Length on an input parameter in python

[Skip Montanaro]

    >> It looks like the length of an input parameter (taken from the
    >> command line atleast) is limited to 256 characters. Is there a way
    >> around this? can I set something? can I use something special? or is
    >> there no way around this?

Must be system-dependent.  On my system I can read lines longer than 256
characters from console stdin:

    % python
    Python 2.2a4+ (#4, Oct  8 2001, 09:49:18) 
    [GCC 2.96 20000731 (Linux-Mandrake 8.0 2.96-0.48mdk)] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> s = raw_input("Enter long line: ")
    Enter long line: ssssssss... bunch of s's elided ...ssssssss
    >>> print len(s)
    377

and get parameters from the command line that are longer than 256
characters:

    % cat longparm.py
    #!/usr/bin/env python

    import sys
    print map(len, sys.argv)

    % python longparm.py sssssss... bunch of s's elided ...sssssssssssssssss
    [11, 377]

-- 
Skip Montanaro (skip at pobox.com)
http://www.mojam.com/
http://www.musi-cal.com/