CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
committedandroider
committedandroider

Reputation: 9261

Why are these two strings not equal in Python?

I have a simple Python code sample

import json
hello = json.dumps("hello")
print(type(hello))

if hello == "hello":
    print("They are equal")
else:
    print("They are not equal")

This is evaluating to "They are not equal". I don't understand why these values are not equal.

I'm re-familiarizing myself with Python but I read that this "==" can be used as an operator to compare strings in Python. I also printed the type of hello which evaluates to "str"

Can someone clarify this?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 758

Answers (3)

DonCarleone
DonCarleone

Reputation: 829

print(json.dumps('hello'))

output -> "hello"

print('hello')

output -> hello

enter image description here

Upvotes: -4

Pauchu
Pauchu

Reputation: 76

json.dumps is used to convert dictonaries to json strings. In other words, it interprets the import and creates the equivalent of it as a json. What that means is, that puting a single string in will result in it being transformed to the json equivalent of a single string.

hello = json.dumps("hello")
print(hello)
 => "hello"

In the json-format, strings are in quotes, which is why json.dumps() puts it in quotes.

Upvotes: 1

BrokenBenchmark
BrokenBenchmark

Reputation: 19223

The behavior becomes much more clear once you print out the result from json.dumps():

print("hello", len("hello"))
print(hello, len(hello))

This outputs:

hello 5
"hello" 7

json.dumps() adds extra quotation marks -- you can see that the lengths of the two strings aren't the same. This is why your check fails.

Upvotes: 8

Related Questions