1_split_vs_rawlist.py

import random
choices = [chr(i) for i in range(ord('a'), ord('z'))]

with open('rawlist.py', 'w') as rl, open('splitlist.py', 'w') as sp:
    rl.write('items = [\n')
    sp.write('items = """\n')
    for _ in range(1000000):
        item = ''.join(random.sample(choices, 10))
        rl.write("    %r,\n" % item)
        sp.write("%s\n" % item)
    sp.write('"""[1:-1].splitlines()\n')
    sp.write('print(type(items), len(items))\n')
    rl.write(']\n')
    rl.write('print(type(items), len(items))\n')

2_output.md

$ python split_vs_rawlist.py 
$ time python splitlist.py 
<class 'list'> 1000000

real    0m0.243s
user    0m0.200s
sys     0m0.043s
$ time python rawlist.py 
<class 'list'> 1000000

real    0m2.472s
user    0m2.141s
sys     0m0.299s
$ time python -c 'import splitlist'
<class 'list'> 1000000

real    0m0.122s
user    0m0.091s
sys     0m0.031s
$ time python -c 'import rawlist'
<class 'list'> 1000000

real    0m0.494s
user    0m0.447s
sys     0m0.047s