cpython-lru_cache-weakref: Doc/tutorial/introduction.rst annotate

annotate Doc/tutorial/introduction.rst @ 51810:c8d06dfd4c39 3.0

Block all blocking commits on the py3k branch.

author	Georg Brandl <georg@python.org>
date	Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:42:25 +0000
parents	93cf3a6ead63
children	792bb885029f

rev	line source
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	1 .. _tut-informal:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	2
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	3 **********************************
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	4 An Informal Introduction to Python
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	5 **********************************
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	6
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	7 In the following examples, input and output are distinguished by the presence or
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	8 absence of prompts (``>>>`` and ``...``): to repeat the example, you must type
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	9 everything after the prompt, when the prompt appears; lines that do not begin
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	10 with a prompt are output from the interpreter. Note that a secondary prompt on a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	11 line by itself in an example means you must type a blank line; this is used to
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	12 end a multi-line command.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	13
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	14 Many of the examples in this manual, even those entered at the interactive
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	15 prompt, include comments. Comments in Python start with the hash character,
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	16 ``#``, and extend to the end of the physical line. A comment may appear at the
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	17 start of a line or following whitespace or code, but not within a string
44396 6556f3f22c19 Merged revisions 59605-59624 via svnmerge from Christian Heimes <christian@cheimes.de> parents: 43815 diff changeset	18 literal. A hash character within a string literal is just a hash character.
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	19 Since comments are to clarify code and are not interpreted by Python, they may
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	20 be omitted when typing in examples.
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	21
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	22 Some examples::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	23
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	24 # this is the first comment
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	25 SPAM = 1 # and this is the second comment
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	26 # ... and now a third!
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	27 STRING = "# This is not a comment."
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	28
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	29
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	30 .. _tut-calculator:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	31
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	32 Using Python as a Calculator
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	33 ============================
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	34
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	35 Let's try some simple Python commands. Start the interpreter and wait for the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	36 primary prompt, ``>>>``. (It shouldn't take long.)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	37
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	38
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	39 .. _tut-numbers:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	40
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	41 Numbers
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	42 -------
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	43
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	44 The interpreter acts as a simple calculator: you can type an expression at it
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	45 and it will write the value. Expression syntax is straightforward: the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	46 operators ``+``, ``-``, ``*`` and ``/`` work just like in most other languages
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	47 (for example, Pascal or C); parentheses can be used for grouping. For example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	48
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	49 >>> 2+2
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	50 4
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	51 >>> # This is a comment
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	52 ... 2+2
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	53 4
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	54 >>> 2+2 # and a comment on the same line as code
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	55 4
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	56 >>> (50-5*6)/4
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	57 5.0
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	58 >>> 8/5 # Fractions aren't lost when dividing integers
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	59 1.6000000000000001
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	60
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	61 Note: You might not see exactly the same result; floating point results can
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	62 differ from one machine to another. We will say more later about controlling
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	63 the appearance of floating point output; what we see here is the most
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	64 informative display but not as easy to read as we would get with::
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	65
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	66 >>> print(8/5)
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	67 1.6
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	68
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	69 For clarity in this tutorial we will show the simpler floating point output
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	70 unless we are specifically discussing output formatting, and explain later
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	71 why these two ways of displaying floating point data come to be different.
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	72 See :ref:`tut-fp-issues` for a full discussion.
