I've seen both ways of writing the same in Python:
while 1:
# do something here
and
while True:
# do something here
Which one is more pythonic?
I already know that True is already a keyword, the differences, etc., but I'm asking about which one is more pythonic
There is no practical difference. 1 and True are equal in python, and this is guaranteed in future too, so could use whichever you like the look of best.
As for which is pythonic, I think it's pythonic to avoid these kind of loops altogether, except in those rare cases where you do actually intend to have an infinite loop.
You can virtually always write them with an explicit terminating condition instead of break statement(s), and explicit is better than implicit.
Both are used in the standard libraries with approximately equal frequency. 96 occurrences for while True:
/usr/lib/python2.7$ grep -rn "while True:"
_abcoll.py:292: while True:
_abcoll.py:478: while True:
_abcoll.py:531: while True:
argparse.py:1807: while True:
base64.py:287: while True:
base64.py:302: while True:
calendar.py:162: while True:
chunk.py:28:while True:
chunk.py:34: while True:
codecs.py:458: while True:
codecs.py:529: while True:
ConfigParser.py:478: while True:
decimal.py:2141: while True:
decimal.py:2331: while True:
decimal.py:2681: while True:
decimal.py:2990: while True:
decimal.py:3124: while True:
decimal.py:3205: while True:
decimal.py:5695: while True:
difflib.py:1466: while True:
difflib.py:1556: while True:
difflib.py:1573: while True:
difflib.py:1580: while True:
filecmp.py:67: while True:
fractions.py:245: while True:
gzip.py:202: while True:
gzip.py:208: while True:
gzip.py:248: while True:
gzip.py:502: while True:
httplib.py:273: while True:
httplib.py:406: while True:
httplib.py:411: while True:
httplib.py:572: while True:
httplib.py:610: while True:
httplib.py:747: while True:
locale.py:134: while True:
mailbox.py:217: while True:
mailbox.py:534: while True:
mailbox.py:652: while True:
mailbox.py:814: while True:
mailbox.py:850: while True:
mailbox.py:856: while True:
mailbox.py:1221: while True:
mailbox.py:1227: while True:
mailbox.py:1246: while True:
mailbox.py:1251: while True:
mailbox.py:1279: while True:
mailbox.py:1342: while True:
mailbox.py:1352: while True:
mailbox.py:1359: while True:
mailbox.py:1364: while True:
mailbox.py:1385: while True:
mailbox.py:1395: while True:
mimetypes.py:243: while True:
pdb.py:1312: while True:
pickletools.py:1841: while True:
posixpath.py:299: while True:
pty.py:146: while True:
pyclbr.py:196: while True:
pyclbr.py:284: while True:
pyclbr.py:308: while True:
py_compile.py:146: while True:
pydoc.py:537: while True:
pydoc.py:1762: while True:
_pyio.py:559: while True:
_pyio.py:953: while True:
_pyio.py:1013: while True:
_pyio.py:1896: while True:
sets.py:356: while True:
shlex.py:123: while True:
socket.py:349: while True:
socket.py:372: while True:
socket.py:427: while True:
socket.py:445: while True:
socket.py:474: while True:
socket.py:514: while True:
SocketServer.py:153: while True:
ssl.py:196: while True:
subprocess.py:476: while True:
sysconfig.py:406: while True:
tarfile.py:529: while True:
tarfile.py:534: while True:
tarfile.py:566: while True:
tarfile.py:836: while True:
tarfile.py:859: while True:
tarfile.py:902: while True:
tarfile.py:1168: while True:
tarfile.py:1384: while True:
tarfile.py:1579: while True:
tarfile.py:2317: while True:
tarfile.py:2379: while True:
tarfile.py:2508: while True:
threading.py:255: while True:
uu.py:105: while True:
_weakrefset.py:97: while True:
zipfile.py:579: while True:
And 116 occurrences for while 1. Note that older code is more likely to have this form because bool wasn't always around in early python.
