[1, 2] in [1, 2, 3] returns 0?

[Sandy Norton]

Please excuse me if this is a dumb comment that has been made before. 

Recently, I was rather surprised by the following behavior:

Python 2.1.1 (#20, Jul 26 2001, 11:38:51) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] on
win32
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> lst = [1,2,3]
>>> sublst = [1,2]
>>> sublst in lst
0

I am sure there's a good reason why it would be considered unpythonic
for the above to return 1... I just can't get my puny brain to figure
it out right now.
I guess a function such as issublist(sublst, lst) would be more
appropriate:

>>> def issublist(sublst, lst):
	for item in sublst:
		if item not in lst: return 0
	return 1

>>> issublist([1,2], [1,2,3])
1
>>> issublist([1,4], [1,2,3])
0


regards,


Sandy