Why is “1000000000000000 in range(1000000000000001)” so fast in Python 3?

Question

It is my understanding that the range() function, which is actually an object type in Python 3, generates its contents on the fly, similar to a generator.

Answer 1

It's all about a lazy approach to the evaluation and some extra optimization of range. Values in ranges don't need to be computed until real use, or even further due to extra optimization.

By the way, your integer is not such big, consider sys.maxsize

sys.maxsize in range(sys.maxsize) is pretty fast

due to optimization - it's easy to compare given integer just with min and max of range.

but:

Decimal(sys.maxsize) in range(sys.maxsize) is pretty slow.

(in this case, there is no optimization in range, so if python receives unexpected Decimal, python will compare all numbers)

You should be aware of an implementation detail but should not be relied upon, because this may change in the future.