Is `id` a keyword in python?

Question

My editor (TextMate) shows id in another colour (when used as variable name) than my usual variable names. Is it a keyword? I don't want to shade any keyword...

Answer 1

You can also get help from python:

>>> help(id) Help on built-in function id in module __builtin__:  id(...)     id(object) -> integer      Return the identity of an object.  This is guaranteed to be unique among     simultaneously existing objects.  (Hint: it's the object's memory address.) 

or alternatively you can question IPython

IPython 0.10.2   [on Py 2.6.6] [C:/]|1> id?? Type:           builtin_function_or_method Base Class:     <type 'builtin_function_or_method'> String Form:    <built-in function id> Namespace:      Python builtin Docstring [source file open failed]:     id(object) -> integer  Return the identity of an object.  This is guaranteed to be unique among simultaneously existing objects.  (Hint: it's the object's memory address.) 

Answer 2

id is not a keyword in Python, but it is the name of a built-in function.

The keywords are:

and       del       from      not       while as        elif      global    or        with assert    else      if        pass      yield break     except    import    print class     exec      in        raise continue  finally   is        return def       for       lambda    try 

Keywords are invalid variable names. The following would be a syntax error:

if = 1 

On the other hand, built-in functions like id or type or str can be shadowed:

str = "hello"    # don't do this