Python syntax: using loops inside a timeit statement

python, timeit

Solution

Your failing statement is syntactically incorrect. If you need to time multiple statement's define it in a function and call Timer, after importing the function from main

>>> def foo():
    n = []
    for i in xrange(10): n.append(oct(i))    

>>> Timer("foo()","from __main__ import foo")

Now you need to understand why the failing statement is incorrect

Excerpt from the docs for Compound Statement

A suite can be one or more semicolon-separated simple statements on the same line as the header, following the header’s colon, or it can be one or more indented statements on subsequent lines.

stmt_list     ::=  simple_stmt (";" simple_stmt)* [";"]

and similarly, a simple statement is

simple_stmt ::=  expression_stmt
                 | assert_stmt
                 | assignment_stmt
                 | augmented_assignment_stmt
                 | pass_stmt
                 | del_stmt
                 | print_stmt
                 | return_stmt
                 | yield_stmt
                 | raise_stmt
                 | break_stmt
                 | continue_stmt
                 | import_stmt
                 | global_stmt
                 | exec_stmt

It should now be clear to you when a semi-colon can (not should) be used.

Problem

Original source