Python-returns object memory address when content of object is desired

Question

Specs: Python 3.3.2

What I was trying to do:

 Create a simple name and employee number dictionary application. Have the user enter a list of names and employee numbers. Your interface should allow a sorted output (sorted by name) that displays employee names followed by their employee numbers. 

What I came up with:

# enter a list of names of employees
# enter a list of employee numbers
# zip them together

def hrcat():
    name = input('Please enter names of employees: ')
    number = input('Please enter employee numbers: ')

    output = zip(name,number)
    print(output)

Question:

When given two lists of names and numbers, it returns the memory address of an object; something looks like this:

>>> hrcat()
Please enter names of employees: a,b,c
Please enter employee numbers: 1,2,3
<zip object at 0x7fea10ce4b90>

I wonder why it returns the memory address instead of the actual content of that object? I googled online but wasn't able to find answers addressing this question. Thank you for your insights!

Answer 1

In Python 3.x zip returns an iterator (which looks like <zip object at 0x7fea10ce4b90> ). You can apply list to view the contents,

list(zip(name,number))

Although, if you are just making a dictionary, can forget about the list and use the iterator directly to populate it,

dict(zip(name,number))