How to condense if/else into one line in Python?
PythonPython Problem Overview
> Possible Duplicate:
> Python Ternary Operator
> Putting a simple if-then statement on one line
Is there a way to compress an if/else statement to one line in Python?
I oftentimes see all sorts of shortcuts and suspect it can apply here too.
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
An example of Python's way of doing "ternary" expressions:
i = 5 if a > 7 else 0
translates into
if a > 7:
i = 5
else:
i = 0
This actually comes in handy when using list comprehensions, or sometimes in return statements, otherwise I'm not sure it helps that much in creating readable code.
The readability issue was discussed at length in this recent SO question https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11491944/better-way-than-using-if-else-statement-in-python.
It also contains various other clever (and somewhat obfuscated) ways to accomplish the same task. It's worth a read just based on those posts.
Solution 2 - Python
Python's if can be used as a ternary operator:
>>> 'true' if True else 'false'
'true'
>>> 'true' if False else 'false'
'false'
Solution 3 - Python
Only for using as a value:
x = 3 if a==2 else 0
or
return 3 if a==2 else 0
Solution 4 - Python
There is the conditional expression:
a if cond else b
but this is an expression, not a statement.
In if statements, the if (or elif or else) can be written on the same line as the body of the block if the block is just one like:
if something: somefunc()
else: otherfunc()
but this is discouraged as a matter of formatting-style.