the PHP ternary operator equivalent on Python

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:17:17 -0800, David  Wahler wrote:

> Daniel Crespo wrote:
>> I would like to know how can I do the PHP ternary operator/statement
>> (... ? ... : ...) in Python...
>>
>> I want to something like:
>>
>> a = {'Huge': (quantity>90) ? True : False}
> 
> Well, in your example the '>' operator already returns a boolean value
> so you can just use it directly. Hoewver, I agree that there are
> situations in which a ternary operator would be nice. Unfortunately,
> Python doesn't support this directly; the closest approximation I've
> found is:
> 
>>>> (value_if_false, value_if_true)[boolean_value]

Which doesn't short-circuit: both value_if_false and value_if_true are
evaluated.

WHY WHY WHY the obsession with one-liners? What is wrong with the good old
fashioned way?

if cond:
    x = true_value
else:
    x = false_value

It is easy to read, easy to understand, only one of true_value and
false_value is evaluated. It isn't a one-liner. Big deal. Anyone would
think that newlines cost money or that ever time you used one God killed a
kitten.




-- 
Steven.