Question

I am trying to enter numbers with input statement, everything is fine, the only problem is when i start the numbers with ‘0’. It gives wrong result. Can someone explain me what exactly happens and why it gives wrong result.

Here is a small example:

 >>> a = input("> ")
 > 12345
 >>> a
 12345
 >>> a = input("> ")
 > 012345
 >>> a
 5349
 >>> print a
 5349
 >>> if a == 012345: print "matched"

 matched

I am not understanding this. Thanks for any help! (Windows XP, Python 2.7.3)

Answer 1

In python 2, starting a number with 0 marks it as octal (base 8).

12345 oct = 5349 dec