From the Python glossary:
An object is hashable if it has a hash value which never changes during its lifetime (it needs a
__hash__()
method), and can be compared to other objects (it needs an__eq__()
or__cmp__()
method). Hashable objects which compare equal must have the same hash value.Hashability makes an object usable as a dictionary key and a set member, because these data structures use the hash value internally.
All of Python’s immutable built-in objects are hashable, while no mutable containers (such as lists or dictionaries) are. Objects which are instances of user-defined classes are hashable by default; they all compare unequal, and their hash value is their
id()
.