x and y are two variables.
I can check if they're equal using x == y, but how can I check if they have the same identity?
Example:
x = [1, 2, 3]
y = [1, 2, 3]
Now x == y is True because x and y are equal, however, x and y aren't the same object.
I'm looking for something like sameObject(x, y) which in that case is supposed to be False.
You can use is to check if two objects have the same identity.
>>> x = [1, 2, 3]
>>> y = [1, 2, 3]
>>> x == y
True
>>> x is y
False
Use x is y or id(x) == id(y).
They seem to be equivalent.
id(object) returns a unique number (identity) that adapts the philosophy of C-style pointer. For debugging id(x) == id(y) is more convient.
x is y is prettier.
== utilizes equal comparator object.__eq__(self, other)
id(...) == id(...) in general. For example, id(foo()) == id(foo()) could be true without foo() is foo() being true: since the lifetime of the objects returned by foo may not overlap, Python is free to recycle the id() value for use with both objects.