Single quotes vs. double quotes in Python [closed]

Answer 1

If the string you have contains one, then you should use the other. For example, "You're able to do this", or 'He said "Hi!"'. Other than that, you should simply be as consistent as you can (within a module, within a package, within a project, within an organisation).

If your code is going to be read by people who work with C/C++ (or if you switch between those languages and Python), then using '' for single-character strings, and "" for longer strings might help ease the transition. (Likewise for following other languages where they are not interchangeable).

The Python code I've seen in the wild tends to favour " over ', but only slightly. The one exception is that """these""" are much more common than '''these''', from what I have seen.

Answer 2

' = "

/ = \ = \\

example :

f = open('c:\word.txt', 'r')
f = open("c:\word.txt", "r")
f = open("c:/word.txt", "r")
f = open("c:\\\word.txt", "r")

Results are the same

=>> no, they're not the same. A single backslash will escape characters. You just happen to luck out in that example because \k and \w aren't valid escapes like \t or \n or \\ or \"

If you want to use single backslashes (and have them interpreted as such), then you need to use a "raw" string. You can do this by putting an 'r' in front of the string

im_raw = r'c:\temp.txt'
non_raw = 'c:\\temp.txt'
another_way = 'c:/temp.txt'

As far as paths in Windows are concerned, forward slashes are interpreted the same way. Clearly the string itself is different though. I wouldn't guarantee that they're handled this way on an external device though.

Answer 3

Your team's taste or your project's coding guidelines.

If you are in a multilanguage environment, you might wish to encourage the use of the same type of quotes for strings that the other language uses, for instance. Else, I personally like best the look of '

Answer 4

Python uses quotes something like this:

mystringliteral1="this is a string with 'quotes'"
mystringliteral2='this is a string with "quotes"'
mystringliteral3="""this is a string with "quotes" and more 'quotes'"""
mystringliteral4='''this is a string with 'quotes' and more "quotes"'''
mystringliteral5='this is a string with \"quotes\"'
mystringliteral6='this is a string with \042quotes\042'
mystringliteral6='this is a string with \047quotes\047'

print mystringliteral1
print mystringliteral2
print mystringliteral3
print mystringliteral4
print mystringliteral5
print mystringliteral6

Which gives the following output:

this is a string with 'quotes'
this is a string with "quotes"
this is a string with "quotes" and more 'quotes'
this is a string with 'quotes' and more "quotes"
this is a string with "quotes"
this is a string with 'quotes'

Answer 5

"If you're going to use apostrophes, 
       ^

you'll definitely want to use double quotes".
   ^

For that simple reason, I always use double quotes on the outside. Always

Speaking of fluff, what good is streamlining your string literals with ' if you're going to have to use escape characters to represent apostrophes? Does it offend coders to read novels? I can't imagine how painful high school English class was for you!

Answer 6

I like to use double quotes around strings that are used for interpolation or that are natural language messages, and single quotes for small symbol-like strings, but will break the rules if the strings contain quotes, or if I forget. I use triple double quotes for docstrings and raw string literals for regular expressions even if they aren't needed.

For example:

LIGHT_MESSAGES = {
    'English': "There are %(number_of_lights)s lights.",
    'Pirate':  "Arr! Thar be %(number_of_lights)s lights."
}

def lights_message(language, number_of_lights):
    """Return a language-appropriate string reporting the light count."""
    return LIGHT_MESSAGES[language] % locals()

def is_pirate(message):
    """Return True if the given message sounds piratical."""
    return re.search(r"(?i)(arr|avast|yohoho)!", message) is not None