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<title>5.2.7 String conversions
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<H2><A NAME=
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A string conversion is an expression list enclosed in reverse (a.k.a.
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A string conversion evaluates the contained expression list and
converts the resulting object into a string according to rules
If the object is a string, a number,
<code>None
</code>, or a tuple, list or
dictionary containing only objects whose type is one of these, the
resulting string is a valid Python expression which can be passed to
the built-in function
<tt class=
"function">eval()
</tt> to yield an expression with the
same value (or an approximation, if floating point numbers are
(In particular, converting a string adds quotes around it and converts
``funny'' characters to escape sequences that are safe to print.)
Recursive objects (for example, lists or dictionaries that contain a
reference to themselves, directly or indirectly) use
"<tt class="samp
">...</tt>" to
indicate a recursive reference, and the result cannot be passed to
<tt class=
"function">eval()
</tt> to get an equal value (
<tt class=
"exception">SyntaxError
</tt> will
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The built-in function
<tt class=
"function">repr()
</tt> performs exactly the same
conversion in its argument as enclosing it in parentheses and reverse
quotes does. The built-in function
<tt class=
"function">str()
</tt> performs a
similar but more user-friendly conversion.
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<span class=
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2005.
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