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Reserved Words

Introduction​

Reserved words (keywords) are words that are reserved by the language to represent a specific meaning or functionality.

  • You cannot use these words as identifiers
  • They are already used internally by Python.
  • Python has only 33 reserved words.
  • Because Python has fewer keywords, it becomes easier to learn compared to many other languages.

List of Python Keywords​

Python contains 33 reserved words.

Here is the complete list:

False   None    True
and     as      assert
break   class   continue
def     del     elif
else    except  finally
for     from    global
if      import  in
is      lambda  nonlocal
not     or      pass
raise   return  try
while   with    yield

Key Characteristics of Python Keywords​

1. Only Alphabet Characters​

All Python keywords:

  • Contain only letters (A–Z, a–z)
  • No digits
  • No special symbols

2. Mostly Lowercase​

Almost all keywords are written in lowercase.

Only three keywords start with uppercase letters:

  • True
  • False
  • None

3. Cannot Be Used as Identifiers​

Keywords cannot be used as variable names, function names, or class names.

if = 10   # ❌ Invalid

4. No Data Type Keywords​

In some languages like Java, you may see keywords such as:

  • int
  • float
  • boolean

In Python, these are not keywords.

5. Missing Concepts Compared to Other Languages​

Some concepts available in languages like C/Java are not present in Python.

  • Python does not have a switch statement.Instead, it uses if-elif-else.
  • Python does not support do-while loops. Python uses while loop instead.

How to Get Keywords Programmatically​

Python provides a built-in module to view all keywords.

import keyword

print(keyword.kwlist)

Output:

['False', 'None', 'True', 'and', 'as', 'assert', 'break', ...]