Python literals

Literal is a raw data given in a variable or constant. In Python, there are various types of literals they are as follows:

Numeric Literals

Numeric Literals are immutable (unchangeable). Numeric literals can belong to 3 different numerical types Integer, Float and Complex.

Example : How to use Numeric literals in Python?

a = 0b1010 #Binary Literals
b = 100 #Decimal Literal
c = 0o310 #Octal Literal
d = 0x12c #Hexadecimal Literal


#Float Literal
float_1 = 10.5
float_2 = 1.5e2


#Complex Literal
x = 3.14j

print(a, b, c, d)
print(float_1, float_2)
print(x, x.imag, x.real)

When you run the program, the output will be:

10 100 200 300

10.5 150.0

3.14j 3.14 0.0

In the above program

• We assigned integer literals into different variables. Here, a is binary literal, b is a decimal literal, c is an octal literal and d is a hexadecimal literal.
• When we print the variables, all the literals are converted into decimal values.
• 10.5 and 1.5e2 are floating point literals. 1.5e2 is expressed with exponential and is equivalent to 1.5 * 10^2.
• We assigned a complex literal i.e 3.14j in variable x. Then we use imaginary literal (x.imag) and real literal (x.real) to create imaginary and real part of complex number. 
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String literals

A string literal is a sequence of characters surrounded by quotes. We can use both single, double or triple quotes for a string. And, a character literal is a single character surrounded by single or double quotes.

Example : How to use string literals in Python?

strings = "This is Python"
char = "C"
multiline_str = """This is a multiline string with more than one line code."""
unicode = u"\u00dcnic\u00f6de"
raw_str = r"raw \n string"

print(strings)
print(char)
print(multiline_str)
print(unicode)
print(raw_str)

When you run the program, the output will be:

This is Python
C
This is a multiline string with more than one line code.
Ünicöde
raw \n string

In the above program, This is Python is a string literal and C is a character literal. The value with triple-quote """ assigned in the multiline_str is multi-line string literal. The u"\u00dcnic\u00f6de" is a unicode literal which supports characters other than English and r"raw \n string" is a raw string literal.

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Boolean literals

A Boolean literal can have any of the two values: True or False.

Example : How to use boolean literals in Python?

x = (1 == True)
y = (1 == False)
a = True + 4
b = False + 10

print("x is", x)
print("y is", y)
print("a:", a)
print("b:", b)

When you run the program, the output will be:

x is True

y is False

a: 5

b: 10

In the above program, we use boolean literal True and False. In Python, True represents the value as 1 and False as 0. The value of x is True because 1 is equal to True. And, the value of y is False because 1 is not equal to False.

Similarly, we can use the True and False in numeric expressions as the value. The value of a is 5 because we add True which has value of 1 with 4. Similarly, b is 10 because we add the False having value of 0 with 10.

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Special literals

Python contains one special literal i.e. None. We use it to specify to that field that is not created.

Example : How to use special literals in Python?

drink = "Available"
food = None
def menu(x):
    if x == drink:
        print(drink)
    else:
        print(food)
menu(drink)
menu(food)

When you run the program, the output will be:

Available
None

In the above program, we define a menu function. Inside menu, when we set parameter as drink then, it displays Available. And, when the parameter is food, it displays None.

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Literal Collections

There are four different literal collections List literals, Tuple literals, Dict literals, and Set literals.

Example : How to use literals collections in Python?

fruits = ["apple", "mango", "orange"] #list
numbers = (1, 2, 3) #tuple
alphabets = {'a':'apple', 'b':'ball', 'c':'cat'} #dictionary
vowels = {'a', 'e', 'i' , 'o', 'u'} #set

print(fruits)
print(numbers)
print(alphabets)
print(vowels)

When you run the program, the output will be

['apple', 'mango', 'orange']
(1, 2, 3)
{'a': 'apple', 'b': 'ball', 'c': 'cat'}
{'e', 'a', 'o', 'i', 'u'}

In the above program, we created a list of fruits, tuple of numbers, dictionary dict having values with keys desginated to each value and set of vowels.

We will learn more about literal collections in Advance Tutorial.

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