>> print(timeit("c in a", "c = '…'; a = 'a'*1000+c")) # ord(c) = 8230 > I'm not sure that I read your benchmark correctly: you write c='...' Apparenly you didn't - or your MUA was not able to display it correctly. He didn't say '...' # U+002E U+002E U+002E, 3x FULL STOP but '…' # U+2026, HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS Regards, Martin