List comprehensions, a shortcut for creating lists, have been in Python since version 2.0. Python 2.4 added a similar feature – generator expressions; then 2.7 (and 3.0) introduced set and dict comprehensions.
All three can be thought as syntactic sugar for defining and calling a generator function, but since list comprehensions came before generators, they behaved slightly differently than the other two. Python 3 removes the differences.
.. index:: NameError; list comprehensions
.. index:: list comprehensions; iteration variable
- :ref:`Fixer <python-modernize>`: None
- Prevalence: Rare
In Python 2, the iteration variable(s) of list comprehensions were considered local to the code containing the expression. For example:
>>> powers = [2**i for i in range(10)] >>> print(i) 9
This did not apply apply to generators, or to set/dict comprehensions (added in Python 2.7).
In Python 3, list expressions have their own scope: they are functions, just defined with a special syntax, and automatically called. Thus, the iteration variable(s) don't “leak” out:
>>> powers = [2**i for i in range(10)] >>> print(i) Traceback (most recent call last): File "...", line 1, in <module> NameError: name 'i' is not defined
In most cases, effects of the change are easy to find, as running the code
under Python 3 will result in a NameError.
To fix this, either rewrite the code to not use the iteration variable after
a list comprehension, or convert the comprehension to a for
loop:
powers = [] for i in range(10): powers.append(2**i)
In some cases, the change might silently cause different behavior. This is when a variable of the same name is set before the comprehension, or in a surrounding scope. For example:
i = 'global' def foo(): powers = [2**i for i in range(10)] return i >>> foo() # Python 2 9 >>> foo() # Python 3 'global'
Unfortunately, you will need to find and fix these cases manually.
.. index:: SyntaxError; list comprehensions over tuples
.. index:: list comprehensions; over tuples
- :ref:`Fixer <python-modernize>`:
python-modernize -wnf lib2to3.fixes.fix_paren
- Prevalence: Rare
Python 2 allowed list comprehensions over bare, non-parenthesized tuples:
>>> [i for i in 1, 2, 3] [1, 2, 3]
In Python 3, this is a syntax error. The tuple must be enclosed in parentheses:
>>> [i for i in (1, 2, 3)] [1, 2, 3]
The recommended fixer will add the parentheses in the vast majority of cases.
It does not deal with nested loops, such as
[x*y for x in 1, 2 for y in 1, 2]
.
These cases are easily found, since they raise SyntaxError
under Python 3.
If they appear in your code, add the parentheses manually.