CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonoperators
Sheldon
Sheldon

Reputation: 10077

How do I compare two variables against one string in python?

I would like to print a message if either a or b is empty.

This was my attempt 

a = ""
b = "string"

if (a or b) == "":
    print "Either a or b is empty"

But only when both variables contain an empty string does the message print.

How do I execute the print statement only when either a or b is an empty string?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 748

Answers (5)

mgilson
mgilson

Reputation: 309919

You could just do:

if ((not a) or (not b)):
   print ("either a or b is empty")

Since bool('') is False.

Of course, this is equivalent to:

if not (a and b):
   print ("either a or b is empty")

Note that if you want to check if both are empty, you can use operator chaining:

if a == b == '':
   print ("both a and b are empty")

Upvotes: 3

fraxel
fraxel

Reputation: 35269

Or you can use:

if not any([a, b]):
    print "a and/or b is empty"

Upvotes: 1

exfizik
exfizik

Reputation: 5701

if not (a and b):
    print "Either a or b is empty"

Upvotes: 4

Ben
Ben

Reputation: 5087

if a == "" and b == "":
    print "a and b are empty"
if a == "" or b == "":
    print "a or b is empty"

Upvotes: 2

poke
poke

Reputation: 387657

The more explicit solution would be this:

if a == '' or b == '':
    print('Either a or b is empty')

In this case you could also check for containment within a tuple:

if '' in (a, b):
    print('Either a or b is empty')

Upvotes: 6

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