Is it possible to test a bool against 2 variables?

Question

I'm trying to do something like this:

if (a == ("A" or "U")):
 do something

but it only tests against "A" when I introduce the input in the console

but it works if I do this:

if (a == "A" or a == "U")):
 do something

is it possible to achieve the second with a simpler line like the first one? thanks!

`any` might be helpful if you have many values to test. – Ch3steR Apr 25 '20 at 05:36 — Ch3steR, Apr 25 '20 at 05:36

Prayson W. Daniel · Answer 1 · 2020-04-25T05:43:21.107

Use in: This will be simpler

if a in ('A', 'U'):
    #do something

Understanding your code.

if (a == ("A" or "U")):
   # do something

Python checks for "A" or "U" which "A" is return because of how truthfulness works. If the first is true, then the or is not evaluated. Since only empty string is False, the first none empty string will be selected and there your code is equivalent to:

if (a == "A"):
   # do something

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '20 at 05:40

You can't check both the conditions using (a == ("A" or "U")) because when you execute "A" or "U" in python interpreter you will get "A" (the first truthy value) similarly when you execute "A" and "U" you will get "U" (the last truthy value).

If you want simplified expression, you can use,

if a in ("A", "U"):
    # TODO: perform a task

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 25 '20 at 05:38

It's not related to python. You can't further simplify the 2nd equation.

a == "A" is one boolean -> x a == "U" is one boolean -> y

x || y -> simplified version.

Also, you can't apply distributive law to equality Operators(==, <, >).

You can use the membership operator in check achieve above.

if a in ["A", "U"]:
  do_something()

Is it possible to test a bool against 2 variables?

3 Answers3