I want to learn more about the technology behind Bitcoin, so what better way to do so than by making a project?
Here is a Bitcoin parser written in Python that I made. It was a very nice learning experience.
python setup.py installTo deserialize the genesis block:
from bitcaviar_plus.block import deserialize_block
def parse_genesis_block():
with open('path/to/file/blk00000.dat', 'rb') as f:
block = deserialize_block(f)
print(block)
To deserialize the entire blockchain:
import os
from bitcaviar_plus.block import deserialize_block
from bitcaviar_plus.errors import InvalidMagicBytes
def parse_entire_blockchain():
file_counter = -1
while True:
file_counter += 1
file_name = 'path/to/file/blk{}.dat'.format(str(file_counter).zfill(5))
with open(file_name, 'rb') as f:
file_size = os.path.getsize(file_name)
while f.tell() < file_size:
try:
block = deserialize_block(f)
except InvalidMagicBytes as e:
print(e)This is the output:
{
"magic_number": "f9beb4d9",
"size": "0000011d",
"id": "000000000019d6...",
"transaction_count": "01",
"header": {
"version": "00000001",
"previous_block_id": "00000000000000...",
"merkle_root": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32...",
"time": "495fab29",
"bits": "1d00ffff",
"nonce": "7c2bac1d"
},
"transactions": [
{
"version": "00000001",
"input_count": "01",
"output_count": "01",
"lock_time": "00000000",
"id": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a8...",
"inputs": [
{
"id": "0000000000000000000000...",
"vout": "ffffffff",
"script_sig_size": "4d",
"script_sig": "04ffff001d01044554686520546...",
"sequence": "ffffffff"
}
],
"outputs": [
{
"value": "000000012a05f200",
"script_pub_key_size": "43",
"script_pub_key": "4104678afdb0fe55482719..."
}
]
}
]
}