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	73
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	74 To do integer division and get an integer result,
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	75 discarding any fractional result, there is another operator, ``//``::
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	76
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	77 >>> # Integer division returns the floor:
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	78 ... 7//3
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	79 2
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	80 >>> 7//-3
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	81 -3
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	82
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	83 The equal sign (``'='``) is used to assign a value to a variable. Afterwards, no
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	84 result is displayed before the next interactive prompt::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	85
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	86 >>> width = 20
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	87 >>> height = 5*9
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	88 >>> width * height
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	89 900
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	90
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	91 A value can be assigned to several variables simultaneously::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	92
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	93 >>> x = y = z = 0 # Zero x, y and z
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	94 >>> x
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	95 0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	96 >>> y
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	97 0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	98 >>> z
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	99 0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	100
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	101 Variables must be "defined" (assigned a value) before they can be used, or an
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	102 error will occur::
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	103
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	104 >>> # try to access an undefined variable
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	105 ... n
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	106 Traceback (most recent call last):
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	107 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	108 NameError: name 'n' is not defined
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	109
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	110 There is full support for floating point; operators with mixed type operands
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	111 convert the integer operand to floating point::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	112
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	113 >>> 3 * 3.75 / 1.5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	114 7.5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	115 >>> 7.0 / 2
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	116 3.5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	117
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	118 Complex numbers are also supported; imaginary numbers are written with a suffix
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	119 of ``j`` or ``J``. Complex numbers with a nonzero real component are written as
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	120 ``(real+imagj)``, or can be created with the ``complex(real, imag)`` function.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	121 ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	122
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	123 >>> 1j * 1J
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	124 (-1+0j)
43201 4902671dd678 Tutorial formatting patch by Robin Stocker. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43157 diff changeset	125 >>> 1j * complex(0, 1)
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	126 (-1+0j)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	127 >>> 3+1j*3
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	128 (3+3j)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	129 >>> (3+1j)*3
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	130 (9+3j)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	131 >>> (1+2j)/(1+1j)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	132 (1.5+0.5j)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	133
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	134 Complex numbers are always represented as two floating point numbers, the real
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	135 and imaginary part. To extract these parts from a complex number z, use
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	136 ``z.real`` and ``z.imag``. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	137
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	138 >>> a=1.5+0.5j
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	139 >>> a.real
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	140 1.5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	141 >>> a.imag
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	142 0.5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	143
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	144 The conversion functions to floating point and integer (:func:`float`,
43449 7fcd9945d1bf #1211, #1212, #1213: py3k fixes to the tutorial. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43201 diff changeset	145 :func:`int`) don't work for complex numbers --- there is not one correct way to
7fcd9945d1bf #1211, #1212, #1213: py3k fixes to the tutorial. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43201 diff changeset	146 convert a complex number to a real number. Use ``abs(z)`` to get its magnitude
7fcd9945d1bf #1211, #1212, #1213: py3k fixes to the tutorial. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43201 diff changeset	147 (as a float) or ``z.real`` to get its real part::
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	148
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	149 >>> a=3.0+4.0j
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	150 >>> float(a)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	151 Traceback (most recent call last):
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	152 File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	153 TypeError: can't convert complex to float; use abs(z)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	154 >>> a.real
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	155 3.0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	156 >>> a.imag
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	157 4.0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	158 >>> abs(a) # sqrt(a.real2 + a.imag2)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	159 5.0
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	160 >>>
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	161
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	162 In interactive mode, the last printed expression is assigned to the variable
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	163 ``_``. This means that when you are using Python as a desk calculator, it is
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	164 somewhat easier to continue calculations, for example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	165
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	166 >>> tax = 12.5 / 100
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	167 >>> price = 100.50
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	168 >>> price * tax
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	169 12.5625
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	170 >>> price + _
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	171 113.0625
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	172 >>> round(_, 2)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	173 113.06
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	174 >>>
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	175
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	176 This variable should be treated as read-only by the user. Don't explicitly
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	177 assign a value to it --- you would create an independent local variable with the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	178 same name masking the built-in variable with its magic behavior.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	179
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	180
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	181 .. _tut-strings:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	182
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	183 Strings
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	184 -------
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	185
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	186 Besides numbers, Python can also manipulate strings, which can be expressed in
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	187 several ways. They can be enclosed in single quotes or double quotes::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	188
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	189 >>> 'spam eggs'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	190 'spam eggs'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	191 >>> 'doesn\'t'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	192 "doesn't"
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	193 >>> "doesn't"
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	194 "doesn't"
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	195 >>> '"Yes," he said.'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	196 '"Yes," he said.'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	197 >>> "\"Yes,\" he said."
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	198 '"Yes," he said.'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	199 >>> '"Isn\'t," she said.'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	200 '"Isn\'t," she said.'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	201
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	202 The interpreter prints the result of string operations in the same way as they
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	203 are typed for input: inside quotes, and with quotes and other funny characters
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	204 escaped by backslashes, to show the precise value. The string is enclosed in
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	205 double quotes if the string contains a single quote and no double quotes, else
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	206 it's enclosed in single quotes. Once again, the :func:`print` function
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	207 produces the more readable output.
