python list append,Python列表+列表与list.append（）

Today I spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out why

this worked as expected:

users_stories_dict[a] = s + [b]

but this would have a None value:

users_stories_dict[a] = s.append(b)

Anyone know why the append function does not return the new list? I'm looking for some sort of sensible reason this decision was made; it looks like a Python novice gotcha to me right now.

解决方案

append works by actually modifying a list, and so all the magic is in side-effects. Accordingly, the result returned by append is None. In other words, what one wants is:

s.append(b)

and then:

users_stories_dict[a] = s

But, you've already figured that much out. As to why it was done this way, while I don't really know, my guess is that it might have something to do with a 0 (or false) exit value indicating that an operation proceeded normally, and by returning None for functions whose role is to modify their arguments in-place you report that the modification succeeded.

But I agree that it would be nice if it returned the modified list back. At least, Python's behavior is consistent across all such functions.