Understanding bools in Python

Question

I'm trying to learn some Python and had a question about a really small "program" I made as a test.

    a = input()
    print(a)
    b = '10'
    if a == b:
       print("Yes")
    else:
       print("No")

This works, but my question is why does the value for b have to have the quotes around it.

Because it's the string `"10"` instead of the integer `10`. `input()` returns strings, so if you want to check for equality, you have to compare to another string. — John Gordon, Aug 17 '20 at 18:25
`input()` returns a string. A good way to find out about such things is to start the python interpreter and type `help(input)` e.g. — NickD, Aug 17 '20 at 18:26
`a` is a string because it comes from `input()`. It can only possibly be equal to another string, like `'10'`, as opposed to an integer, `10`. — khelwood, Aug 17 '20 at 18:27

Abhishek Bhagate · Answer 1 · 2020-08-17T18:31:49.927

Python input() function will by default take any input that you give and store it as a string.

why does the value for b have to have the quotes around it

Well, it doesn't have to have quotes. But if you need the condition to evaluate to True, then you need quotes. So, since a is a string, you need to have b = '10' with the quotation mark if you need a == b to evaluate to True.

If your input is an integer, you could also do a = int(input()) and in this case, b=10 would work as well. Simple !

So, the following two can be considered to be equivalent in terms of the result they give -

a = input()

b = '10'
if a == b:
    print("Yes")
else:
    print("No")

AND

a = int(input())

b = 10
if a == b:
    print("Yes")
else:
    print("No")

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '20 at 18:28

1

The value of input() is a string, therefore you must compare it to a string. Everyone learning programming starts off with many questions, and it is the only way to learn, so do not feel bad about it.

answered Aug 17 '20 at 18:28

John Smith

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 17 '20 at 18:29

It is actually quite simple. All inputs from the user are considered as string values by python. In python, you can only compare a string to string, integer to integer and so on...

You could do this as well

    a = int(input())
    print(a)
    b = 10
    if a == b:
       print("Yes")
    else:
       print("No")

Over here int() converts the value you enter to an integer. So you don't need quotes for the variable b

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 17 '20 at 18:30

In python default input type is string. if you want it as int you must cast it:

a = int(input()) #change type of input from string to int
print(type(a))
b = 10
if a == b:
    print("Yes")
else:
    print("No")

Understanding bools in Python

4 Answers4