Python If Else shorthand with examples

Have you ever wondered if you can write if else statements in the same line like a ternary operator: x=a>10?"greater":"not greater" in Python?

In this article, we will see how to write Shorthands for if else statements in Python.

Simple if condition

We can write a simple if condition in Python as shown below:

x = 10
if x > 5:
  print("greater than 5")

There are no shorthands for simple if statements.

If else statements

Consider the following if else statement:

x = 10
if x%2 == 0:
  print("Even")
else:
  print("Odd")

We can shorten it as shown below:

x = 10
print("Even") if x%2 == 0 else print("Odd")

The syntax here is

action_if_true if condition else action_if_false

You can assign the result to a variable as well:

age = 20
status = "adult" if age >= 18 else "minor"
print(status)

Else if ladder

In Python you can write an else-if ladder as shown below:

x = 10
if x > 5:
  print("greater than 5")
elif x==5:
  print("equal to 5")
else:
  print("less than 5")

The shorthand for the else-if ladder would be:

x=4
print("greater than 5") if x > 5 else  print("equal to 5") if x==5 else print("less than 5")

Using tuples as a ternary operator

Python has the following syntax to assign the boolean value of the result. However, this is a confusing syntax and is not used widely.

x = 5
is_five = (False, True)[x == 5]
print(is_five)