On Oct 12, 12:01 am, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I find myself having to do the following: > > x = (some complex expression) > y = x if x else "blah" > > and I was wondering if there is any built-in idiom that > can remove the need to put (some complex expression) > in the temporary variable x. > > e.g. something like the below: > > y= foobar ((some complex expression), "blah") > > I realized foobar() can be easily coded as: > def foobar(a,b): > if a: return a > else: return b > > But I was wondering if there was a built-in function or syntax > that already does this.
You could take your chances on 'or', as follows: >>> (6+ (3<< 1) ) or 'blah' 12 >>> (6- (3<< 1) ) or 'blah' 'blah' You don't need to use the ternary statement: y = (some complex expression) if not y: y = "blah" If you find yourself using it a lot, why not add it to your site's utilities modules? Take your time, and if you find numerous uses, present them and make the case Python should have a built-in to do it, something like 'ditto' marks: (6- (3<< 1) ) if ditto else 'blah' -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
