CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python-3.x
David
David

Reputation: 3056

Python: why can a variable stand on its own?

I am a beginner in python told my friend today, that the following code would throw an error, but it did not:

a = 5
a

So I wondered, what does "a" actually do and why is the interpreter fine with this?

If this is a duplicate, please refer me to the right post and sorry in advance.

edit: I used a *.py file.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 158

Answers (3)

Lily
Lily

Reputation: 376

If you type this code into the shell and click enter, the value of a is returned. Functionally, as there is no operation being performed on a, the value of a will not change.

You define the variable in the line above. The variable contains a value, so the "NameError: name 'a' is not defined" error is not triggered.

a=5

Also, even if the variable is a different data type, for example, a string, the value of a is returned. a="hello"

If you run the code in a different environment, the line won't be printed and the line won't impact the value of itself or of any other variables.

Upvotes: 2

user11093202
user11093202

Reputation:

You can type in a int into the shell or whatever, and it will return it. The variable you put is just a int, so it returns 5.

Upvotes: 0

A K
A K

Reputation: 41

I think you tried it in der REPL Console, paste it to a *.py file and execute that. So when you just type the variable name and hit enter this is actually a print command behind the scenes

Upvotes: 0

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