title: Binary buffer in Python
body: <p>In Python you can use <a href="https://docs.python.org/library/struct.html" rel="noreferrer">StringIO</a> for a file-like buffer for character data. <a href="https://docs.python.org/library/mmap.html" rel="noreferrer">Memory-mapped file</a> basically does similar thing for binary data, but it requires a file that is used as the basis. Does Python have a file object that is intended for binary data and is memory only, equivalent to Java's <a href="http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/ByteArrayOutputStream.html" rel="noreferrer">ByteArrayOutputStream</a>?</p>
  
  <p>The use-case I have is I want to create a ZIP file in memory, and <a href="https://docs.python.org/library/zipfile.html" rel="noreferrer">ZipFile</a> requires a file-like object.</p>