Python - Syntax

The Python syntax defines a set of rules that are used to create a Python
Program. The Python Programming Language Syntax has many similarities to
Perl, C, and Java Programming Languages. However, there are some definite
differences between the languages.

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First Python Program

Let us execute a Python program to print "Hello, World!" in two different

modes of Python Programming. (a) Interactive Mode Programming (b) Script
Mode Programming.

Python - Interactive Mode Programming

We can invoke a Python interpreter from command line by typing python at

the command prompt as following −

$ python3

Python 3.10.6 (main, Mar 10 2023, [Link]) [GCC 11.3.0] on linux

Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>>

Here >>> denotes a Python Command Prompt where you can type your
commands. Let's type the following text at the Python prompt and press the
Enter −

>>> print ("Hello, World!")

If you are running older version of Python, like Python 2.4.x, then you would
need to use print statement without parenthesis as in print "Hello,
World!". However in Python version 3.x, this produces the following result −

Hello, World!

Python - Script Mode Programming

We can invoke the Python interpreter with a script parameter which begins
the execution of the script and continues until the script is finished. When
the script is finished, the interpreter is no longer active.
Let us write a simple Python program in a script which is simple text file.
Python files have extension .py. Type the following source code in a [Link]
file −

print ("Hello, World!")

We assume that you have Python interpreter path set in PATH variable. Now,
let's try to run this program as follows −

$ python3 [Link]

This produces the following result −

Hello, World!

Let us try another way to execute a Python script. Here is the modified
[Link] file −

#!/usr/bin/python3

print ("Hello, World!")

We assume that you have Python interpreter available in /usr/bin directory.

Now, try to run this program as follows −

$ chmod +x [Link] # This is to make file executable

$./[Link]

This produces the following result −

Hello, World!

Python Identifiers

A Python identifier is a name used to identify a variable, function, class,

module or other object. An identifier starts with a letter A to Z or a to z or an
underscore (_) followed by zero or more letters, underscores and digits (0 to
9).

Python does not allow punctuation characters such as @, $, and %

within identifiers.

Python is a case sensitive programming language. Thus, Manpower and

manpower are two different identifiers in Python.

Here are naming conventions for Python identifiers −

  Python Class names start with an uppercase letter. All other identifiers
start with a lowercase letter.

 Starting an identifier with a single leading underscore indicates that

the identifier is private identifier.

 Starting an identifier with two leading underscores indicates a strongly

private identifier.

 If the identifier also ends with two trailing underscores, the identifier is
a language-defined special name.

Python Reserved Words

The following list shows the Python keywords. These are reserved words and
you cannot use them as constant or variable or any other identifier names.
All the Python keywords contain lowercase letters only.

and as assert

continu
break class
e

def del elif

else except False

finall
for from
y

globa
if import
l

in is lambda

nonloc
None not
al

or pass raise

retur
True try
n

while with yield

Python Lines and Indentation

Python programming provides no braces to indicate blocks of code for class
and function definitions or flow control. Blocks of code are denoted by line
indentation, which is rigidly enforced.

The number of spaces in the indentation is variable, but all statements within
the block must be indented the same amount. For example −

if True:

print ("True")

else:

print ("False")

However, the following block generates an error −

if True:

print ("Answer")

print ("True")

else:

print ("Answer")

print ("False")

Thus, in Python all the continuous lines indented with same number of
spaces would form a block. The following example has various statement
blocks −

Do not try to understand the logic at this point of time. Just make sure you
understood various blocks even if they are without braces.

import sys

try:

# open file stream

file = open(file_name, "w")

except IOError:

print "There was an error writing to", file_name

[Link]()
print "Enter '", file_finish,

print "' When finished"

while file_text != file_finish:

file_text = raw_input("Enter text: ")

if file_text == file_finish:

# close the file

[Link]

break

[Link](file_text)

[Link]("\n")

[Link]()

file_name = raw_input("Enter filename: ")

if len(file_name) == 0:

print "Next time please enter something"

[Link]()

try:

file = open(file_name, "r")

except IOError:

print "There was an error reading file"

[Link]()

file_text = [Link]()

[Link]()

print file_text

Python Multi-Line Statements

Statements in Python typically end with a new line. Python does, however,
allow the use of the line continuation character (\) to denote that the line
should continue. For example −
total = item_one + \

item_two + \

item_three

Statements contained within the [], {}, or () brackets do not need to use the
line continuation character. For example following statement works well in
Python −

days = ['Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday',

'Thursday', 'Friday']

Quotations in Python

Python accepts single ('), double (") and triple (''' or """) quotes to denote
string literals, as long as the same type of quote starts and ends the string.

The triple quotes are used to span the string across multiple lines. For
example, all the following are legal −

word = 'word'

print (word)

sentence = "This is a sentence."

print (sentence)

paragraph = """This is a paragraph. It is

made up of multiple lines and sentences."""

print (paragraph)

Comments in Python

A comment is a programmer-readable explanation or annotation in the

Python source code. They are added with the purpose of making the source
code easier for humans to understand, and are ignored by Python interpreter

Just like most modern languages, Python supports single-line (or end-of-line)
and multi-line (block) comments. Python comments are very much similar to
the comments available in PHP, BASH and Perl Programming languages.
A hash sign (#) that is not inside a string literal begins a comment. All
characters after the # and up to the end of the physical line are part of the
comment and the Python interpreter ignores them.

# First comment

print ("Hello, World!") # Second comment

This produces the following result −

Hello, World!

You can type a comment on the same line after a statement or expression −

name = "Madisetti" # This is again comment

You can comment multiple lines as follows −

# This is a comment.

# This is a comment, too.

# This is a comment, too.

# I said that already.

Following triple-quoted string is also ignored by Python interpreter and can

be used as a multiline comments:

'''

This is a multiline

comment.

'''

Using Blank Lines in Python Programs

A line containing only whitespace, possibly with a comment, is known as a

blank line and Python totally ignores it.

In an interactive interpreter session, you must enter an empty physical line

to terminate a multiline statement.

Waiting for the User

The following line of the program displays the prompt, the statement saying
Press the enter key to exit, and waits for the user to take action −

#!/usr/bin/python
raw_input("\n\nPress the enter key to exit.")

Here, "\n\n" is used to create two new lines before displaying the actual line.
Once the user presses the key, the program ends. This is a nice trick to keep
a console window open until the user is done with an application.

Multiple Statements on a Single Line

The semicolon ( ; ) allows multiple statements on the single line given that
neither statement starts a new code block. Here is a sample snip using the
semicolon −

import sys; x = 'foo'; [Link](x + '\n')

Multiple Statement Groups as Suites

A group of individual statements, which make a single code block are called
suites in Python. Compound or complex statements, such as if, while, def,
and class require a header line and a suite.

Header lines begin the statement (with the keyword) and terminate with a
colon ( : ) and are followed by one or more lines which make up the suite. For
example −

if expression :

suite

elif expression :

suite

else :

suite

Command Line Arguments in Python

Many programs can be run to provide you with some basic information about
how they should be run. Python enables you to do this with -h −

$ python3 -h

usage: python3 [option] ... [-c cmd | -m mod | file | -] [arg] ...

Options and arguments (and corresponding environment variables):

-c cmd : program passed in as string (terminates option list)

-d : debug output from parser (also PYTHONDEBUG=x)

-E : ignore environment variables (such as PYTHONPATH)

-h : print this help message and exit

[ etc. ]

You can also program your script in such a way that it should accept various
options. Command Line Arguments is an advanced topic and should be
studied a bit later once you have gone through rest of the Python concepts.

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