{"id":3879,"date":"2022-08-20T21:42:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T16:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jassweb.com\/solved\/solved-does-python-have-a-ternary-conditional-operator\/"},"modified":"2022-08-20T21:42:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T16:12:22","slug":"solved-does-python-have-a-ternary-conditional-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jassweb.com\/solved\/solved-does-python-have-a-ternary-conditional-operator\/","title":{"rendered":"(Solved) Does Python have a ternary conditional operator?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Yes, it was added<\/a> in version 2.5. The expression syntax is:<\/p>\n

a if condition else b\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
First condition<\/code> is evaluated, then exactly one of either a<\/code> or b<\/code> is evaluated and returned based on the Boolean<\/a> value of condition<\/code>. If condition<\/code> evaluates to True<\/code>, then a<\/code> is evaluated and returned but b<\/code> is ignored, or else when b<\/code> is evaluated and returned but a<\/code> is ignored.<\/p>\n
This allows short-circuiting because when condition<\/code> is true only a<\/code> is evaluated and b<\/code> is not evaluated at all, but when condition<\/code> is false only b<\/code> is evaluated and a<\/code> is not evaluated at all.<\/p>\n
For example:<\/p>\n
>>> 'true' if True else 'false'\n'true'\n>>> 'true' if False else 'false'\n'false'\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Note that conditionals are an expression<\/em>, not a statement<\/em>. This means you can’t use assignment statements or pass<\/code> or other statements<\/strong> within a conditional expression<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
>>> pass if False else x = 3\n  File \"<stdin>\", line 1\n    pass if False else x = 3\n          ^\nSyntaxError: invalid syntax\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
You can, however, use conditional expressions to assign a variable like so:<\/p>\n
x = a if True else b\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
Think of the conditional expression as switching between two values. It is very useful when you’re in a ‘one value or another’ situation, but it doesn’t do much else.<\/p>\n
If you need to use statements, you have to use a normal if<\/code> statement<\/strong> instead of a conditional expression<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
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Keep in mind that it’s frowned upon by some Pythonistas for several reasons:<\/p>\n