor([4., 4., 4., 4., 4.])
Example 2
The following example shows an incorrect usage of module type. Specifically, this example invokes the constructor of TestModule
inside the scope of TorchScript:
.. testcode:: import torch class TestModule(torch.nn.Module): def __init__(self, v): super().__init__() self.x = v def forward(self, x: int): return self.x + x class MyModel: def __init__(self, v: int): self.val = v @torch.jit.export def doSomething(self, val: int) -> int: # error: should not invoke the constructor of module type myModel = TestModule(self.val) return myModel(val) # m = torch.jit.script(MyModel(2)) # Results in below RuntimeError # RuntimeError: Could not get name of python class object
Since TorchScript is statically typed, programmers need to annotate types at strategic points of TorchScript code so that every local variable or instance data attribute has a static type, and every function and method has a statically typed signature.
In general, type annotations are only needed in places where static types cannot be automatically inferred (e.g., parameters or sometimes return types to
methods or functions). Types of local variables and data attributes are often automatically inferred from their assignment statements. Sometimes an inferred type
may be too restrictive, e.g., x
being inferred as NoneType
through assignment x = None
, whereas x
is actually used as an Optional
. In such
cases, type annotations may be needed to overwrite auto inference, e.g., x: Optional[int] = None
. Note that it is always safe to type annotate a local variable
or data attribute even if its type can be automatically inferred. The annotated type must be congruent with TorchScript’s type-checking.
When a parameter, local variable, or data attribute is not type annotated and its type cannot be automatically inferred, TorchScript assumes it to be a
default type of TensorType
, List[TensorType]
, or Dict[str, TensorType]
.
Since a parameter may not be automatically inferred from the body of the function (including both functions and methods), they need to be type annotated. Otherwise, they assume the default type TensorType
.
TorchScript supports two styles for method and function signature type annotation:
- Python3-style annotates types directly on the signature. As such, it allows individual parameters to be left unannotated (whose type will be the default type of
TensorType
), or allows the return type to be left unannotated (whose type will be automatically inferred).
Python3Annotation ::= "def" Identifier [ "(" ParamAnnot* ")" ] [ReturnAnnot] ":" FuncOrMethodBody ParamAnnot ::= Identifier [ ":" TSType ] "," ReturnAnnot ::= "->" TSType
Note that when using Python3 style, the type self
is automatically inferred and should not be annotated.
- Mypy style annotates types as a comment right below the function/method declaration. In the Mypy style, since parameter names do not appear in the annotation, all parameters have to be annotated.
MyPyAnnotation ::= "# type:" "(" ParamAnnot* ")" [ ReturnAnnot ] ParamAnnot ::= TSType "," ReturnAnnot ::= "->" TSType
Example 1
In this example:
a
is not annotated and assumes the default type ofTensorType
.b
is annotated as typeint
.- The return type is not annotated and is automatically inferred as type
TensorType
(based on the type of the value being returned).
import torch def f(a, b: int): return a+b m = torch.jit.script(f) print("TorchScript:", m(torch.ones([6]), 100))
Example 2
The following example uses Mypy style annotation. Note that parameters or return values must be annotated even if some of them assume the default type.
import torch def f(a, b): # type: (torch.Tensor, int) → torch.Tensor return a+b m = torch.jit.script(f) print("TorchScript:", m(torch.ones([6]), 100))
In general, types of data attributes (including class and instance data attributes) and local variables can be automatically inferred from assignment statements.
Sometimes, however, if a variable or attribute is associated with values of different types (e.g., as None
or TensorType
), then they may need to be explicitly
type annotated as a wider type such as Optional[int]
or Any
.
Local variables can be annotated according to Python3 typing module annotation rules, i.e.,
LocalVarAnnotation ::= Identifier [":" TSType] "=" Expr
In general, types of local variables can be automatically inferred. In some cases, however, you may need to annotate a multi-type for local variables
that may be associated with different concrete types. Typical multi-types include Optional[T]
and Any
.
