Using print() (the function version) in Python2.x

python printing python-2.x function-call
rahmu picture rahmu · Aug 28, 2012 · Viewed 53.9k times · Source

I understand the difference between a statement and an expression, and I understand that Python3 turned print() into a function.

However I ran a print() statement surrounded with parenthesis on various Python2.x interpreters and it ran flawlessly, I didn't even have to import any module.

My question: Is the following code print("Hello SO!") evaluated as a statement or an expression in Python2.x?

Answer

mgilson picture mgilson · Aug 28, 2012

Consider the following expressions:

a = ("Hello SO!")
a = "Hello SO!"

They're equivalent. In the same way, with a statement:

statement_keyword("foo")
statement_keyword "foo"

are also equivalent.

Notice that if you change your print function to:

print("Hello","SO!")

You'll notice a difference between python 2 and python 3. With python 2, the (...,...) is interpteted as a tuple since print is a statement whereas in python 3, it's a function call with multiple arguments.

Therefore, to answer the question at hand, print is evaluated as a statement in python 2.x unless you from __future__ import print_function (introduced in python 2.6)

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