from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''GEOGCS["GCS_Carthage_Degree",DATUM["Carthage",SPHEROID["Clarke_1880_IGN",6378249.2,293.46602]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],UNIT["Degree",0.017453292519943295],AUTHORITY["EPSG","37223"]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)