[Python-Dev] str(container) should call str(item), not repr(item)

Mon Jul 28 13:24:18 CEST 2008

Sebastian Haase wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 10:59 AM, <skip at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Ondrej> i.e. the str on list (and tuple and dict) calls repr() on the
>> Ondrej> elements, instead of str. This really seems to me like a bug.
>> Ondrej> Because if I wanted the repr() representation, I'd call repr()
>> Ondrej> on the list/tuple/dict. If I want a nice readable
>> Ondrej> representation, I call str(). That's the philosophy, no?
>>>> I think this is the case which calls for the distinction:
>>>> >>> str(["1", "2", "3"])
>> "['1', '2', '3']"
>> >>> str([1, 2, 3])
>> '[1, 2, 3]'
>>>> If the first case did as you suggested you couldn't distinguish it from the
>> second.
>>> Look at this -- it seems to me that it should work fine....
> ---- Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Apr 15 2008, 22:57:26)
>>>> str("qwer")
> 'qwer'
>>>> repr("qwer")
> "'qwer'"
>No it doesn't. What's happening in these examples is that the 
interpreter is calling repr() on the expression result - otherwise you 
wouldn't see the quotes:
 >>> str("qwer")
'qwer'
 >>> print str("qwer")
qwer
 >>>
regards
 Steve
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