Why does Python behave strangely when I store integers with leading zeros into a variable? One gives an error while the other one stores the value wrongly?
>>> zipcode = 02492
SyntaxError: invalid token
>>> zipcode = 02132
>>> zipcode
1114
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Nyxynyx
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How is this question off topic and why the downvote? – Nyxynyx Sep 22 '13 at 20:47
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Why use an integer? A ZIP code is not a numeric quantity. – Wooble Sep 22 '13 at 20:47
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3a) Integers don't *have* leading zeroes. b) Zip codes aren't integers. – Mike Sherrill 'Cat Recall' Sep 22 '13 at 20:48
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related: http://stackoverflow.com/q/13013638/748858 – mgilson Sep 22 '13 at 21:18
2 Answers
5
Numbers beginning with a 0 are interpreted as octal numbers.
In [32]: oct(1114)
Out[32]: '02132'
In [33]: int('2132', 8)
Out[33]: 1114
In [34]: 02132 == 1114
Out[34]: True
Note that in Python3, octal literals must be specified with a leading 0o or 0O, instead of 0.
unutbu
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int literals with leading zero are interpreted as octal, in which 9 is not a valid number. Only numbers formed with digits in range [0, 7] are valid octal numbers.
Rohit Jain
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