Multi-line Comments In Python

Python doesn't officially support multi-line comments, but there is a way of implementing the same functionality using an existing language construct. Single line comments in Python are written like this:

Multi-line comments are not officially supported in Python. That said, you can create the same effect in Python by using a multi-line string. Unless it is part of a docstring at the start of a class, function or module then it parsed into a string variable, but nothing is done with it.

'''
This is
a multiline
comment
'''

Because this is a multi-line string it is therefore parsed by Python, so you will need to be careful what you put in it.

Multi-line strings are used when you want to create a string that is split across several lines. If you create one and don't assign it to a variable then it is just thrown away. Multi-line strings can be used in the following way.

multilinestring = '''
This is
a multiline
string
'''
print multilinestring

Python's style guide, PEP8, favors using consecutive single-line comments, and this is also what you'll find in many projects. Text editors usually have a shortcut to do this easily.