[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Can someone tell me the difference between single quote and double > quote?
There is no strong reason to use one and avoid the other. Yet, while representing strings, Python itself has a _preference_ for single quotes. Programmers can put this duality to good use, by adopting reasonable conventions, which are nothing more than conventions! :-) I would guess many people choose one over the other for minimizing the amount of backslash escape needed. Some people keep double quotes for strings that would later undergo formatting, maybe because in most shells and some other languages, double quotes allow for substitution and single quotes prevent it. But in my opinion, while not dismissing a lot of wisdom developed within other languages, it may be foolish letting other languages blindly dictate what is best Python style. Personally, I keep single quotes for "computer" strings, and double quotes for "human" strings. To segregate between "computer" and "human" character for a string, I merely ask myself: "If I wanted to use this program in another language, would I want this particular string translated or not?". Yes means double quotes, no means single quotes. As single quotes are often use within human text, as apostrophes, this was a wise choice as far as shell escaping goes. This is extendable to triple-quoted strings. I use triple-double quotes for doc strings meant to hold documentation, which is the usual case. If doc strings are used for BNF snippets, like with SPARK, or any other machine data, triple-single quotes are mandatory by my own convention. -- François Pinard http://pinard.progiciels-bpi.ca -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
