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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 14:39:27 -0600
From: Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com>
To: forman.simon@gmail.com
Subject: Re: A curious bit of code...
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On 2014-02-13 10:37, forman.simon@gmail.com wrote:
> I ran across this and I thought there must be a better way of doing
> it, but then after further consideration I wasn't so sure.
> 
> Some possibilities that occurred to me:
> 
>   if key.startswith('<') and key.endswith('>'): ...

This is my favorite because it doesn't break on the empty string like
some of your alternatives.  Your k[0] and k[-1] assume there's at
least one character in the string, otherwise an IndexError is raised.

-tkc