In Python, the “#” character is used to start a single line comment. Anything on that line after the “#” will be ignored by the Python interpreter.
This is useful for adding annotations or temporary comments to your code. It can also be helpful to comment out code that you are not currently using, but might want to use in the future.
Using Single Line Comments
Single line comments are easy to use in Python. Simply type a “#” at the beginning of the line you want to comment, followed by your comment text.
For example, the following code will print “Hello, world!” to the screen:
# This is a comment
print(“Hello, world!”)
As you can see, the line starting with “# This is a comment” is ignored by the Python interpreter.
It’s also possible to comment out code that you don’t want to run. For example, let’s say you have the following code:
print(“Hello, world!”)
print(“This is some code.”)
print(“This is some more code.”
If you wanted to comment out the middle line, you could do so like this:
print(“Hello, world!”)
# print(“This is some code.”)
print(“This is some more code.”)
Now, when you run the code, only the first and last lines will be executed.
It’s also possible to comment out multiple lines at once. To do this, you can use a multi-line comment.
Multi-Line Comments
In Python, a multi-line comment is started with the “#” character, followed by a space, and then an “=” character. Everything from that point until the next “#” character will be ignored by the Python interpreter.
For example, the following code will print “Hello, world!” to the screen:
# =
This is a comment.
It can span multiple lines.
# =
print(“Hello, world!”)
As you can see, the lines starting with “# =” and “# =” are ignored by the Python interpreter.
It’s also possible to comment out code using a multi-line comment. For example, let’s say you have the following code:
print(“Hello, world!”)
print(“This is some code.”)
print(“This is some more code.”)
If you wanted to comment out the middle two lines, you could do so like this:
print(“Hello, world!”)
# =
# print(“This is some code.”)
# print(“This is some more code.”
# =
Now, when you run the code, only the first and last lines will be executed.
Conclusion
In Python, the “#” character is used to start a single line comment. Anything on that line after the “#” will be ignored by the Python interpreter. This is useful for adding annotations or temporary comments to your code.
It’s also possible to comment out code using a multi-line comment. A multi-line comment is started with the “#” character, followed by a space, and then an “=” character. Everything from that point until the next “#” character will be ignored by the Python interpreter.