On Aug 30, 4:28 pm, Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > On Aug 30, 12:09 am, Ben Finney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > It's letting you know that the item isn't in the list. There's no > > > sensible return value from an "index" function in that condition. > > > for str: > > find( sub[, start[, end]]) > > [...] > > Return -1 if sub is not found. > > > -1 is used in other languages as well. > > It is no more sensible there than in the 'str.find' method, which is a > historical wart.
One man's sensible is another man's insensible. For instance, some people feel -1 as a valid index into a list is sensible. Other's find it insensible. > > -- > \ "Hey Homer! You're late for English!" "Pff! English, who needs | > `\ that? I'm never going to England!" -- Barney & Homer, _The | > _o__) Simpsons_ | > Ben Finney -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
