[Python-3000] bytes: compare bytes to integer

[Georg Brandl]

Bill Janssen schrieb:
>> I don't like the behaviour of Python 3000 when we compare a bytes strings
>> with length=1:
>>    >>> b'xyz'[0] == b'x'
>>    False
>> 
>> The code can be see as:
>>    >>> ord(b'x') == b'x'
>>    False
>> 
>> or also:
>>    >>> 120 == b'x'
>>    False
>> 
>> Two solutions:
>>  1. b'xyz'[0] returns a new bytes object (b'x' instead of 120) 
>>     like b'xyz'[0:1] does
>>  2. allow to compare a bytes string of 1 byte with an integer
>> 
>> I prefer (2) since (1) is wrong: bytes contains integers and not bytes!
> 
> Why not just write
> 
>    b'xyz'[0:1] == b'x'
> 
> in the first place?  Let's not start adding "special" cases.

Hm... I have a feeling that this will be one of the first entries in a
hypothetical "Python 3.0 Gotchas" list.

Georg


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