python / python/cpython

Built-in function `range` params discrepancy across versions

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3.12 3.13 3.14 docs
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Description

I'm sorry if this has already been reported. I'm sure it's very low on any list of priorities but it should be an easy one.

I noticed that when doing a Google search for "python built in functions" I am presented with two official results:

  1. functions https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html
  2. stdtypes https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html

On the functions page, clicking on range takes you to https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#func-range . It looks like, as of 3.11, range accepts step as a kwarg. This is inconsistent with the stdtypes page which shows step as an optional, positional arg through 3.13.

functions:

stdtypes:

source:

I didn't see any mention of this change in What’s New In Python 3.11 and it surprised me that a built-in would be changed in such a way.

I pulled a 3.11 docker image and it would seem step is not a kwarg.

docker run -it --rm python:3.11
Python 3.11.10 (main, Oct 19 2024, 04:02:01) [GCC 12.2.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> range(1, 1, step=1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: range() takes no keyword arguments

tl;dr - The functions page incorrectly states that the range function accepts step as a kwarg.

Linked PRs
  • gh-125945
  • gh-137652
  • gh-137653

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Research direction

Compare the range entries on the functions and stdtypes documentation pages for versions 3.10 through 3.13, using the linked rangeobject.c sources to verify the calling behavior. Review linked PRs gh-125945, gh-137652, and gh-137653; the work is done when the documentation no longer states that step is accepted as a keyword argument.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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