[Python-Dev] PEP 263 -- Python Source Code Encoding (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com
Wed, 27 Feb 2002 11:20:51 -0600 

>> Python uses the 7-bit ASCII character set for program text and string
>> literals.  8-bit characters may be used in string literals and
>> comments but their interpretation is platform dependent; the proper
>> way to insert 8-bit characters in string literals is by using octal
>> or hexadecimal escape sequences.

mal> It's a fact of life that users don't read reference manuals, but
mal> simply write programs and feel good if they happen to work :-)

Perhaps a warning should be emitted by the compiler if a plain string literal is found that contains 8-bit characters. Better yet, perhaps Neal can add this to PyChecker if he hasn't already...

Skip