Example
import torch def f(a, setVal: bool): value: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None if setVal: value = a return value ones = torch.ones([6]) m = torch.jit.script(f) print("TorchScript:", m(ones, True), m(ones, False))
For ModuleType
classes, instance data attributes can be annotated according to Python3 typing module annotation rules. Instance data attributes can be annotated (optionally) as final
via Final
.
"class" ClassIdentifier "(torch.nn.Module):" InstanceAttrIdentifier ":" ["Final("] TSType [")"] ...
Where:
InstanceAttrIdentifier
is the name of an instance attribute.Final
indicates that the attribute cannot be re-assigned outside of__init__
or overridden in subclasses.
Example
import torch class MyModule(torch.nn.Module): offset_: int def __init__(self, offset): self.offset_ = offset ...
This API annotates type T
to an expression expr
. This is often used when the default type of an expression is not the type intended by the programmer.
For instance, an empty list (dictionary) has the default type of List[TensorType]
(Dict[TensorType, TensorType]
), but sometimes it may be used to initialize
a list of some other types. Another common use case is for annotating the return type of tensor.tolist()
. Note, however, that it cannot be used to annotate
the type of a module attribute in __init__; torch.jit.Attribute
should be used for this instead.
Example
In this example, []
is declared as a list of integers via torch.jit.annotate
(instead of assuming []
to be the default type of List[TensorType]
):
import torch from typing import List def g(l: List[int], val: int): l.append(val) return l def f(val: int): l = g(torch.jit.annotate(List[int], []), val) return l m = torch.jit.script(f) print("Eager:", f(3)) print("TorchScript:", m(3))
See :meth:`torch.jit.annotate` for more information.
TSAllType ::= TSType | TSModuleType TSType ::= TSMetaType | TSPrimitiveType | TSStructuralType | TSNominalType TSMetaType ::= "Any" TSPrimitiveType ::= "int" | "float" | "double" | "complex" | "bool" | "str" | "None" TSStructualType ::= TSTuple | TSNamedTuple | TSList | TSDict | TSOptional | TSUnion | TSFuture | TSRRef TSTuple ::= "Tuple" "[" (TSType ",")* TSType "]" TSNamedTuple ::= "namedtuple" "(" (TSType ",")* TSType ")" TSList ::= "List" "[" TSType "]" TSOptional ::= "Optional" "[" TSType "]" TSUnion ::= "Union" "[" (TSType ",")* TSType "]" TSFuture ::= "Future" "[" TSType "]" TSRRef ::= "RRef" "[" TSType "]" TSDict ::= "Dict" "[" KeyType "," TSType "]" KeyType ::= "str" | "int" | "float" | "bool" | TensorType | "Any" TSNominalType ::= TSBuiltinClasses | TSCustomClass | TSEnum TSBuiltinClass ::= TSTensor | "torch.device" | "torch.stream"| "torch.dtype" | "torch.nn.ModuleList" | "torch.nn.ModuleDict" | ... TSTensor ::= "torch.tensor" and subclasses
TorchScript does not support all features and types of the Python3 typing module.
Any functionality from the typing module that is not explicitly specified in this
documentation is unsupported. The following table summarizes typing
constructs that are either unsupported or supported with restrictions in TorchScript.
Item | Description |
typing.Any |
In development |
typing.NoReturn |
Not supported |
typing.Callable |
Not supported |
typing.Literal |
Not supported |
typing.ClassVar |
Not supported |
typing.Final |
Supported for module attributes, class attribute, and annotations, but not for functions. |
typing.AnyStr |
Not supported |
typing.overload |
In development |
Type aliases | Not supported |
Nominal typing | In development |
Structural typing | Not supported |
NewType | Not supported |
Generics | Not supported |
The following section describes the grammar of expressions that are supported in TorchScript. It is modeled after the expressions chapter of the Python language reference.
