parsing engineering symbols

[Peter Hansen]

Fredrik Lundh wrote:
> Peter Hansen wrote:
[the OP wrote]
>>>Did you put the SI_prefixes  outside the def so you could wrap the
>>>whole thing in a module and reuse it in other blocks?
>>
>>Do "import dis" and then try "dis.dis(myfloat)" on Fredrik's version and
>>on your suggested variation...  (Hint, it's likely more an instinct for
>>decent performance instead of an instinct for decent portability
> 
> I frankly don't see what "portability" has to do with this.  Why would the
> location of a reusable static data structure matter ?  Python code work
> the same way in scripts and modules...

A local variable (i.e. "inside the def") wouldn't be quite so accessible 
as a global one...

At least, that's what I inferred the OP meant with his question above.

-Peter