title: Python unicode string literals :: what's the difference between '\u0391' and u'\u0391'
body: <p>I am using Python 2.7.3. Can anybody explain the difference between the literals:</p>
  
  <pre><code>'\u0391'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and:</p>
  
  <pre><code>u'\u0391'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and the different way they are echoed in the REPL below (especially the extra slash added to a1):</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; a1='\u0391'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; a1
  '\\u0391'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; type(a1)
  &lt;type 'str'&gt;
  &gt;&gt;&gt; 
  &gt;&gt;&gt; a2=u'\u0391'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; a2
  u'\u0391'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; type(a2)
  &lt;type 'unicode'&gt;
  &gt;&gt;&gt; 
  </code></pre>