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<H2><A NAME="SECTION007260000000000000000"> </A>
<BR>
5.2.6 String conversions
</H2>
<a name="l2h-243"> </a>
<P>
A string conversion is an expression list enclosed in reverse (a.k.a.
backward) quotes:
<P>
<dl><dd class="grammar">
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<td><code><a name="tok-string_conversion">string_conversion</a></code></td>
<td> ::= </td>
<td><code>"`" <a href="exprlists.html#tok-expression_list">expression_list</a> "`"</code></td></tr>
</table>
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<a class="grammar-footer"
href="grammar.txt" type="text/plain"
>Download entire grammar as text.</a>
</dd></dl>
<P>
A string conversion evaluates the contained expression list and
converts the resulting object into a string according to rules
specific to its type.
<P>
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
involved).
<P>
(In particular, converting a string adds quotes around it and converts
``funny'' characters to escape sequences that are safe to print.)
<P>
It is illegal to attempt to convert recursive objects (e.g., lists or
dictionaries that contain a reference to themselves, directly or
indirectly.)
<a name="l2h-244"> </a>
<P>
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.
<a name="l2h-245"> </a>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.2, documentation updated on December 21, 2001.</span>
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