[FIXED] internal comparison of string and int in python

Issue

When a string is being compared to an integer are the string and int compared with the ASCII code internally, or how is it? I know that strings compare greater than integers, but how does that internal comparison takes place?

>>> "a" > 1
True

Solution

In your example, 1 < "a" because "i" for int comes alphabetically before "s" for string.

From the docs:

Objects of different types, except different numeric types and different string types, never compare equal; such objects are ordered consistently but arbitrarily (so that sorting a heterogeneous array yields a consistent result).

I believe this was one of the things changed in python 3 (you would get a TypeError here).

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As for how it is done in CPython, objects of different types except numbers are ordered by their type names; objects of the same types that don’t support proper comparison are ordered by their address. Note that this is part of the implementation, not a part of the language.

Answered By - wim