sum works in sequences (Python 3)

[Joel Goldstick]

On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 10:41 AM, Franck Ditter <franck at ditter.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> I wonder why sum does not work on the string sequence in Python 3 :
>
>>>> sum((8,5,9,3))
> 25
>>>> sum([5,8,3,9,2])
> 27
>>>> sum('rtarze')
> TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'
>
> I naively thought that sum('abc') would expand to 'a'+'b'+'c'
> And the error message is somewhat cryptic...
>
>     franck
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Help on built-in function sum in module __builtin__:

sum(...)
    sum(sequence[, start]) -> value

    Returns the sum of a sequence of numbers (NOT strings) plus the value
    of parameter 'start' (which defaults to 0).  When the sequence is
    empty, returns start.
~



-- 
Joel Goldstick