No swap function in Python?

[Bolton, Gawain [ADC:4808:EXCH]]

There doesn't seem to be a "swap" function in Python two swap the values
of two variables.   I was wondering why this is.

Unfortunately writing a generic swap function swap(a,b) with no return
type in Python doesn't work with immutable arguments (like strings) of
course.  Which made me think that a swap could be done like this:

(a,b) = (b,a)

But I'm not completely convinced doing this is safe.  In tests I've done
it works, but I'm not sure whether this works in all cases with all
types...  Finally, if the behaviour is guaranteed, is this an efficient
way of doing a swap?

Thanx in advance,


Gawain

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