[Python-Dev] Change in repr of Decimal in 2.6

Sat Jul 19 05:55:51 CEST 2008

This is an example of the problem with doctest -- it's easy to
overspecify the tests. I don't think that whether the repr() of a
Decimal uses single or double quotes should be considered a spec cast
in stone by doctests.
On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 8:19 PM, Raymond Hettinger <python at rcn.com> wrote:
> From: Karen Tracey
>>>> I noticed when trying out Python's 2.6b2 release that the repr of Decimal
>> has changed since 2.5. On 2.5:
>> ...
>>>> quotes were used whereas on 2.6b2:
>> ...
>>>> single quotes are used. Searching around I see this was done in r60773
>> with the log message:
>> Fix decimal repr which should have used single quotes like other reprs.
>>>> but I can't find any discussion other than that.
>> Guido requested this change so that the Decimal repr would match the style
> used elsewhere (i.e. str(7) --> '7').
>>>> If it's here to stay, is there some straightforward way that I am unaware
>> of to construct tests that use Decimal repr but will work correctly on
>> Python 2.3-2.6?
>> A quick hack is to monkey patch the decimal module:
>> >>> import decimal
> >>> decimal.Decimal.__repr__ = lambda s: 'Decimal("%s")' % str(s)
>> A better fix is to amend to doctests to not rely on the __repr__ format.
> Instead of:
>> >>> Decimal('7.1')
> Decimal("7.1")
>> use:
>> >>> print Decimal('7.1')
> 7.1
>>> Raymond
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)