There are a number of implicit type conversions that are performed in TorchScript:
- A
Tensor
with afloat
orint
data type can be implicitly converted to an instance ofFloatType
orIntType
provided that it has a size of 0, does not haverequire_grad
set toTrue
, and will not require narrowing. - Instances of
StringType
can be implicitly converted toDeviceType
. - The implicit conversion rules from the two bullet points above can be applied to instances of
TupleType
to produce instances ofListType
with the appropriate contained type.
Explicit conversions can be invoked using the float
, int
, bool
, and str
built-in functions
that accept primitive data types as arguments and can accept user-defined types if they implement
__bool__
, __str__
, etc.
Atoms are the most basic elements of expressions.
atom ::= identifier | literal | enclosure enclosure ::= parenth_form | list_display | dict_display
The rules that dictate what is a legal identifer in TorchScript are the same as their Python counterparts.
literal ::= stringliteral | integer | floatnumber
Evaluation of a literal yields an object of the appropriate type with the specific value (with approximations applied as necessary for floats). Literals are immutable, and multiple evaluations of identical literals may obtain the same object or distinct objects with the same value. stringliteral, integer, and floatnumber are defined in the same way as their Python counterparts.
parenth_form ::= '(' [expression_list] ')'
A parenthesized expression list yields whatever the expression list yields. If the list contains at least one
comma, it yields a Tuple
; otherwise, it yields the single expression inside the expression list. An empty
pair of parentheses yields an empty Tuple
object (Tuple[]
).
list_comprehension ::= expression comp_for comp_for ::= 'for' target_list 'in' or_expr list_display ::= '[' [expression_list | list_comprehension] ']' dict_display ::= '{' [key_datum_list | dict_comprehension] '}' key_datum_list ::= key_datum (',' key_datum)* key_datum ::= expression ':' expression dict_comprehension ::= key_datum comp_for
Lists and dicts can be constructed by either listing the container contents explicitly or by providing
instructions on how to compute them via a set of looping instructions (i.e. a comprehension). A comprehension
is semantically equivalent to using a for loop and appending to an ongoing list.
Comprehensions implicitly create their own scope to make sure that the items of the target list do not leak into the
enclosing scope. In the case that container items are explicitly listed, the expressions in the expression list
are evaluated left-to-right. If a key is repeated in a dict_display
that has a key_datum_list
, the
resultant dictionary uses the value from the rightmost datum in the list that uses the repeated key.
primary ::= atom | attributeref | subscription | slicing | call
attributeref ::= primary '.' identifier
The primary
must evaluate to an object of a type that supports attribute references that have an attribute named
identifier
.
subscription ::= primary '[' expression_list ']'
The primary
must evaluate to an object that supports subscription.
- If the primary is a
List
,Tuple
, orstr
, the expression list must evaluate to an integer or slice. - If the primary is a
Dict
, the expression list must evaluate to an object of the same type as the key type of theDict
. - If the primary is a
ModuleList
, the expression list must be aninteger
literal. - If the primary is a
ModuleDict
, the expression must be astringliteral
.
A slicing selects a range of items in a str
, Tuple
, List
, or Tensor
. Slicings may be used as
expressions or targets in assignment or del
statements.
slicing ::= primary '[' slice_list ']' slice_list ::= slice_item (',' slice_item)* [','] slice_item ::= expression | proper_slice proper_slice ::= [expression] ':' [expression] [':' [expression] ]
Slicings with more than one slice item in their slice lists can only be used with primaries that evaluate to an
object of type Tensor
.
call ::= primary '(' argument_list ')' argument_list ::= args [',' kwargs] | kwargs args ::= [arg (',' arg)*] kwargs ::= [kwarg (',' kwarg)*] kwarg ::= arg '=' expression arg ::= identifier
The primary
must desugar or evaluate to a callable object. All argument expressions are evaluated
before the call is attempted.
