![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/fa0f7819f1825f596b384c19aa7dcf33.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
paul j3 added the comment: For documentation, ['this','is','a','test'] might be a bit clearer than 'this is a test'.split(). But generating a list of strings by split is, I think, a pretty basic idiom. But for testing purposes the split() version is a bit more robust because it is closer to what might appear in sys.argv. In [196]: ['this','is','a','test'][-1] is 'test' Out[196]: True In [198]: 'this is a test'.split()[-1] is 'test' Out[198]: False That is, the 'id' of a string generated by a split is not the same as that of an explicit string. sys.argv is created by a split in the shell and/or the interpreter, so it too will fail this 'is' test. ---------- nosy: +paul.j3 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue20598> _______________________________________