New submission from Matthias Bussonnier <[email protected]>:
In recent Python the following
>>> from ast import PyCF_ONLY_AST
>>> compile("'a'", 'whatever', 'exec', PyCF_ONLY_AST).body
In 3.6 it return
[<_ast.Expr at 0x10b7441d0>] # that contail Str('a')
While on master:
[]
This is inconveninent for alternative repl like IPython, where basically if the
user is entering a single string, the result is nothing in Python 3.7+, while
it _does_ return something on earlier Python [1].
The documentation of `compile` says:
> ... it can be 'exec' if source consists of a sequence of statements,
Which is not technically true any more as the first statement, if a string,
will be removed.
What's happening here is that since Python 3.7 if the _first_ statement is
actually an expression containing a lonely string it is assign to the module
docstring. So that's basically assuming you are parsing a module, and that the
docstring make sens in this context, while in a REPL you are parsing a
sucesssion of statements, in which case there is no need for a docstring that
make no sens in this context.
This is _usually_ not an issue, unless this lonely statement is also the last,
and what the user wants to execute in a REPL, in which case it has no side
effect.
I don't have any objection to the new behavior, though I was wondering if this
kind of side effect was anticipated.
If that affect IPython, it will likely effect other alternative REPLs.
Thus, I believe it would be good to have this at least documented a tiny bit
better and added in what's new, and potentially clarified in the `exec` docs.
I could argue that now the `exec` name may be a tiny bit unsuitable for the
new behavior, and would love if this could be optional.
1: https://github.com/ipython/ipython/issues/11133#issuecomment-388591332
----------
assignee: docs@python
components: Documentation, Interpreter Core
messages: 316441
nosy: docs@python, mbussonn
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Document that compile(code, 'exec') has different behavior in 3.7+
versions: Python 3.7, Python 3.8
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Python tracker <[email protected]>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue33477>
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