what is wrong with this line? while (line = workfile.readline ()) != "":

[Simon Brunning]

> From:	Simon Brunning [SMTP:SBrunning at trisystems.co.uk]
> > From:	erudite [SMTP:ask at me.com]
> >     I'm coming from the Java world to the python world which is probably
> > why
> > I'm a little confused as to why this statement doesn't work:
> > 
> > while (line = workfile.readline()) != "":
> > 
> > when I try to run it I get a :
> > 
> >   File "srns.py", line 38
> >     while (line = workfile.readline()) != "":
> >                 ^
> > SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>  
> In Python, expressions do not return values. 
 
Hmmm. I'll try that again. *Statements* do not return values, expressions
do. An assignment is a statement, so it doesn't return a value. I think that
the rest of this is OK...
 
> The usual Python idiom for this
> is:
> 
> while 1:
>     line = workfile.readline()
>     if not line:
>         break
>     # Process line
> 
> See <http://w1.132.telia.com/~u13208596/guides/readline-performance.htm>
> for
> details.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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