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	208
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	209 String literals can span multiple lines in several ways. Continuation lines can
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	210 be used, with a backslash as the last character on the line indicating that the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	211 next line is a logical continuation of the line::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	212
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	213 hello = "This is a rather long string containing\n\
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	214 several lines of text just as you would do in C.\n\
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	215 Note that whitespace at the beginning of the line is\
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	216 significant."
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	217
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	218 print(hello)
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	219
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	220 Note that newlines still need to be embedded in the string using ``\n``; the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	221 newline following the trailing backslash is discarded. This example would print
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	222 the following::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	223
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	224 This is a rather long string containing
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	225 several lines of text just as you would do in C.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	226 Note that whitespace at the beginning of the line is significant.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	227
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	228 If we make the string literal a "raw" string, however, the ``\n`` sequences are
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	229 not converted to newlines, but the backslash at the end of the line, and the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	230 newline character in the source, are both included in the string as data. Thus,
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	231 the example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	232
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	233 hello = r"This is a rather long string containing\n\
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	234 several lines of text much as you would do in C."
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	235
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	236 print(hello)
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	237
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	238 would print::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	239
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	240 This is a rather long string containing\n\
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	241 several lines of text much as you would do in C.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	242
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	243 Or, strings can be surrounded in a pair of matching triple-quotes: ``"""`` or
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	244 ``'''``. End of lines do not need to be escaped when using triple-quotes, but
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	245 they will be included in the string. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	246
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	247 print("""
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	248 Usage: thingy [OPTIONS]
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	249 -h Display this usage message
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	250 -H hostname Hostname to connect to
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	251 """)
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	252
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	253 produces the following output::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	254
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	255 Usage: thingy [OPTIONS]
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	256 -h Display this usage message
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	257 -H hostname Hostname to connect to
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	258
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	259
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	260 Strings can be concatenated (glued together) with the ``+`` operator, and
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	261 repeated with ``*``::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	262
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	263 >>> word = 'Help' + 'A'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	264 >>> word
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	265 'HelpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	266 >>> '<' + word*5 + '>'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	267 '<HelpAHelpAHelpAHelpAHelpA>'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	268
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	269 Two string literals next to each other are automatically concatenated; the first
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	270 line above could also have been written ``word = 'Help' 'A'``; this only works
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	271 with two literals, not with arbitrary string expressions::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	272
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	273 >>> 'str' 'ing' # <- This is ok
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	274 'string'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	275 >>> 'str'.strip() + 'ing' # <- This is ok
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	276 'string'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	277 >>> 'str'.strip() 'ing' # <- This is invalid
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	278 File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	279 'str'.strip() 'ing'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	280 ^
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	281 SyntaxError: invalid syntax
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	282
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	283 Strings can be subscripted (indexed); like in C, the first character of a string
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	284 has subscript (index) 0. There is no separate character type; a character is
43201 4902671dd678 Tutorial formatting patch by Robin Stocker. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43157 diff changeset	285 simply a string of size one. As in the Icon programming language, substrings
4902671dd678 Tutorial formatting patch by Robin Stocker. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43157 diff changeset	286 can be specified with the slice notation: two indices separated by a colon.
4902671dd678 Tutorial formatting patch by Robin Stocker. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43157 diff changeset	287 ::
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	288
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	289 >>> word[4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	290 'A'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	291 >>> word[0:2]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	292 'He'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	293 >>> word[2:4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	294 'lp'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	295
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	296 Slice indices have useful defaults; an omitted first index defaults to zero, an
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	297 omitted second index defaults to the size of the string being sliced. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	298
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	299 >>> word[:2] # The first two characters
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	300 'He'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	301 >>> word[2:] # Everything except the first two characters
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	302 'lpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	303
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	304 Unlike a C string, Python strings cannot be changed. Assigning to an indexed
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	305 position in the string results in an error::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	306
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	307 >>> word[0] = 'x'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	308 Traceback (most recent call last):
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	309 File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	310 TypeError: 'str' object doesn't support item assignment
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	311 >>> word[:1] = 'Splat'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	312 Traceback (most recent call last):
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	313 File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	314 TypeError: 'str' object doesn't support slice assignment
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	315
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	316 However, creating a new string with the combined content is easy and efficient::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	317
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	318 >>> 'x' + word[1:]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	319 'xelpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	320 >>> 'Splat' + word[4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	321 'SplatA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	322
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	323 Here's a useful invariant of slice operations: ``s[:i] + s[i:]`` equals ``s``.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	324 ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	325
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	326 >>> word[:2] + word[2:]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	327 'HelpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	328 >>> word[:3] + word[3:]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	329 'HelpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	330
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	331 Degenerate slice indices are handled gracefully: an index that is too large is
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	332 replaced by the string size, an upper bound smaller than the lower bound returns
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	333 an empty string. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	334
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	335 >>> word[1:100]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	336 'elpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	337 >>> word[10:]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	338 ''
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	339 >>> word[2:1]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	340 ''
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	341
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	342 Indices may be negative numbers, to start counting from the right. For example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	343
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	344 >>> word[-1] # The last character
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	345 'A'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	346 >>> word[-2] # The last-but-one character
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	347 'p'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	348 >>> word[-2:] # The last two characters
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	349 'pA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	350 >>> word[:-2] # Everything except the last two characters
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	351 'Hel'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	352
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	353 But note that -0 is really the same as 0, so it does not count from the right!
