Question

My question is why do a MySQL row's integer values have an 'L' suffix? Here are the details:

The following dictionary -- artificially formatted here for ease of display --

{'estimated': '',  'suffix': '',  'typeofread': 'g',   'acct_no': 901001000L,   'counter': 0,   'time_billed': datetime.datetime(2012, 5, 1, 9, 5, 33),   'date_read': datetime.datetime(2012, 3, 13, 23, 19, 45),   'reading': 3018L,   'meter_num': '26174200'}

is comprised of a MySQL database table's columns zipped with the result of reading once from the table.

I can remove the 'L' by passing these values into int(), so if that dictionary were in a variable named snapped_read, I could do this:

int(snapped_read['reading']) and 3018L would change to 3018.

I'm just curious as to why integers show up this way.

13.3k 35 55 · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-01 17:51:30Z

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accepted

Because in versions of Python before Python 3, long integer literals were indicated with an l or L suffix. In Python 3, ints and longs have been merged into just int, which functions pretty much like long used to.

Do note that, technically, Python( 2)'s int was equivalent to C's long, while Python's long was more like a BigNumber-type thing with unlimited precision (which is now the case for Python 3's int type.)

answered

Aug 1 '12 at 17:51

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Side note: MySQLdb convert ALL integer types to long type on Python 2.x –

Aug 1 '12 at 18:09

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Interesting to know. It looks like only BIGINT would require that, though, so I'm guessing it's for consistency in terms of the Python interface. –

Aug 1 '12 at 18:10

Yeah, don't know why, but even TINYINT columns got converted to long type... Needs further investigation, but I also think it's due to the Python's database interface API. –

Aug 1 '12 at 18:15

2,735 13 32 · Answer 2 · 2012-08-01 17:50:34Z

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L is for the long data type.

For example,

age = 24 # intbankBalance = 20000005L # long

2,735

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Aug 1 '12 at 17:50

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Just beat me! :) –

Aug 1 '12 at 17:51

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You need a long to contain your bank balance? Shouldn't you be sipping lemonade by a pool somwhere? What are you doing answering questions on SO? (+1) -- although you might want to change your comments from // to #. –

Aug 1 '12 at 17:53

Sorry @mgilson I am a PHP guy :) –

Aug 1 '12 at 17:58

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In Python you code just age = 24 and bankBalance = 20000005L, no type definitions neither semicolons to end statements. :) –

Aug 1 '12 at 18:06

I wish I needed a long to keep my bank balance!! :D –

Aug 14 '12 at 16:08

score 4 · Answer 3

Because they're not exactly integers, they are 'longs'.

They usually don't offer too much trouble, though

>>> a=1>>> b=long(1)>>> a1>>> b1L>>> a==bTrue

Other stackoverflow question about this:

3 Answers

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