How does python know?

[Tobiah]

I do this:

a = 'lasdfjlasdjflaksdjfl;akjsdf;kljasdl;kfjasl'
b = 'lasdfjlasdjflaksdjfl;akjsdf;kljasdl;kfjasl'

print
print id(a)
print id(b)


And get this:

True
140329184721376
140329184721376


This works for longer strings.  Does python
compare a new string to every other string
I've made in order to determine whether it
needs to create a new object?

Thanks,

Tobiah