/usr/lib/python2.7$ grep -rn "while 1:" *.py
aifc.py:309: while 1:
aifc.py:962: while 1:
audiodev.py:252: while 1:
binhex.py:257: while 1:
binhex.py:265: while 1:
binhex.py:295: while 1:
binhex.py:377: while 1:
binhex.py:481: while 1:
binhex.py:492: while 1:
cgi.py:251: while 1:
cgi.py:683: while 1:
cgi.py:696: while 1:
cgi.py:729: while 1:
code.py:227: while 1:
compileall.py:141: while 1:
DocXMLRPCServer.py:41: while 1:
fpformat.py:141: while 1:
ftplib.py:199: while 1:
ftplib.py:407: while 1:
ftplib.py:431: while 1:
ftplib.py:462: while 1:
ftplib.py:484: while 1:
ftplib.py:691: while 1:
ftplib.py:709: while 1:
ftplib.py:731: while 1:
ftplib.py:747: while 1:
ftplib.py:904: while 1:
getpass.py:97: while 1:
heapq.py:346: while 1:
heapq.py:348: while 1:
imaplib.py:864: while 1:
imaplib.py:987: while 1:
_LWPCookieJar.py:111: while 1:
mailbox.py:2021: while 1:
mailbox.py:2039: while 1:
mailbox.py:2050: while 1:
mailbox.py:2109: while 1:
mailbox.py:2117: while 1:
mailbox.py:2164: while 1:
mailbox.py:2172: while 1:
mailcap.py:63: while 1:
markupbase.py:269: while 1:
markupbase.py:323: while 1:
markupbase.py:345: while 1:
markupbase.py:358: while 1:
mhlib.py:305: while 1:
mhlib.py:616: while 1:
mhlib.py:915: while 1:
mhlib.py:920: while 1:
mimetools.py:240: while 1:
mimetools.py:247: while 1:
mimetypes.py:213: while 1:
mimify.py:86: while 1:
mimify.py:98: while 1:
mimify.py:111: while 1:
mimify.py:135: while 1:
mimify.py:164: while 1:
mimify.py:241: while 1:
mimify.py:266: while 1:
mimify.py:292: while 1:
mimify.py:315: while 1:
mimify.py:390: while 1:
mimify.py:407: while 1:
_MozillaCookieJar.py:58: while 1:
multifile.py:15:while 1:
multifile.py:114: while 1:
netrc.py:38: while 1:
netrc.py:58: while 1:
netrc.py:73: while 1:
nntplib.py:239: while 1:
nntplib.py:559: while 1:
nntplib.py:583: while 1:
os.py:545: while 1:
pdb.py:40: while 1:
pickle.py:856: while 1:
platform.py:166: while 1:
platform.py:966: while 1:
quopri.py:70: while 1:
quopri.py:128: while 1:
random.py:394: while 1:
random.py:464: while 1:
random.py:517: while 1:
random.py:540: while 1:
re.py:310: while 1:
rfc822.py:148: while 1:
shlex.py:287: while 1:
shutil.py:48: while 1:
site.py:424: while 1:
smtplib.py:352: while 1:
smtplib.py:847: while 1:
sre_parse.py:307: while 1:
sre_parse.py:325: while 1:
sre_parse.py:393: while 1:
sre_parse.py:406: while 1:
sre_parse.py:425: while 1:
sre_parse.py:536: while 1:
sre_parse.py:549: while 1:
sre_parse.py:573: while 1:
sre_parse.py:600: while 1:
sre_parse.py:640: while 1:
sre_parse.py:708: while 1:
sre_parse.py:718: while 1:
telnetlib.py:587: while 1:
telnetlib.py:608: while 1:
telnetlib.py:616: while 1:
telnetlib.py:732: while 1:
tokenize.py:286: while 1: # loop over lines in stream
urllib.py:266: while 1:
urlparse.py:282: while 1:
wave.py:135: while 1:
weakref.py:153: while 1:
weakref.py:359: while 1:
xdrlib.py:214: while 1:
xmllib.py:187: while 1:
xmlrpclib.py:1461: while 1:
zipfile.py:1095: while 1:
