What is the Python <> operator

Question

What exactly is the <> operator in Python, and why is it undocumented (as far as I can tell)?

Is it the same as != or is not

Answer 1

It is documented, but you're not supposed to use it. Your guess about it being equivalent to != is correct. Quoting the Python 2 documentation:

!= can also be written <>, but this is an obsolete usage kept for backwards compatibility only. New code should always use !=.

Then as part of the general cleanup of Python 3, the operator was removed entirely:

Removed <> (use != instead).

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Historical note

It goes back quite a long way; at least as far as Python 1.4. I found an entry in the old docs:

<> and != are alternate spellings for the same operator. (I couldn't choose between ABC and C! :-)

The docs started recommending != with Python 1.5.2p2.

Answer 2

In Python 2.x, <> is the same as != (i.e. "not equal to", rather than is not which is "not identical to"), but the latter is preferred:

The comparison operators <> and != are alternate spellings of the same operator. != is the preferred spelling; <> is obsolescent.

In 3.x, <> has been removed and only != exists.