Is there an equivalent of C's "?:" ternary operator in Python?

Yes, Python has an equivalent to C's ternary operator ?:. Python's conditional expression provides a concise way to choose between two values based on a condition.

C Language Ternary Operator

First, let's see how C's ternary operator works ?

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
   int x = 10;
   int y;

   y = (x == 1) ? 20 : 30;
   printf("Value of y = %d\n", y);

   y = (x == 10) ? 20 : 30;
   printf("Value of y = %d\n", y);
}

Value of y = 30
Value of y = 20

Python's Conditional Expression

Python introduced its conditional expression syntax in version 2.5. The syntax is more readable than C's ternary operator ?

Syntax

[on_true] if [condition] else [on_false]

Example ? Finding Minimum Value

Here's how to find the smaller of two numbers using Python's conditional expression ?

x = 20
y = 10
minimum = x if x < y else y
print("Minimum value:", minimum)

Minimum value: 10

Example ? Finding Maximum Value

Similarly, we can find the larger value ?

x = 50
y = 10
maximum = x if x > y else y
print("Maximum value:", maximum)

Maximum value: 50

Pre-Python 2.5 Workaround

Before Python 2.5, developers used logical operators as a workaround ?

[condition] and [on_true] or [on_false]

However, this approach had a critical flaw: it failed when on_true evaluated to a falsy value (like 0, "", None, etc.).

Practical Examples

Age Category Classification

age = 17
category = "Adult" if age >= 18 else "Minor"
print(f"Age category: {category}")

Age category: Minor

Grade Assignment

score = 85
grade = "Pass" if score >= 60 else "Fail"
print(f"Result: {grade}")

Result: Pass

Comparison

Conclusion

Python's conditional expression value_if_true if condition else value_if_false is the equivalent of C's ternary operator. It provides a clean, readable way to assign values based on conditions and avoids the pitfalls of earlier workarounds.