Hear me out, this is science.
I prompted models from a bunch of providers with «Write a funny Python one-liner».
The idea here is to build objective model evaluation a simple way to show how even benign prompts explode in used tokens.
Keep in mind that, depending on the tokenizer, the prompt equals around 7–10 input tokens. The delta between these and the amount shown in the input token column is stuff the model made up as it «reasons» through the question.
Models that support reasoning had it set to high.
Costs have been calculated using OpenCode Zen or OpenRouter.
Python one-liner jokes by model, with token usage and cost| Model | Input tokens | Output tokens | Cost | Output |
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| DeepSeek v4 Pro | 14,541 | 68 | $0.803 | Funny Python one-liner:
print([n for n in range(2, 100) for f in range(2, int(n**0.5)+1) if n % f == 0] or "nobody gets out alive") Or the classic:
import this |
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| GLM 5.2 | 12,813 | 631 | $0.206 | print("I'd tell you a Python joke, but you'd probably mess up the indentation")
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| GLM 5.3 | 13,899 | 135 | $0.201 | print('\n'.join(f"{'buy' if i%3 and i%5 else 'fizz' if i%3==0 else 'buy'}" for i in range(1,101))) FizzBuzz for adults: every multiple of 3 says "fizz", everything else says "buy". More classic option:
import this — zen of Python, only joke shipped in stdlib.
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| GPT 5.5 Pro | 28,674 | 498 | $0.966 | print("I told Python a joke about indentation... it didn't get the block.")
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| GPT 5.5 | 28,726 | 657 | $0.896 | print("I put the 'fun' in function, mostly by removing the tests.")
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| GPT-6 Astra | 43,792 | 396 | $0.2577 | print("I've got 99 problems, but thanks to zero-indexing, the last one is 98.")
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| Kimi K 2.6 | 13,538 | 75 | $0.66 | import __hello__ # The only import that says hi then ghosts you, just like my dating life
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| Kimi K 2.7 Code | 14,362 | 1,184 | $0.183 | print(''.join(['🐍' if i % 2 else '💤' for i in range(10)])) # 🐍💤🐍💤🐍💤🐍💤🐍💤 Or, if you prefer meta-humor:
__import__('antigravity') # Python's official sense of humor (try it in your terminal)
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| Kimi K 3 | 13,499 | 300 | $0.517 | Here one:
print("Why do Python programmers wear glasses? Because they can't C") Bonus, nerdy:
import antigravity Run second one. Opens xkcd comic. Real easter egg. |
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| Minimax M2.5 | 14,567 | 122 | $0.45 | import antigravity # opens a web browser showing the famous xkcd comic Or for something that actually runs:
print(lambda: print(lambda: print(lambda: print("Python")))()) # the lambda that keeps on lambdating
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| Minimax M2.7 | 14,565 | 69 | $0.004 | import this
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| Minimax M3 | 13,006 | 4,388 | $0.87 | print(f"0.1 + 0.2 = {0.1 + 0.2}, but she wanted exactly {0.3}. 🐍💔")
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| Mistral Medium 3.5 | 10,090 | 689 | $0.203 | print(f"The answer to life, the universe, and everything is {6*9}")
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| Opus 4.6 | 16,317 | 24 | $0.1026 | print(' '.join(['spam'] * 100 + ['eggs']))
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| Opus 4.7 | 22,643 | 86 | $0.1437 | print((lambda f: f(f))(lambda f: lambda n: 1 if n < 2 else n * f(f)(n-1))(5), "... I computed a factorial recursively in a lambda because regular functions are for people with friends.")
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| Opus 4.8 | 19,491 | 116 | $0.1247 | import antigravity # opens https://xkcd.com/353 in your browser because Python literally has a joke built in Or a self-deprecating classic:
print("This code has no bugs"); # narrator: it had bugs
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| Opus 5 | 21,247 | 174 | $0.137 | print("\n".join(f"{n}: {'FizzBuzz'[n%3*4:8-n%5*4] or n}" for n in range(1,16))) Cursed FizzBuzz. Slices "FizzBuzz" — string index math does the branching. Nobody on your team will forgive you.
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| Qwen 3.6 Plus | 15,082 | 57 | $0.96 | print("I'm not lazy, I'm just on energy-saving mode." or exit())
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| Sonnet 5 | 19,555 | 399 | $0.529 | Here's one:
print(''.join(chr(ord(c)-1) for c in "Ifmmp-!xpsme")) This decodes a Caesar-shifted string to print Hello, world! — technically correct, needlessly convoluted, and exactly the kind of one-liner that gets you side-eyed in code review. Or if you prefer chaos in the numeric variety:
print(*[i for i in range(1,101) if not print(i,end=' ') and False] or []) (That one's a joke about a "joke" — it doesn't even work right, which is the real punchline: someone tried to jam a for-loop print into a one-liner and immediately regretted it.) |
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Depressing. But such is science.
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