Why does a boolean if statement using pandas create an error?

Question

How do I format this to be able to test with an if statement?

result = dfrow.str.contains('Animation')
x = 0
print(result)
if result == False:
    x = 1
if result == True:
    x = 2

The print function outputs:

1    False

Name: genres, dtype: bool

The error given:

----> 4 if result == False:

ValueError: The truth value of a Series is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all().

Possible duplicate of [Truth value of a Series is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all()](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36921951/truth-value-of-a-series-is-ambiguous-use-a-empty-a-bool-a-item-a-any-o) — pppery, Oct 24 '19 at 02:58

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 23 '19 at 22:18

0

It seems you will be using a 1 row dataframe for this scenario. Then you can use

dfrow.str.contains('Animation').iloc[0]
 instead of 
dfrow.str.contains('Animation')

answered Oct 23 '19 at 22:18

Suraj Motaparthy

Why could he want use only the first value? – ansev Oct 23 '19 at 22:26
@ansev Even if we output multiple values, the next steps break as op is treating it as a singular True or False variable – Suraj Motaparthy Oct 23 '19 at 22:28

1 Answers1