Only index needed: enumerate or (x)range?
If I want to use only the index within a loop, should I better use the range/xrange function in combination with len() a = [1,2,3] for i in xrange(len(a)): print i or enumerate ? Even if I won't use p at all? for i,p in enumerate(a): print i I would use enumerate as it's more generic - eg it will work on iterables and sequences, and the overhead for just returning a reference to an object isn't that big a deal - while xrange(len(something)) although (to me) more easily readable as your intent - will break on objects with no support for len ... That's a rare requirement – the only information