What does the Python version line mean?

Mark picture Mark · Jul 20, 2013 · Viewed 18.4k times · Source

What does the line that's displayed when you start an instance of the Python interpreter mean?

Python 2.7 (r27:82525, Jul  4 2010, 07:43:08) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32

So I know I have Python 2.7, but what about the rest?

Especially confusing to me are the 64 bit (AMD64) on win32 and r27:82525 sections.

Answer

greatwolf picture greatwolf · Jul 20, 2013

That line you see indicates how the python interpreter was built. Breaking it down:

Python 2.7                        -- Python version
(r27:82525, Jul 4 2010, 07:43:08) -- The build date and revision from src trunk 
                                     that was used to build this.
[MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)]       -- Compiled with MSVC compiler targeting 64-bit
on win32                          -- Obviously for windows platform