Returns a unique id of an object
Usage
The id()
function returns a unique id for the specified object.
Syntax
id(object)
Parameter | Condition | Description |
object | Required | Any object (such as number, string, list, class etc.) |
What is ID of an Object?
In Python, every object has its own unique id. Every time you create an object, a unique id is assigned to it.
The id is nothing but the address of the object in memory. So, it will be different for each time you run the program. But, there are some exceptions.
Basic Examples
Use id()
function to get a unique id of the object.
x = id('Hello!')
print(x)
# Prints 34936992
x = id(9999)
print(x)
# Prints 33739544
L = ['red', 'green', 'blue']
x = id(L)
print(x)
# Prints 33866256
class myfunc:
pass
o = myfunc()
print(id(o))
# Prints 33666912
Compare Two IDs
To check if two objects have same id, use is
keyword.
# Check if 'x' and 'y' have the same id (point to the same object)
x = 42
y = x
print(x is y)
# Prints True
is
keyword is used for identity (id) comparison, while ==
operator is used for equality (value) comparison.
Some Exceptions
In Python, every object has its own unique id. However, for the sake of optimization there are some exceptions.
Some objects have same id (actually one object with multiple pointer), like
- Small integers between
-5
and256
- Small interned strings (usually less than 20 character)
print(30 is 20+10)
# Prints True
print('aa'*2 is 'a'*4)
# Prints True