if - else control flow statements

 

Python if…else

Hello Learners… In this article, you will learn to create decisions in a Python program using different forms of if..else statement.

What is if…else statement in Python?

Decision making is required when we want to execute a code only if a certain condition is satisfied.

The if…elif…else statement is used in Python for decision making.

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Python Conditions and If statements

Python supports the usual logical conditions from mathematics:

• Equals: a == b
• Not Equals: a != b
• Less than: a < b
• Less than or equal to: a <= b
• Greater than: a > b
• Greater than or equal to: a >= b

These conditions can be used in several ways, most commonly in “if statements” and loops.

An “if statement” is written by using the if keyword.

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a = 33 b = 200 if b > a:     print("b is greater than a")

In this example we use two variables, a and b, which are used as part of the if statement to test whether b is greater than a. As a is 33, and b is 200, we know that 200 is greater than 33, and so we print to screen that “b is greater than a”.

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Indentation

Python relies on indentation (whitespace at the beginning of a line) to define scope in the code. Other programming languages often use curly-brackets for this purpose.

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#If statement, without indentation (will raise an error):   a = 33 b = 200 if b > a: print("b is greater than a") # you will get an error

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Elif

The elif keyword is pythons way of saying “if the previous conditions were not true, then try this condition”.

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a = 33 b = 33 if b > a:     print("b is greater than a") elif a == b:     print("a and b are equal")

In this example a is equal to b, so the first condition is not true, but the elif condition is true, so we print to screen that “a and b are equal”.

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Else

The else keyword catches anything which isn’t caught by the preceding conditions.

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a = 200 b = 33 if b > a:     print("b is greater than a") elif a == b:     print("a and b are equal") else:     print("a is greater than b")

In this example a is greater than b, so the first condition is not true, also the elif condition is not true, so we go to the else condition and print to screen that “a is greater than b”.

You can also have an else without the elif:

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a = 200 b = 33 if b > a:   print("b is greater than a") else:   print("b is not greater than a")

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Short hand if

If you have only one statement to execute, you can put it on the same line as the if statement.

One line if statement:

1	if a > b: print("a is greater than b")

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Short hand if…else

If you have only one statement to execute, one for if, and one for else, you can put it all on the same line:

One line if else statement:

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a = 2 b = 330 print("A") if a > b else print("B")

This technique is known as Ternary Operators, or Conditional Expressions.

You can also have multiple else statements on the same line

One line if else statement, with 3 conditions:

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a = 330 b = 330 print("A") if a > b else print("=") if a == b else print("B")

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And

The and keyword is a logical operator, and is used to combine conditional statements

Test if a is greater than b, AND if c is greater than a:

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a = 200 b = 33 c = 500 if a > b and c > a:     print("Both conditions are True")

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Or

The or keyword is a logical operator, and is used to combine conditional statements

Test if a is greater than b, OR if a is greater than c:

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a = 200 b = 33 c = 500 if a > b or a > c:   print("At least one of the conditions is True")

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Nested if

You can have if statements inside if statements, this is called nested if statements.

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x = 41   if x > 10:     print("Above ten,")     if x > 20:         print("and also above 20!")     else:         print("but not above 20.")