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what exactly is "None" ?

"Martin v. Löwis" martin at v.loewis.de
Tue Mar 4 11:51:10 EST 2003 
Andrei Doicin wrote:
> I know that "None" is the Boolean false value that
> gets thrown out when there's nothing to return or a
> function doesn't manage to reach the end of itself and thus "return
> whatever",

This is only partially correct: Even though None is a boolean false 
value, it is not *the* boolean false value (i.e. it is not the canonical 
representative). Other false values are 0, 0.0, "", [], and {}. In 
Python 2.3, the canonical false value is False.

> but *what* (in Python terms) exactly is equal to "None" ???

Please distinguish "equality" and "identity". Objects can declare 
themselves equal (==) to None, by, say, implementing __eq__. However, 
only None is identical (is) to itself: None is the singleton instance of 
the NoneType, there are no other objects like None (and you cannot 
create new instances of the NoneType).

More precisely, None is a builtin name (a key in __builtins__) that is 
bound to this singleton instance.

> I ask this as I'm trying to set up some conditional statements that do
> something if "whatever" is equal to "None".

The canonical expressions for that is "whatever is None". It is both 
faster and more correct than checking for equality.

Regards,
Martin
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