3.5.1. Boolean and comparisons

Comparisons are performed using the operators ==, !=, >=, >, <= and <, and always result in a variable of type boolean. We already know the following types of variable: string, int, float and complex. Boolean variables, bool, are the simplest: they can be either True or False.

Equal

10 == 5

False

Unequal

10 != 5

True

Lower or equal

10 <= 5

False

Greater or equal

10 >= 5

True

Strictly lower

10 < 5

False

Strictly greater

10 > 5

True

Obviously, comparing a constant with another constant has little sense. However, comparing variables with constants, or variables with other variables, is very common:

WORLD_RECORD = 240
my_score = 236

# Verify if I broke the world record
my_score > WORLD_RECORD

False

Important

You may note that the equality comparison is a double-equal == instead of a single one =. This is to avoid confusion between a comparison:

a == 5

which returns True or False

and an assignment:

a = 5

which assigns the value of 5 to variable a.

Tip

Boolean values can be used in arithmetical operations: their numerical value is 0 for False, and 1 for True. For instance:

14 * True + 2 * False

14