[Tutor] Why does 01 give a syntax error, but 00 (or 00...0) does not?

[Ben Finney]

Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> writes:

> Hmm. That is a confusing inconsistency, I agree. It is deliberate, and
> explicitly documented:
>
>     Note that leading zeros in a non-zero decimal number are not
>     allowed. This is for disambiguation with C-style octal literals,
>     which Python used before version 3.0.
>
>     <URL:https://docs.python.org/3/reference/lexical_analysis.html#integer-literals>
>
> which does not explain why “non-zero decimal number” was chosen, rather
> than simply any decimal number.

I have reported <URL:https://bugs.python.org/issue26490> to try to
resolve this ambiguity.

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Ben Finney