power ::= primary ['**' u_expr]
The power operator has the same semantics as the built-in pow function (not supported); it computes its
left argument raised to the power of its right argument. It binds more tightly than unary operators on the
left, but less tightly than unary operators on the right; i.e. -2 ** -3 == -(2 ** (-3))
. The left and right
operands can be int
, float
or Tensor
. Scalars are broadcast in the case of scalar-tensor/tensor-scalar
exponentiation operations, and tensor-tensor exponentiation is done elementwise without any broadcasting.
u_expr ::= power | '-' power | '~' power
The unary -
operator yields the negation of its argument. The unary ~
operator yields the bitwise inversion
of its argument. -
can be used with int
, float
, and Tensor
of int
and float
.
~
can only be used with int
and Tensor
of int
.
m_expr ::= u_expr | m_expr '*' u_expr | m_expr '@' m_expr | m_expr '//' u_expr | m_expr '/' u_expr | m_expr '%' u_expr a_expr ::= m_expr | a_expr '+' m_expr | a_expr '-' m_expr
The binary arithmetic operators can operate on Tensor
, int
, and float
. For tensor-tensor ops, both arguments must
have the same shape. For scalar-tensor or tensor-scalar ops, the scalar is usually broadcast to the size of the
tensor. Division ops can only accept scalars as their right-hand side argument, and do not support broadcasting.
The @
operator is for matrix multiplication and only operates on Tensor
arguments. The multiplication operator
(*
) can be used with a list and integer in order to get a result that is the original list repeated a certain
number of times.
shift_expr ::= a_expr | shift_expr ( '<<' | '>>' ) a_expr
These operators accept two int
arguments, two Tensor
arguments, or a Tensor
argument and an int
or
float
argument. In all cases, a right shift by n
is defined as floor division by pow(2, n)
, and a left shift
by n
is defined as multiplication by pow(2, n)
. When both arguments are Tensors
, they must have the same
shape. When one is a scalar and the other is a Tensor
, the scalar is logically broadcast to match the size of
the Tensor
.
and_expr ::= shift_expr | and_expr '&' shift_expr xor_expr ::= and_expr | xor_expr '^' and_expr or_expr ::= xor_expr | or_expr '|' xor_expr
The &
operator computes the bitwise AND of its arguments, the ^
the bitwise XOR, and the |
the bitwise OR.
Both operands must be int
or Tensor
, or the left operand must be Tensor
and the right operand must be
int
. When both operands are Tensor
, they must have the same shape. When the right operand is int
, and
the left operand is Tensor
, the right operand is logically broadcast to match the shape of the Tensor
.
comparison ::= or_expr (comp_operator or_expr)* comp_operator ::= '<' | '>' | '==' | '>=' | '<=' | '!=' | 'is' ['not'] | ['not'] 'in'
A comparison yields a boolean value (True
or False
), or if one of the operands is a Tensor
, a boolean
Tensor
. Comparisons can be chained arbitrarily as long as they do not yield boolean Tensors
that have more
than one element. a op1 b op2 c ...
is equivalent to a op1 b and b op2 c and ...
.
The operators <
, >
, ==
, >=
, <=
, and !=
compare the values of two objects. The two objects generally need to be of
the same type, unless there is an implicit type conversion available between the objects. User-defined types can
be compared if rich comparison methods (e.g., __lt__
) are defined on them. Built-in type comparison works like
Python:
- Numbers are compared mathematically.
- Strings are compared lexicographically.
lists
,tuples
, anddicts
can be compared only to otherlists
,tuples
, anddicts
of the same type and are compared using the comparison operator of corresponding elements.
The operators in
and not in
test for membership. x in s
evaluates to True
if x
is a member of s
and False
otherwise.
x not in s
is equivalent to not x in s
. This operator is supported for lists
, dicts
, and tuples
, and can be used with
user-defined types if they implement the __contains__
method.
