Python – Conditions

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Note: Python uses intendation! Each : is followed by a hard return + 4 spaces (or a tab). If you forget to use them, you’ll get a Syntax error.

Elements to remix a song: if, in, elif, else

# Prince, Purple Rain (using a hashtag = making a comment)
verse = "I never meant to cause you any sorrow."
Transform string in list of words
words = verse.split()
If, in
word = 'never'
if word in words:
    print(word + " is in the song.")
Exercise 1: Capitalize the word
print(word in words)

Because the word is in the verse, Python returns True. Let’s do the same thing for a word that we know is not in the verse.

print("Prince" in words)

Back to our if statement. If the expression after if evaluates to True, our program will go on to the next line and print word + " is in the song"

if word in words:
    print("Yes!")

if "Prince" in words:
    print("Yes!")

Notice that the last print statement is not executed. That is because the word Prince is not in the verse, and thus the part after if did not evaluate to True.

Exercise 2: If the word is in the verse, double the word
If, in, else

We can use another statement besides if, namely else. The part after else will be evaluated if the if statement evaluated to False. In English: if the word is not in the verse, print that is is not.

word = 'Prince'
if word in words:
    print(word + " is in the song.")
else: 
    print(word + " is NOT in the song.")
If, in, elif, else

Sometimes we have various conditions that should all evaluate to something different. For that Python provides the elif statement. We use it similar to if and else. Note however that you can only use elif after an if statement!

The if-elif-else combination, a very common way to implement ‘decision trees’ in Python.

word = "purple rain"
if "a" in word:
    print(word + " contains the letter a")
elif "p" in word:
    print(word + " contains the letter p")
elif "d" in word:
    print(word + " contains the letter d")
elif "n" in word:
    print(word + " contains the letter n")
else:
    print("What a weird word!")

First the if statement will be evaluated. Only if that statement turns out to be False the computer will proceed to evaluate the elif statement. If the elif statement in turn would prove to be False, the machine will proceed and execute the lines of code associated with the else statement. You can think of this coding structure as a decision tree! Remember: if somewhere along the tree, your machine comes across a logical expression which is true, it won’t bother anymore to evaluate the remaining options!

Exercise 3: If a word is part of the verse, triple the word, add it to the list and print the list as a string

What you’ve learned

  • conditions
  • indentation
  • if
  • elif
  • else
  • True
  • False
  • in