My code is acting weird, it is pulling information if statements when not told to

Question

I have recently started learning Python, and the experience has been great, however, last night, I tried to make a simple program, and it is acting very strange

I have tried to change the locations of variables, and what they store/handle, and nothing I try seems to be working

def RF():

    user_type = input("Are you a new user? ")

    if user_type is "Yes" or "yes":
        ID = random.randrange(1, 999999)
        print("Your new ID Number is: " + str(ID))
        name = input("Please enter your name: ")
        password = input("Password: ")
        ID = input("Account ID: ")
        writtingID = open('Acc info.txt', 'w')

        writtingID.write("ID: " + str(ID) + " | NAME: " + name + " | PASS: " + password)
        writtingID.close()
    elif user_type is "No" or "no":
        name = input("Please enter your name: ")
        password = input("Password: ")
        ID = input("Account ID: ")


RF()

When the code is ran, I expect it to jump straight to asking for a name, but when I type "No" or "no", it for some reason runs the print("Your new ID Number is: " + str(ID)) from a different if statement

`if user_type is "Yes" or "yes":` needs to be `if user_type == "Yes" or user_type == "yes":`, otherwise that statement is always true because `"yes"` is Truthy, also `is` is not the same as `==`. — Error - Syntactical Remorse, Jul 09 '19 at 18:09
`user_type = input("Are you a new user? ").lower()` lets you only compare against `'yes'`. Or you can do `if user_type in ["yes","Yes"]:`Do not use `is` to compare here - use `==` — Patrick Artner, Jul 09 '19 at 18:12

blackbrandt · Answer 1 · 2019-07-09T18:29:09.157

1


    user_type = input("Are you a new user? ")

    if user_type in ("Yes", "yes"):
        ID = random.randrange(1, 999999)
        print("Your new ID Number is: " + str(ID))
        name = input("Please enter your name: ")
        password = input("Password: ")
        ID = input("Account ID: ")
        writtingID = open('Acc info.txt', 'w')

        writtingID.write("ID: " + str(ID) + " | NAME: " + name + " | PASS: " + password)
        writtingID.close()
    elif user_type in ("No", "no"):
        name = input("Please enter your name: ")
        password = input("Password: ")
        ID = input("Account ID: ")


RF()

Check if the word is in a tuple. For an easier approach, just use the str.lower() method to get rid of the extra complexity.

AKA:

if user_type.lower() == "yes":
    code

See how to test multiple variables against a value

edited Jul 09 '19 at 18:29

answered Jul 09 '19 at 18:10

blackbrandt

2,010
1
15
32

1

What is `elif user_type in ("No" or "no")` supposed to do? – Error - Syntactical Remorse Jul 09 '19 at 18:17
That would check if user_type has the value "no" or "No". – blackbrandt Jul 09 '19 at 18:18
1

You may want to test code before you paste it. `elif user_type in ("No", "no")` works completely different than `elif user_type in ("No" or "no")` which is the same as `elif user_type in (True)` – Error - Syntactical Remorse Jul 09 '19 at 18:20
This is why I shouldn't post on SO while sleep deprived. Thank you for catching that mistake. – blackbrandt Jul 09 '19 at 18:29
1

We all have those nasty typos. Python is to close to pseudo code :P – Error - Syntactical Remorse Jul 09 '19 at 18:30

zmike · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-09T18:17:56.713

1

The statement if user_type is "Yes" or "yes": will always return true.

The reason for this is that the statement evaluates the same way as:

if (user_type is "Yes") or ("yes"):

The second parantheses ("yes") will always return true. And as @Error-SyntacticalRemorse pointed out, you want to use == instead of is (see Is there a difference between "==" and "is"?).

Solution 1:

if user_type in ["Yes", "yes"]:

Solution 2:

if user_type.lower() in ["yes", "y"]:

edited Jul 09 '19 at 18:17

answered Jul 09 '19 at 18:10

zmike

1,090
10
24

`(user_type is "Yes")` will also always evaluate to `False` (which the OP would catch only after fixing the first issue). – Error - Syntactical Remorse Jul 09 '19 at 18:11
1

do not use `is` to compare in this situation - use `==` – Patrick Artner Jul 09 '19 at 18:12
Why would you not just use `str.lower()`? – blackbrandt Jul 09 '19 at 18:13
Could the incorrect syntax for the if statements also be the reason why checking files was not working? Both of these functions were in the same script – Jul 09 '19 at 18:13
@Matix i'm not sure how you implemented checking files worked. If you were looking at `Acc info.txt`, then that file would only exist if the `if` blocked executed. – zmike Jul 09 '19 at 18:28

My code is acting weird, it is pulling information if statements when not told to

2 Answers2