For all types except int
, double
, bool
, and torch.device
, operators is
and is not
test for the object’s identity;
x is y
is True
if and and only if x
and y
are the same object. For all other types, is
is equivalent to
comparing them using ==
. x is not y
yields the inverse of x is y
.
or_test ::= and_test | or_test 'or' and_test and_test ::= not_test | and_test 'and' not_test not_test ::= 'bool' '(' or_expr ')' | comparison | 'not' not_test
User-defined objects can customize their conversion to bool
by implementing a __bool__
method. The operator not
yields True
if its operand is false, False
otherwise. The expression x
and y
first evaluates x
; if it is False
, its
value (False
) is returned; otherwise, y
is evaluated and its value is returned (False
or True
). The expression x
or y
first evaluates x
; if it is True
, its value (True
) is returned; otherwise, y
is evaluated and its value is returned
(False
or True
).
conditional_expression ::= or_expr ['if' or_test 'else' conditional_expression] expression ::= conditional_expression
The expression x if c else y
first evaluates the condition c
rather than x. If c
is True
, x
is
evaluated and its value is returned; otherwise, y
is evaluated and its value is returned. As with if-statements,
x
and y
must evaluate to a value of the same type.
expression_list ::= expression (',' expression)* [','] starred_item ::= '*' primary
A starred item can only appear on the left-hand side of an assignment statement, e.g., a, *b, c = ...
.
The following section describes the syntax of simple statements that are supported in TorchScript. It is modeled after the simple statements chapter of the Python language reference.
expression_stmt ::= starred_expression starred_expression ::= expression | (starred_item ",")* [starred_item] starred_item ::= assignment_expression | "*" or_expr
assignment_stmt ::= (target_list "=")+ (starred_expression) target_list ::= target ("," target)* [","] target ::= identifier | "(" [target_list] ")" | "[" [target_list] "]" | attributeref | subscription | slicing | "*" target
augmented_assignment_stmt ::= augtarget augop (expression_list) augtarget ::= identifier | attributeref | subscription augop ::= "+=" | "-=" | "*=" | "/=" | "//=" | "%=" | "**="| ">>=" | "<<=" | "&=" | "^=" | "|="
annotated_assignment_stmt ::= augtarget ":" expression ["=" (starred_expression)]
raise_stmt ::= "raise" [expression ["from" expression]]
Raise statements in TorchScript do not support try\except\finally
.
assert_stmt ::= "assert" expression ["," expression]
Assert statements in TorchScript do not support try\except\finally
.
return_stmt ::= "return" [expression_list]
Return statements in TorchScript do not support try\except\finally
.
del_stmt ::= "del" target_list
pass_stmt ::= "pass"
print_stmt ::= "print" "(" expression [, expression] [.format{expression_list}] ")"
break_stmt ::= "break"
continue_stmt ::= "continue"
The following section describes the syntax of compound statements that are supported in TorchScript. The section also highlights how Torchscript differs from regular Python statements. It is modeled after the compound statements chapter of the Python language reference.
Torchscript supports both basic if/else
and ternary if/else
.
if_stmt ::= "if" assignment_expression ":" suite ("elif" assignment_expression ":" suite) ["else" ":" suite]
elif
statements can repeat for an arbitrary number of times, but it needs to be before else
statement.
if_stmt ::= return [expression_list] "if" assignment_expression "else" [expression_list]
Example 1
A tensor
with 1 dimension is promoted to bool
:
.. testcode:: import torch @torch.jit.script def fn(x: torch.Tensor): if x: # The tensor gets promoted to bool return True return False print(fn(torch.rand(1)))
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: True
Example 2
A tensor
with multi dimensions are not promoted to bool
:
import torch # Multi dimensional Tensors error out. @torch.jit.script def fn(): if torch.rand(2): print("Tensor is available") if torch.rand(4,5,6): print("Tensor is available") print(fn())
Running the above code yields the following RuntimeError
.
