5.10 Boolean operations

 

Boolean operations have the lowest priority of all Python operations:

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In the context of Boolean operations, and also when expressions are used by control flow statements, the following values are interpreted as false: None, numeric zero of all types, empty sequences (strings, tuples and lists), and empty mappings (dictionaries). All other values are interpreted as true.

The operator not yields 1 if its argument is false, 0 otherwise.  

The expression x and y first evaluates x; if x is false, its value is returned; otherwise, y is evaluated and the resulting value is returned.  

The expression x or y first evaluates x; if x is true, its value is returned; otherwise, y is evaluated and the resulting value is returned.  

(Note that neither and nor or restrict the value and type they return to 0 and 1, but rather return the last evaluated argument. This is sometimes useful, e.g., if s is a string that should be replaced by a default value if it is empty, the expression s or 'foo' yields the desired value. Because not has to invent a value anyway, it does not bother to return a value of the same type as its argument, so e.g., not 'foo' yields 0, not ''.)

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