Printing without parentheses varying error message using Python 3

Question

When I try to use print without parentheses on a simple name in Python 3.4 I get:

>>> print max
Traceback (most recent call last):
  ...
           


        

Answer 1

in additions to those excellent answers, without even looking at the source code, we could have guessed that the print special error message was a kludge:

so:

print dfjdkf
           ^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'

but:

>>> a = print
>>> a dsds
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1
    a dsds
         ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

even if a == print but at that stage, it isn't evaluated yet, so you get the generic invalid syntax message instead of the hacked print syntax message, which proves that there's a kludge when the first token is print.

another proof if needed:

>>> print = None
>>> print a
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python34\lib\code.py", line 63, in runsource
    print a
          ^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'

in that case print == None, but the specific message still appears.