why this way of executing python isn't working

Question

python -c 'for i in range(10): print i'

works, and

python -c 'a=3;'

works, but

python -c 'a=3;for i in range(10): print i'

gave an error

  File "<string>", line 1
    a=3;for i in range(10): print i
          ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Could anyone help point out why? Thank you.

Answer 1

Because that's how Python syntax works. for, like all other statements that introduce an indent level, does not like having anything in front of it.

You need a newline in this case, not a semicolon. These are legal (assuming bash):

python -c 'a=3
for i in range(10)]: print(i)'

python -c $'a=3\nfor i in range(10): print(i)'