[New-bugs-announce] [issue33049] itertools.count() confusingly mentions zip() and sequence numbers

[Trey Hunner]

New submission from Trey Hunner <trey at truthful.technology>:

>From the itertools documentation: https://docs.python.org/3/library/itertools.html?highlight=itertools#itertools.count

> Also, used with zip() to add sequence numbers.

I'm not certain what the goal of the original sentence was, but I think it's unclear as currently written.

I assume this is what's meant:

my_sequence = [1, 2, 3, 4]
for i, item in zip(count(1), my_sequence):
    print(i, item)

This is a strange thing to note though because enumerate would be a better use here.

my_sequence = [1, 2, 3, 4]
for i, item in enumerate(my_sequence, start=1):
    print(i, item)

Maybe what is meant is that count can be used with a step while enumerate cannot?

my_sequence = [1, 2, 3, 4]
for i, item in zip(count(step=5), my_sequence):
    print(i, item)

If that's the case it seems like step should instead be mentioned there instead of "sequence numbers".

----------
assignee: docs at python
components: Documentation
messages: 313606
nosy: docs at python, trey
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: itertools.count() confusingly mentions zip() and sequence numbers
type: enhancement
versions: Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Python 3.5, Python 3.6, Python 3.7, Python 3.8

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue33049>
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