Differences in print output/format

Question

New to python and trying to figure out why the following 2 lists generate different output formats

n=5 mylist = "*" * n print(mylist) mylist = ["\*", "\*", "\*", "\*", "\*"] print(mylist)

Output:

***** ['\*', '\*', '\*', '\*', '\*']

Just realized that mylist = "*" * n probably does not generate a list — cmull
– cmull, Commented Jun 4, 2017 at 1:51
No it does not. It creates a string object made by concatenating ' *' + ' *' +.. n times. It's still a string object though. — syntaxError
– syntaxError, Commented Jun 4, 2017 at 1:54

John Zwinck · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 01:55:08Z

"*" * 5 gives you a string of length 5.

["*"] * 5 gives you a list of five strings of length 1.

In both of these cases, the result has the same type as the "input," just five times longer.

Amrsaeed · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 01:55:59Z

Your first variable is a string and the second is a list.

When you do "*" and multiply it by n you multiply that character n times and it returns a string.

The second one you declared as a list and is thus, printed as a list.

Edy Silva · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 01:58:55Z

In Python when using a multiplication operator (*) with a string this string is repeated according to the number, for example

str = "-" * 6 # output : ------

NOTE : This operation returns a string and not a list

The second output is simply a list with elements and its output is as expected

I hope I have helped

martineau · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-04 02:47:33Z

My output is

***** ['\\*', '\\*', '\\*', '\\*', '\\*']

Obviously,"*" * n is a string,["\*", "\*", "\*", "\*", "\*"] is a list. If you want to create a list, please set a list first.

4 Answers 4