Python single line if-else via dictionary

Asked Aug 20 '17 at 07:54

Active Aug 20 '17 at 07:56

Viewed 29 times

For example, we have an if-else statement which could be reduced to a single line:

condition = True
# condition = False

if condition:
    foo = 'Whatever'
else:
    foo = 'Nevermind'

The default reduce-technique is to do that:

foo = 'Whatever' if condition else 'Nevermind'

But also we can do it this way:

foo = {True:'Whatever', False:'Nevermind'}[condition]

Is that good/bad? Why?
Is there any other way to shrink if-else statement?

IMHO, in the dict-case readability is pretty cool since we can see all possible condition values in a well-structured form.

asked Aug 20 '17 at 07:54

KalyanKruno

Now try to replace `"Nevermind"` and `"Whatever"` with expensive function calls. If both calls take 1 minute, how long do you think either technique will take? (Hint: the conditional expression *short-circuits*). – Martijn Pieters Aug 20 '17 at 07:55
And which one do you think is more readable? – Martijn Pieters Aug 20 '17 at 07:55
@MartijnPieters so the question cannot be answered in your opinion... – Jean-François Fabre Aug 20 '17 at 07:58
@Jean-FrançoisFabre: the question is already answered, in the duplicate. Which one you pick is perhaps opinion-based, but I've hinted strongly at mine. – Martijn Pieters Aug 20 '17 at 07:59
oh and a lot of techniques are already described. good. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 20 '17 at 08:01
@Jean-FrançoisFabre: also, this question is too broad, it is not asking for one, it is asking for *all* techniques. – Martijn Pieters Aug 20 '17 at 08:01
agreed. so OP will be happy with the 257 answers of the original Q&A. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 20 '17 at 08:02

Python single line if-else via dictionary

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