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	354 ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	355
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	356 >>> word[-0] # (since -0 equals 0)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	357 'H'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	358
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	359 Out-of-range negative slice indices are truncated, but don't try this for
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	360 single-element (non-slice) indices::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	361
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	362 >>> word[-100:]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	363 'HelpA'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	364 >>> word[-10] # error
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	365 Traceback (most recent call last):
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	366 File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	367 IndexError: string index out of range
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	368
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	369 One way to remember how slices work is to think of the indices as pointing
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	370 between characters, with the left edge of the first character numbered 0.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	371 Then the right edge of the last character of a string of n characters has
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	372 index n, for example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	373
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	374 +---+---+---+---+---+
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	375 \| H \| e \| l \| p \| A \|
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	376 +---+---+---+---+---+
93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	377 0 1 2 3 4 5
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	378 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	379
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	380 The first row of numbers gives the position of the indices 0...5 in the string;
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	381 the second row gives the corresponding negative indices. The slice from i to
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	382 j consists of all characters between the edges labeled i and j,
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	383 respectively.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	384
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	385 For non-negative indices, the length of a slice is the difference of the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	386 indices, if both are within bounds. For example, the length of ``word[1:3]`` is
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	387 2.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	388
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	389 The built-in function :func:`len` returns the length of a string::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	390
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	391 >>> s = 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	392 >>> len(s)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	393 34
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	394
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	395
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	396 .. seealso::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	397
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	398 :ref:`typesseq`
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	399 Strings are examples of sequence types, and support the common
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	400 operations supported by such types.
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	401
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	402 :ref:`string-methods`
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	403 Strings support a large number of methods for
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	404 basic transformations and searching.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	405
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	406 :ref:`string-formatting`
47283 f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	407 Information about string formatting with :meth:`str.format` is described
f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	408 here.
f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	409
f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	410 :ref:`old-string-formatting`
f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	411 The old formatting operations invoked when strings and Unicode strings are
f28cbab11acd Merged revisions 63655 via svnmerge from Benjamin Peterson <benjamin@python.org> parents: 44570 diff changeset	412 the left operand of the ``%`` operator are described in more detail here.
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	413
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	414
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	415 .. _tut-unicodestrings:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	416
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	417 About Unicode
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	418 -------------
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	419
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	420 .. sectionauthor:: Marc-Andre Lemburg <mal@lemburg.com>
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	421
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	422
49180 c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	423 Starting with Python 3.0 all strings support Unicode (see
c87b84db244c Forward-port of r66447. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 48655 diff changeset	424 http://www.unicode.org/).
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	425
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	426 Unicode has the advantage of providing one ordinal for every character in every
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	427 script used in modern and ancient texts. Previously, there were only 256
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	428 possible ordinals for script characters. Texts were typically bound to a code
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	429 page which mapped the ordinals to script characters. This lead to very much
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	430 confusion especially with respect to internationalization (usually written as
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	431 ``i18n`` --- ``'i'`` + 18 characters + ``'n'``) of software. Unicode solves
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	432 these problems by defining one code page for all scripts.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	433
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	434 If you want to include special characters in a string,
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	435 you can do so by using the Python Unicode-Escape encoding. The following
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	436 example shows how::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	437
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	438 >>> 'Hello\u0020World !'