RuntimeError: The following operation failed in the TorchScript interpreter. Traceback of TorchScript (most recent call last): @torch.jit.script def fn(): if torch.rand(2): ~~~~~~~~~~~~ <--- HERE print("Tensor is available") RuntimeError: Boolean value of Tensor with more than one value is ambiguous
If a conditional variable is annotated as final
, either the true or false branch is evaluated depending on the evaluation of the conditional variable.
Example 3
In this example, only the True branch is evaluated, since a
is annotated as final
and set to True
:
import torch a : torch.jit.final[Bool] = True if a: return torch.empty(2,3) else: return []
while_stmt ::= "while" assignment_expression ":" suite
while...else statements are not supported in Torchscript. It results in a RuntimeError
.
for_stmt ::= "for" target_list "in" expression_list ":" suite ["else" ":" suite]
for...else
statements are not supported in Torchscript. It results in a RuntimeError
.
Example 1
For loops on tuples: these unroll the loop, generating a body for each member of the tuple. The body must type-check correctly for each member.
.. testcode:: import torch from typing import Tuple @torch.jit.script def fn(): tup = (3, torch.ones(4)) for x in tup: print(x) fn()
The example above produces the following output:
.. testoutput:: 3 1 1 1 1 [ CPUFloatType{4} ]
Example 2
For loops on lists: for loops over a nn.ModuleList
will unroll the body of the loop at compile time, with each member of the module list.
class SubModule(torch.nn.Module): def __init__(self): super(SubModule, self).__init__() self.weight = nn.Parameter(torch.randn(2)) def forward(self, input): return self.weight + input class MyModule(torch.nn.Module): def __init__(self): super(MyModule, self).init() self.mods = torch.nn.ModuleList([SubModule() for i in range(10)]) def forward(self, v): for module in self.mods: v = module(v) return v model = torch.jit.script(MyModule())
The with
statement is used to wrap the execution of a block with methods defined by a context manager.
with_stmt ::= "with" with_item ("," with_item) ":" suite with_item ::= expression ["as" target]
- If a target was included in the
with
statement, the return value from the context manager’s__enter__()
is assigned to it. Unlike python, if an exception caused the suite to be exited, its type, value, and traceback are not passed as arguments to__exit__()
. ThreeNone
arguments are supplied. try
,except
, andfinally
statements are not supported insidewith
blocks.- Exceptions raised within
with
block cannot be suppressed.
tuple_stmt ::= tuple([iterables])
- Iterable types in TorchScript include
Tensors
,lists
,tuples
,dictionaries
,strings
,torch.nn.ModuleList
, andtorch.nn.ModuleDict
. - You cannot convert a List to Tuple by using this built-in function.
Unpacking all outputs into a tuple is covered by:
abc = func() # Function that returns a tuple a,b = func()
getattr_stmt ::= getattr(object, name[, default])
- Attribute name must be a literal string.
- Module type object is not supported (e.g., torch._C).
- Custom class object is not supported (e.g., torch.classes.*).
hasattr_stmt ::= hasattr(object, name)
- Attribute name must be a literal string.
- Module type object is not supported (e.g., torch._C).
- Custom class object is not supported (e.g., torch.classes.*).
zip_stmt ::= zip(iterable1, iterable2)
- Arguments must be iterables.
- Two iterables of same outer container type but different length are supported.
Example 1
Both the iterables must be of the same container type:
.. testcode:: a = [1, 2] # List b = [2, 3, 4] # List zip(a, b) # works
Example 2
This example fails because the iterables are of different container types:
a = (1, 2) # Tuple b = [2, 3, 4] # List zip(a, b) # Runtime error
Running the above code yields the following RuntimeError
.
RuntimeError: Can not iterate over a module list or tuple with a value that does not have a statically determinable length.
Example 3
Two iterables of the same container Type but different data type is supported:
.. testcode:: a = [1.3, 2.4] b = [2, 3, 4] zip(a, b) # Works
Iterable types in TorchScript include Tensors
, lists
, tuples
, dictionaries
, strings
, torch.nn.ModuleList
, and torch.nn.ModuleDict
.
enumerate_stmt ::= enumerate([iterable])
- Arguments must be iterables.
