Python Inline if else One Line – Simple & Easy

To write a Python Inline if else One Line statement, we need to use the ternary operator (conditional expression). Writing multiple if-else statements in Python is also possible but should be avoided for better readability.

Table of Contents

• Python Inline if else One Line Syntax
• Classic if/else in Python
• How do you write if and else in one line?
• How do you write multiple if-else in one line in Python?
• Summary

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Python Inline if else One Line Syntax

The syntax to write an inline if else one-liner is:

expression if condition else different_expressionCode language: Python (python)

If you want to inform the user if it’s sunny or if it’s raining, that would look like this:

is_raining = True

weather = "Take an umbrella!" if is_raining else "Take sunglasses!"Code language: PHP (php)

While using one-line if else statements can shorten your code, it can also make it much harder to read. That is true for anyone who works with you, but it also makes it harder for you to get back into your code if you haven’t worked on it for a while.

Maintaining good readability is crucial, so you have to always consider if using a one-line if else statement in Python makes sense for each case.

Classic if/else in Python

Before we look at some more Python inline if else one line statement examples, let’s look at a classical if/else block:

is_raining = True

if is_raining:
  weather_info = "Take an umbrella!"
else:
  weather_info = "Take sunglasses!"

print(weather_info)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Take an umbrella!

How do you write if and else in one line?

Let’s look at how we can turn this into a one-line if-else statement using the ternary operator:

is_raining = True

weather_info = "Take an umbrella!" if is_raining else "Take sunglasses!"

print(weather_info)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

Take an umbrella!

How do you write multiple if-else in one line in Python?

You can use the ternary operator to chain together multiple if else statements in one line:

number = 50

output = 10 if number < 10 else 20 if number > 10 else 0

print(output)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

20

While this works, we do not recommend using this approach. It is very hard to read. A much clearer approach, in this case, would be:

number = 50 

if number < 10:
  output = 10
elif number > 10:
  output = 20
else:
  output = 0

print(output)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

20Code language: plaintext (plaintext)

Summary

To summarize, while it is possible to use Python inline if else one-line statements, they should be used with caution. If we want to maintain good readability, we should avoid longer one-line statements.

• Python inline if else one line statements can be written using the ternary operator.
• Writing long one-line statements should be avoided for the sake of readability.
• Multiple if-else one-line statements can be written in Python but should be used cautiously.

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