What does it mean when you assign int to a variable in Python?
i.e. x = int
I understand that an x
integer will do it if there isn't one already, but I would like to understand the process behind it. In particular, I would like to know what int
(as opposed to int()
). I know what int()
is a function, but I'm not sure what it is int
. Documentation links about int
would be helpful as I couldn't find them.
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Imagine you had a function named func
def func():
print("hello from func")
return 7
If you then assign func
- x
, you assign to the function itself x
not the result of the call
x = func # note: no ()
x() # calls func()
y = x() # y is now 7
In this context, you are looking at a very similar thing with int
.
x = int
y = x('2') # y is now 2
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x = int
will not convert x
to an integer. int
- integer type. Execution x = int
sets the x
value of the type int
. In short, it x
becomes an "alias" for an integer type.
If you call the int type on something, for example int('2')
, it will convert what you give to an integer if possible. If you assign the result of this call to a variable, it will set that variable to the integer value you received when you called int
. Therefore, the installation will x = int('2')
set x
to 2.
You should read the Python tutorial to understand how types, variables, and calls work in Python.
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