What makes a python tuple?

Question

The following code does not print what I would expect:

#!/usr/bin/env python

print type(1,)
a = 1,
print type(a)

Here is the output:

<type 'int'>
<type 'tuple'>

I understand that the comma makes a into a tuple. But if that is the case how come the original print is not printing a tuple type but an int?

Answer 1

Because the tuple syntax inside a function call is also the way parameters are passed:

>>> print type(1,2)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: type() takes 1 or 3 arguments

>>> print type((1,))
<type 'tuple'>

>>> a = 1,
>>> type(a)
<type 'tuple'>

It is a syntax ambiguity for python, which it solves by deciding that you are trying to pass a parameter (if you ask me, it should be a syntax error though).

>>> print type(1,)
>>> print type(1)

Are the same.

Answer 2

type() is a function, so the python parser will pass everything between the parenthesis of the type function call as the argument tuple to that function.

Thus, to pass a literal tuple to a function call you'll always need to add the parenthesis to the tuple for the parser to recognize it as such:

print type((1,))