>_ is just a plain variable name in Python. It is sometimes when a variable is >needed to receive a value that won't be used.<
Like in some other interactive systems (Mathematica, etc, but with a different syntax) _ has a use in the interactive shell, it contains the last unassigned result: >>> a = 2 * 5 >>> _ Traceback (most recent call last): File "<interactive input>", line 1, in ? NameError: name '_' is not defined >>> 2 * 5 10 >>> _ 10 Bye, bearophile -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list