How to use a list in a if statement

Question

I was trying to make a simple If statement with a list but it doesn't work when I input one of the foods in the list, is there something I'm missing or is there a different way to do it, I'm pretty new so I don't really know a lot. Thanks :)

def main():
  food = ["French Fries","Nutella","Smoothies","Macaroni","Fish Sticks"]
  ask = input("What is your favorite food?")
  num=["1.","2.","3.","4.","5."]
  if(ask == food):
    print("Cool! I also like "+ask+" alot!")
  print("These are my top 5 favorite Foods:")
  for n in range(0, len(food)):
    print(num[n]+food[n])  
        
main()

`if(ask == food)` One of those is a String and the other is a list, they can never be equal. You have to check if your String is IN the list. — takendarkk, Oct 06 '22 at 15:05

Mustafa Walid · Answer 1 · 2022-10-06T15:20:16.540

0

ask == food you are comparing a string with an entire list
instead you need to check if ask exists inside the list
```
 if ask in food:
```

edited Oct 06 '22 at 15:20

answered Oct 06 '22 at 15:14

Mustafa Walid

105
9

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 06 '22 at 15:15

-1

Your line - if(ask == food): seems illogical. Check the list comparison syntax in python, its pretty basic. You can't compare list like this. Use in operator instead.

answered Oct 06 '22 at 15:15

Vivek Kaushik

27
6

How to use a list in a if statement

2 Answers2