- Iterable types in TorchScript include
Tensors
,lists
,tuples
,dictionaries
,strings
,torch.nn.ModuleList
andtorch.nn.ModuleDict
.
When given a Python value, TorchScript attempts to resolve it in the following five different ways:
- Compilable Python Implementation:
- When a Python value is backed by a Python implementation that can be compiled by TorchScript, TorchScript compiles and uses the underlying Python implementation.
- Example:
torch.jit.Attribute
- Op Python Wrapper:
- When a Python value is a wrapper of a native PyTorch op, TorchScript emits the corresponding operator.
- Example:
torch.jit._logging.add_stat_value
- Python Object Identity Match:
- For a limited set of
torch.*
API calls (in the form of Python values) that TorchScript supports, TorchScript attempts to match a Python value against each item in the set. - When matched, TorchScript generates a corresponding
SugaredValue
instance that contains lowering logic for these values. - Example:
torch.jit.isinstance()
- For a limited set of
- Name Match:
- For Python built-in functions and constants, TorchScript identifies them by name, and creates a corresponding
SugaredValue
instance that implements their functionality. - Example:
all()
- For Python built-in functions and constants, TorchScript identifies them by name, and creates a corresponding
- Value Snapshot:
- For Python values from unrecognized modules, TorchScript attempts to take a snapshot of the value and converts it to a constant in the graph of the function(s) or method(s) that are being compiled.
- Example:
math.pi
Built-in Function | Support Level | Notes |
---|---|---|
abs() |
Partial | Only supports Tensor /Int /Float type inputs. | Doesn't honor __abs__ override. |
all() |
Full | |
any() |
Full | |
ascii() |
None | |
bin() |
Partial | Only supports Int type input. |
bool() |
Partial | Only supports Tensor /Int /Float type inputs. |
breakpoint() |
None | |
bytearray() |
None | |
bytes() |
None | |
callable() |
None | |
chr() |
Partial | Only ASCII character set is supported. |
classmethod() |
Full | |
compile() |
None | |
complex() |
None | |
delattr() |
None | |
dict() |
Full | |
dir() |
None | |
divmod() |
Full | |
enumerate() |
Full | |
eval() |
None | |
exec() |
None | |
filter() |
None | |
float() |
Partial | Doesn't honor __index__ override. |
format() |
Partial | Manual index specification not supported. | Format type modifier not supported. |
frozenset() |
None | |
getattr() |
Partial | Attribute name must be string literal. |
globals() |
None | |
hasattr() |
Partial | Attribute name must be string literal. |
hash() |
Full | Tensor 's hash is based on identity not numeric value. |
hex() |
Partial | Only supports Int type input. |
id() |
Full | Only supports Int type input. |
input() |
None | |
int() |
Partial | base argument not supported. | Doesn't honor __index__ override. |
isinstance() |
Full | torch.jit.isintance provides better support when checking against container types like Dict[str, int] . |
issubclass() |
None | |
iter() |
None | |
len() |
Full | |
list() |
Full | |
ord() |
Partial | Only ASCII character set is supported. |
pow() |
Full | |
print() |
Partial | separate , end and file arguments are not supported. |
property() |
None | |
range() |
Full | |
repr() |
None | |
reversed() |
None | |
round() |
Partial | ndigits argument is not supported. |
set() |
None | |
setattr() |
None | |
slice() |
Full | |
sorted() |
Partial | key argument is not supported. |
staticmethod() |
Full | |
str() |
Partial | encoding and errors arguments are not supported. |
sum() |
Full | |
super() |
Partial | It can only be used in nn.Module 's __init__ method. |
type() |
None | |
vars() |
None | |
zip() |
Full | |
__import__() |
None |
Built-in Value | Support Level | Notes |
---|---|---|
False |
Full | |
True |
Full | |
None |
Full | |
NotImplemented |
None | |
Ellipsis |
Full |
TorchScript supports a subset of RPC APIs that supports running a function on a specified remote worker instead of locally.
