◀ Prev · Parts · Full · Next ▶

Python is meant to be an easily readable language. Its formatting is visually uncluttered and often uses English keywords where other languages use punctuation. Unlike many other languages, it does not use curly brackets to delimit blocks, and semicolons after statements are allowed but rarely used. It has fewer syntactic exceptions and special cases than C or Pascal.cite-ref-autont-52-80-0[78]

Python uses whitespace indentation, rather than curly brackets or keywords, to delimit blocks. An increase in indentation comes after certain statements; a decrease in indentation signifies the end of the current block.cite-ref-autont-53-81-0[79] Thus, the program's visual structure accurately represents its semantic structure.cite-ref-guttag-82-0[80] This feature is sometimes termed the off-side rule. Some other languages use indentation this way; but in most, indentation has no semantic meaning. The recommended indent size is four spaces.cite-ref-83[81]

Python's statements include the following:

◀ Prev · Parts · Full · Next ▶