[Python-Dev] best practices stdlib: purging xrange

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> Just curious why 2to3 would not replace range() with list(range())?

In most usages of range(), using the 3.0 range() will work just as
well, and be more efficient.

If I wanted to write code that works in both versions (which I
understand is not the 2to3 objective), then I would use range().
If I worry about creating a list in 2.x, I would write

try:
  xrange
except NameError:
  xrange=range

at the top of the file.

Regards,
Martin