What is the difference between range and xrange functions in Python 2.X?

Solution 1:

In Python 2.x:

  • range creates a list, so if you do range(1, 10000000) it creates a list in memory with 9999999 elements.

  • xrange is a sequence object that evaluates lazily.

In Python 3:

  • range does the equivalent of Python 2's xrange. To get the list, you have to explicitly use list(range(...)).
  • xrange no longer exists.

Solution 2:

range creates a list, so if you do range(1, 10000000) it creates a list in memory with 9999999 elements.

xrange is a generator, so it is a sequence object is a that evaluates lazily.

This is true, but in Python 3, range() will be implemented by the Python 2 xrange(). If you need to actually generate the list, you will need to do:

list(range(1,100))