Understanding and Applying Python Comparison Operators for Beginners | CodeSignal Learn

Understanding and Applying Python Comparison Operators for Beginners | CodeSignal Learn

Introduction and Topic Overview

Hello, Stellar Navigator! Today, we're diving into Python Comparison Operators. These operators allow us to compare two values, yielding a boolean result — True or False . Our goal is to understand these operators and become comfortable with operator chaining. Are you ready? Let's delve in!

Understanding Python Comparison Operators

Comparison operators in Python are used to compare two values and yield a boolean outcome. The comparison operators in Python are: Equal to (==) Note that = and == are two different operators - the former is an assignment operator (e.g., variable = 2), and the latter is the equality comparison. Not equal to (!=) Greater than (>) Less than (<) Greater than or equal to (>=) Less than or equal to (<=) For instance, if you have $20 and want to buy a $15 toy, see the example below: Python price_of_toy = 15 money_in_hand = 20 # Compare two variables and assign the result to a new variable can_buy_toy = money_in_hand >= price_of_toy print(can_buy_toy) # Prints: True Here, we use the >= comparison operator to check if we have enough money to buy the toy — the answer is True! Note how we assigned the result of the comparison to a new variable - can_buy_toy.

Deep Dive into Python Comparison Operators

Let's investigate these operators further with some coding examples: Python print(10 == 10) # True - because 10 is indeed equal to 10 print(10 > 10) # False - because 10 isn't greater than 10 print(10 < 10) # False - because 10 isn't less than 10 print(10 != 10) # False - because 10 isn't unequal to 10 print(10 >= 10) # True - because 10 is equal to 10 print(10 <= 10) # True - because 10 is equal to 10 The result of these comparison operators is a boolean value — True or False .

Expanding the Horizons - Operator Chaining

Python allows us to chain together comparisons. This technique can be handy when we want to perform multiple comparisons in a single line: Python book_pages = 150 is_desired_book = 100 < book_pages < 200 # Check if the number of pages is between 100 and 200, exclusive print(is_desired_book) # Prints: True In this case, we've used operator chaining to verify whether a book that's 150 pages long falls within the range of 100 to 200 pages. The answer is True!

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In-Depth Examples and Scenarios

Let's apply comparison operators to numbers and strings: # Numbers number = 5 print(number == 5) # True - 5 is equal to 5 print(number > 3) # True - 5 is greater than 3 print(number < 3) # False - 5 is not less than 3 print(number >= 5) # True - 5 is equal to 5 # Strings fruit = "apple" print(fruit == "apple") # True - "apple" is the same as "apple" print(fruit != "banana") # True - "apple" is not "banana" print(fruit < "banana") # True - "apple" comes before "banana" in the dictionary In Python, strings are compared alphabetically. To provide a real-life example - imagine both words in the word dictionary, which one will go first there? This word is less than the other one!

Python

# Numbers
number = 5
print(number == 5)  # True - 5 is equal to 5
print(number > 3)   # True - 5 is greater than 3
print(number < 3)   # False - 5 is not less than 3
print(number >= 5)  # True - 5 is equal to 5

# Strings
fruit = "apple"
print(fruit == "apple")  # True - "apple" is the same as "apple"
print(fruit != "banana") # True - "apple" is not "banana"
print(fruit < "banana")  # True - "apple" comes before "banana" in the dictionary