Hello, World!

Why this matters

Every program needs a way to show something to a person. In Python, the simplest way is print().

The idea

print() is a function: a named action that Python already knows how to do. You hand it something inside the parentheses, and it shows that something on the screen.

print("Hello, world")

The text between the quotes is called a string. Python prints what is inside the quotes, without the quotes themselves. Single quotes work too: 'Hello' and "Hello" mean the same thing.

Each print() ends by moving to a new line, so two prints show two lines:

print("First line")
print("Second line")

Try it

In the editor below, change the text inside the quotes and press Run. Break something on purpose, too (delete a quote, for example) and read the error message. Errors are not failures; they are Python telling you exactly what it did not understand.

Your turn

The starter program prints Hello, world. Change it so that it prints exactly:

Hello, Python!

Press Run to see your output, then Check to test your answer.

Recap

• print() shows something on the screen.
• Text in quotes is a string.
• Each print() call produces its own line.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the quotes: print(Hello) fails with NameError, because Python thinks Hello is the name of something it should already know.
• Missing parenthesis: print("Hello" fails with SyntaxError.
• Wrong capitalisation: Python is case-sensitive. Print("Hi") fails with NameError.