You can check the maximum integer size in Python using the maxsize property of the sys module.

In this article, you'll learn about the maximum integer size in Python. You'll also see the differences in Python 2 and Python 3.

The maximum value of an integer shouldn't bother you. With the current version of Python, the int data type has the capacity to hold very large integer values.

What Is the Maximum Integer Size in Python?

In Python 2, you can check the max integer size using the sys module's maxint property.

Here's an example:

import sys

print(sys.maxint)
# 9223372036854775807

Python 2 has a built-in data type called long which stores integer values larger than what int can handle.

You can do the same thing for Python 3 using maxsize: 

import sys

print(sys.maxsize)
# 9223372036854775807

Note that the value in the code above is not the maximum capacity of the int data type in the current version of Python.

If you multiply that number (9223372036854775807) by a very large number in Python 2, long will be returned.

On the other hand, Python 3 can handle the operation: 

import sys

print(sys.maxsize * 7809356576809509573609874689576897365487536545894358723468)
# 72028601076372765770200707816364342373431783018070841859646251155447849538676

You can perform operation with large integers values in Python without worrying about reaching the max value.

The only limitation to using these large values is the available memory in the systems where they're being used.

Summary

In this article, you have learned about the max integer size in Python. You have also seen some code examples that showed the maximum integer size in Python 2 and Python 3.

With modern Python, you don't have to worry about reaching a maximum integer size. Just make sure you have enough memory to handle the computation of very large integer operations, and you're good to go.

Happy coding!