Beginning Python - From Novice to Professional

APPENDIX B
■ ■ ■
Python Reference
This is not a full Python reference by far—you can find that in the standard Python documentation
(http://python.org/doc/ref). Rather, this is a handy “cheat sheet” that can be useful for
refreshing your memory as you start out programming in Python.
Expressions
This section summarizes Python expressions. Table B-1 lists the most important basic (literal)
values in Python; Table B-2 lists the Python operators, along with their precedence (those with
high precedence are evaluated before those with low precedence); Table B-3 describes some of
the most important built-in functions; Tables B-4 through B-6 describe the list methods,
dictionary methods, and string methods, respectively.
Table B-1. Basic (Literal) Values
Type Description Syntax Samples
Integer Numbers without a fractional part 42
Long integer Large integer numbers 42L
Float Numbers with a fractional part 42.5, 42.5e-2
Complex
Sum of a real (integer or float) and
imaginary number
38 + 4j, 42j
String An immutable sequence of characters 'foo', "bar", """baz""", r'\n'
Unicode
An immutable sequence of Unicode
characters
u'foo', u"bar", u"""baz"""
557