Specifically, following APIs are fully supported:
torch.distributed.rpc.rpc_sync()
rpc_sync()
makes a blocking RPC call to run a function on a remote worker. RPC messages are sent and received in parallel to execution of Python code.- More details about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.distributed.rpc.rpc_sync`.
torch.distributed.rpc.rpc_async()
rpc_async()
makes a non-blocking RPC call to run a function on a remote worker. RPC messages are sent and received in parallel to execution of Python code.- More deatils about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.distributed.rpc.rpc_async`.
torch.distributed.rpc.remote()
remote.()
executes a remote call on a worker and gets a Remote ReferenceRRef
as the return value.- More details about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.distributed.rpc.remote`.
TorchScript enables you to create asynchronous computation tasks to make better use of computation resources. This is done via supporting a list of APIs that are only usable within TorchScript:
torch.jit.fork()
- Creates an asynchronous task executing func and a reference to the value of the result of this execution. Fork will return immediately.
- Synonymous to
torch.jit._fork()
, which is only kept for backward compatibility reasons. - More deatils about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.fork`.
torch.jit.wait()
- Forces completion of a
torch.jit.Future[T]
asynchronous task, returning the result of the task. - Synonymous to
torch.jit._wait()
, which is only kept for backward compatibility reasons. - More deatils about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.wait`.
- Forces completion of a
TorchScript is statically-typed. It provides and supports a set of utilities to help annotate variables and attributes:
torch.jit.annotate()
- Provides a type hint to TorchScript where Python 3 style type hints do not work well.
- One common example is to annotate type for expressions like
[]
.[]
is treated asList[torch.Tensor]
by default. When a different type is needed, you can use this code to hint TorchScript:torch.jit.annotate(List[int], [])
. - More details can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.annotate`
torch.jit.Attribute
- Common use cases include providing type hint for
torch.nn.Module
attributes. Because their__init__
methods are not parsed by TorchScript,torch.jit.Attribute
should be used instead oftorch.jit.annotate
in the module's__init__
methods. - More details can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.Attribute`
- Common use cases include providing type hint for
torch.jit.Final
- An alias for Python's
typing.Final
.torch.jit.Final
is kept only for backward compatibility reasons.
- An alias for Python's
TorchScript provides a set of utilities to facilitate meta programming:
torch.jit.is_scripting()
- Returns a boolean value indicating whether the current program is compiled by
torch.jit.script
or not. - When used in an
assert
or anif
statement, the scope or branch wheretorch.jit.is_scripting()
evaluates toFalse
is not compiled. - Its value can be evaluated statically at compile time, thus commonly used in
if
statements to stop TorchScript from compiling one of the branches. - More details and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.is_scripting`
- Returns a boolean value indicating whether the current program is compiled by
torch.jit.is_tracing()
- Returns a boolean value indicating whether the current program is traced by
torch.jit.trace
/torch.jit.trace_module
or not. - More details can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.is_tracing`
- Returns a boolean value indicating whether the current program is traced by
@torch.jit.ignore
- This decorator indicates to the compiler that a function or method should be ignored and left as a Python function.
- This allows you to leave code in your model that is not yet TorchScript compatible.
- If a function decorated by
@torch.jit.ignore
is called from TorchScript, ignored functions will dispatch the call to the Python interpreter. - Models with ignored functions cannot be exported.
- More details and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.ignore`
@torch.jit.unused
- This decorator indicates to the compiler that a function or method should be ignored and replaced with the raising of an exception.
- This allows you to leave code in your model that is not yet TorchScript compatible and still export your model.
- If a function decorated by
@torch.jit.unused
is called from TorchScript, a runtime error will be raised. - More details and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.unused`
torch.jit.isinstance()
- Returns a boolean indicating whether a variable is of the specified type.
- More details about its usage and examples can be found in :meth:`~torch.jit.isinstance`.