Why do python shell gives different output

Question

Example:
>>>r'\a'
'\\a'
Print(r'\a')
'\a'
>>>'\a'
'\X07'
Print('\a')
[]

Answer 1

It's probably this:

When you type a value on a line in the interpreter and hit enter, it calls the __repr__ method belonging to that value. But, when you print the value, print automatically calls __str__ on it.

You can see this in action:

class Test:
def __repr__(self):
return '__repr__ called'
def __str__(self):
return '__str__ called'
>>> t = Test()
>>> t
'__repr __ called'
>>> print(t)
'__str__ called'

also '\a' is a special character like '\n': ord('\a') => 7
It differs from raw string r'\a' which treats '\' as a normal backslash character that doesn't do anything. In normal strings you should escape the backslash like this: '\\a'