CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
jax
jax

Reputation: 4197

What is the correct way to use "or" with if condition in python

I have write down a code to fetch scientific literature, given code bellow fetch "xml" file and extract desired data or lines from the large file.

from this file i want two lines to be printed that contains tag "AbstractText" or "Title", when I use either "AbstractText" or "Title" with "if" it prints desirable out put but when i used both the tags with "or" statement code starts to print all the lines.

Code which is not running correctly: 

  def fetch_abstract(pmid):
        handle = efetch(db='pubmed', id=pmid, retmode='xml')
        lines = handle.readlines()

        for line in lines:
            if  "<AbstractText>" or "<Title>" in line:
                print line,

    fetch_abstract("19555725")

Code is running correctly with "AbstractText" tag : 

  def fetch_abstract(pmid):
        handle = efetch(db='pubmed', id=pmid, retmode='xml')
        lines = handle.readlines()

        for line in lines:
            if  "<AbstractText>" in line:
                print line,

    fetch_abstract("19555725")

Code is running correctly with "Title" tag: 

  def fetch_abstract(pmid):
        handle = efetch(db='pubmed', id=pmid, retmode='xml')
        lines = handle.readlines()

        for line in lines:
            if   "<Title>" in line:
                print line,

    fetch_abstract("19555725")

how can i solve this problem ?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 101

Answers (4)

FrostyOnion
FrostyOnion

Reputation: 996

EDIT: Fixed syntax error Try this like so:

def fetch_abstract(pmid):
    handle = efetch(db='pubmed', id=pmid, retmode='xml')
    lines = handle.readlines()

    for line in lines:
        if  "<AbstractText>" in line or "<Title>" in line:
            print line,

fetch_abstract("19555725")

Upvotes: 0

Ian
Ian

Reputation: 30813

You should put your condition with in line for both:

if  "<AbstractText>" in line or "<Title>" in line:

The way you put right now has two following conditions:

"<AbstractText>" or
"<Title>" in line

and "<AbstractText>" is always true since the string "<AbstractText>" contains something (if "nonemptystring" is always true). That is why you print everything.

Upvotes: 3

MarianD
MarianD

Reputation: 14121

Instead of

if  "<AbstractText>" or "<Title>" in line:

use

if  "<AbstractText>" in line or "<Title>" in line:

Upvotes: 0

Cristian Lupascu
Cristian Lupascu

Reputation: 40516

One correct way is to write:

if "<AbstractText>" in line or "<Title>" in line:

Your first attempt is equivalent to if ("<AbstractText>") or ("<Title>" in line):. I added the parentheses to emphasize how the line is interpreted.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions