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< 4.1 If-Else Statements | Contents | 4.3 Summary and Problems >
Ternary Operators¶
Most programming languages have ternary operators, which usually known as conditional expressions. It provides a way that we can use one-line code to evaluate the first expression if the condition is true, otherwise it evaluates the second expression. Python has its way to implement the ternary operator, which can be constructed as below:
CONSTRUCTION: ternary operator in Python
expression_if_true if condition else expression_if_false
EXAMPLE: Ternary operator
is_student = True
person = 'student' if is_student else 'not student'
print(person)
student
From the above example, we can see this one-line code is equivalent to the following block of codes.
is_student = True
if is_student:
person = 'student'
else:
person = 'not student'
print(person)
student
Ternary operator provides a simple way for branching, and it can make our codes concise. Besides, in the next chapter, you will also see it commonly be used in list comprehensions, which is quite useful.
< 4.1 If-Else Statements | Contents | 4.3 Summary and Problems >