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	439 'Hello World !'
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	440
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	441 The escape sequence ``\u0020`` indicates to insert the Unicode character with
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	442 the ordinal value 0x0020 (the space character) at the given position.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	443
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	444 Other characters are interpreted by using their respective ordinal values
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	445 directly as Unicode ordinals. If you have literal strings in the standard
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	446 Latin-1 encoding that is used in many Western countries, you will find it
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	447 convenient that the lower 256 characters of Unicode are the same as the 256
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	448 characters of Latin-1.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	449
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	450 Apart from these standard encodings, Python provides a whole set of other ways
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	451 of creating Unicode strings on the basis of a known encoding.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	452
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	453 To convert a string into a sequence of bytes using a specific encoding,
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	454 string objects provide an :func:`encode` method that takes one argument, the
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	455 name of the encoding. Lowercase names for encodings are preferred. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	456
43131 d15d9c6beda7 Fix unicode issue in tutorial. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43115 diff changeset	457 >>> "Äpfel".encode('utf-8')
d15d9c6beda7 Fix unicode issue in tutorial. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43115 diff changeset	458 b'\xc3\x84pfel'
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	459
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	460 .. _tut-lists:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	461
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	462 Lists
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	463 -----
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	464
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	465 Python knows a number of compound data types, used to group together other
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	466 values. The most versatile is the list, which can be written as a list of
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	467 comma-separated values (items) between square brackets. List items need not all
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	468 have the same type. ::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	469
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	470 >>> a = ['spam', 'eggs', 100, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	471 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	472 ['spam', 'eggs', 100, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	473
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	474 Like string indices, list indices start at 0, and lists can be sliced,
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	475 concatenated and so on::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	476
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	477 >>> a[0]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	478 'spam'
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	479 >>> a[3]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	480 1234
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	481 >>> a[-2]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	482 100
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	483 >>> a[1:-1]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	484 ['eggs', 100]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	485 >>> a[:2] + ['bacon', 2*2]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	486 ['spam', 'eggs', 'bacon', 4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	487 >>> 3*a[:3] + ['Boo!']
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	488 ['spam', 'eggs', 100, 'spam', 'eggs', 100, 'spam', 'eggs', 100, 'Boo!']
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	489
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	490 Unlike strings, which are immutable, it is possible to change individual
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	491 elements of a list::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	492
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	493 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	494 ['spam', 'eggs', 100, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	495 >>> a[2] = a[2] + 23
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	496 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	497 ['spam', 'eggs', 123, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	498
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	499 Assignment to slices is also possible, and this can even change the size of the
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	500 list or clear it entirely::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	501
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	502 >>> # Replace some items:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	503 ... a[0:2] = [1, 12]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	504 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	505 [1, 12, 123, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	506 >>> # Remove some:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	507 ... a[0:2] = []
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	508 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	509 [123, 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	510 >>> # Insert some:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	511 ... a[1:1] = ['bletch', 'xyzzy']
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	512 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	513 [123, 'bletch', 'xyzzy', 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	514 >>> # Insert (a copy of) itself at the beginning
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	515 >>> a[:0] = a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	516 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	517 [123, 'bletch', 'xyzzy', 1234, 123, 'bletch', 'xyzzy', 1234]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	518 >>> # Clear the list: replace all items with an empty list
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	519 >>> a[:] = []
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	520 >>> a
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	521 []
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	522
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	523 The built-in function :func:`len` also applies to lists::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	524
43815 85cf334b32c3 Merged revisions 58886-58929 via svnmerge from Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 43449 diff changeset	525 >>> a = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	526 >>> len(a)
43815 85cf334b32c3 Merged revisions 58886-58929 via svnmerge from Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 43449 diff changeset	527 4
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	528
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	529 It is possible to nest lists (create lists containing other lists), for
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	530 example::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	531
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	532 >>> q = [2, 3]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	533 >>> p = [1, q, 4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	534 >>> len(p)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	535 3
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	536 >>> p[1]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	537 [2, 3]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	538 >>> p[1][0]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	539 2
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	540
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	541 You can add something to the end of the list::
95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	542
43201 4902671dd678 Tutorial formatting patch by Robin Stocker. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 43157 diff changeset	543 >>> p[1].append('xtra')
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	544 >>> p
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	545 [1, [2, 3, 'xtra'], 4]
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	546 >>> q
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	547 [2, 3, 'xtra']
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	548
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	549 Note that in the last example, ``p[1]`` and ``q`` really refer to the same
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	550 object! We'll come back to object semantics later.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	551
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	552
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	553 .. _tut-firststeps:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	554
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	555 First Steps Towards Programming
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	556 ===============================
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	557
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	558 Of course, we can use Python for more complicated tasks than adding two and two
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	559 together. For instance, we can write an initial sub-sequence of the Fibonacci
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	560 series as follows::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	561
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	562 >>> # Fibonacci series:
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	563 ... # the sum of two elements defines the next
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	564 ... a, b = 0, 1
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	565 >>> while b < 10:
44570 0aae14950e0b Fix merge glitch. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 44568 diff changeset	566 ... print(b)
0aae14950e0b Fix merge glitch. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 44568 diff changeset	567 ... a, b = b, a+b
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	568 ...
