7/15/2021 Python Booleans
Boolean Values
In programming you often need to know if an expression is True or False .
You can evaluate any expression in Python, and get one of two answers, True or False .
When you compare two values, the expression is evaluated and Python returns the Boolean
answer:
Example
print(10 > 9)
print(10 == 9)
print(10 < 9)
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When you run a condition in an if statement, Python returns True or False :
Example
Print a message based on whether the condition is True or False :
a = 200
b = 33
if b > a:
print("b is greater than a")
else:
print("b is not greater than a")
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Evaluate Values and Variables
The bool() function allows you to evaluate any value, and give you True or False in return,
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7/15/2021 Python Booleans
Example
Evaluate a string and a number:
print(bool("Hello"))
print(bool(15))
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Example
Evaluate two variables:
x = "Hello"
y = 15
print(bool(x))
print(bool(y))
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Most Values are True
Almost any value is evaluated to True if it has some sort of content.
Any string is True , except empty strings.
Any number is True , except 0 .
Any list, tuple, set, and dictionary are True , except empty ones.
Example
The following will return True:
bool("abc")
bool(123)
bool(["apple", "cherry", "banana"])
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7/15/2021 Python Booleans
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Some Values are False
In fact, there are not many values that evaluate to False , except empty values, such
as () , [] , {} , "" , the number 0 , and the value None . And of course the
value False evaluates to False .
Example
The following will return False:
bool(False)
bool(None)
bool(0)
bool("")
bool(())
bool([])
bool({})
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One more value, or object in this case, evaluates to False , and that is if you have an object
that is made from a class with a __len__ function that returns 0 or False :
Example
class myclass():
def __len__(self):
return 0
myobj = myclass()
print(bool(myobj))
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7/15/2021 Python Booleans
Functions can Return a Boolean
You can create functions that returns a Boolean Value:
Example
Print the answer of a function:
def myFunction() :
return True
print(myFunction())
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You can execute code based on the Boolean answer of a function:
Example
Print "YES!" if the function returns True, otherwise print "NO!":
def myFunction() :
return True
if myFunction():
print("YES!")
else:
print("NO!")
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Python also has many built-in functions that return a boolean value, like
the isinstance() function, which can be used to determine if an object is of a certain data
type:
Example
Check if an object is an integer or not:
x = 200
print(isinstance(x, int))
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