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	569 1
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	570 1
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	571 2
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	572 3
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	573 5
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	574 8
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	575
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	576 This example introduces several new features.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	577
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	578 * The first line contains a multiple assignment: the variables ``a`` and ``b``
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	579 simultaneously get the new values 0 and 1. On the last line this is used again,
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	580 demonstrating that the expressions on the right-hand side are all evaluated
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	581 first before any of the assignments take place. The right-hand side expressions
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	582 are evaluated from the left to the right.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	583
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	584 * The :keyword:`while` loop executes as long as the condition (here: ``b < 10``)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	585 remains true. In Python, like in C, any non-zero integer value is true; zero is
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	586 false. The condition may also be a string or list value, in fact any sequence;
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	587 anything with a non-zero length is true, empty sequences are false. The test
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	588 used in the example is a simple comparison. The standard comparison operators
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	589 are written the same as in C: ``<`` (less than), ``>`` (greater than), ``==``
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	590 (equal to), ``<=`` (less than or equal to), ``>=`` (greater than or equal to)
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	591 and ``!=`` (not equal to).
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	592
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	593 * The body of the loop is indented: indentation is Python's way of grouping
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	594 statements. Python does not (yet!) provide an intelligent input line editing
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	595 facility, so you have to type a tab or space(s) for each indented line. In
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	596 practice you will prepare more complicated input for Python with a text editor;
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	597 most text editors have an auto-indent facility. When a compound statement is
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	598 entered interactively, it must be followed by a blank line to indicate
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	599 completion (since the parser cannot guess when you have typed the last line).
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	600 Note that each line within a basic block must be indented by the same amount.
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	601
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	602 * The :func:`print` function writes the value of the expression(s) it is
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	603 given. It differs from just writing the expression you want to write (as we did
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	604 earlier in the calculator examples) in the way it handles multiple
93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	605 expressions, floating point quantities,
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	606 and strings. Strings are printed without quotes, and a space is inserted
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	607 between items, so you can format things nicely, like this::
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	608
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	609 >>> i = 256*256
43115 95d6fe2e8e0e Tutorial update for 3.0 by Paul Dubois. Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> parents: 42604 diff changeset	610 >>> print('The value of i is', i)
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	611 The value of i is 65536
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	612
48655 1635891b18e8 #3503: fix print statements in 3k doc. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 47283 diff changeset	613 The keyword end can be used to avoid the newline after the output, or end
1635891b18e8 #3503: fix print statements in 3k doc. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 47283 diff changeset	614 the output with a different string::
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	615
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	616 >>> a, b = 0, 1
9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	617 >>> while b < 1000:
48655 1635891b18e8 #3503: fix print statements in 3k doc. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 47283 diff changeset	618 ... print(b, end=' ')
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	619 ... a, b = b, a+b
50563 93cf3a6ead63 Merged revisions 68226 via svnmerge from Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: 49180 diff changeset	620 ...
42604 9e1529bf0442 Move the 3k reST doc tree in place. Georg Brandl <georg@python.org> parents: diff changeset	621 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987

Mercurial > cpython-lru_cache-weakref

annotate Doc/tutorial/introduction.rst @ 51810:c8d06dfd4c39 3.0