4. Comparisons
Comparison operators compare two values and produce a boolean (True or False):
| Operator | Meaning |
|---|---|
> | greater than |
< | less than |
>= | greater than or equal to |
<= | less than or equal to |
== | equal to |
!= | not equal to |
The operands can be expressions, not only literals:
The left side is evaluated first (2 + 2 is 4), and then it is compared with 4.
Comparisons can be chained. a < b < c is shorthand for a < b and b < c:
Chained comparisons are useful for checking that a value is inside a range:
Strings are compared character by character using their Unicode order, so "apple" comes before "banana" and uppercase letters come before lowercase letters.
Coming from JavaScript? Comparisons can be chained: 18 <= age < 65 works in Python, while JS evaluates it left to right and gives a different result.
Compare two expressions
Compare the expression 2 + 2 with 4 using the equality operator (==), and print the result. The left side is evaluated before the comparison.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Compare strings
Use the less-than operator (<) to compare "apple" and "banana", and print the result. Strings are compared character by character using their Unicode order.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Chain two comparisons
Use a single chained comparison with two < operators to check that 1 is less than 2 and 2 is less than 3. Print the result.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.
Check a range
Store 20 in a variable named age. Use one chained comparison to check that age is at least 18 and less than 65, then print the result.
Print exactly:
Create a free account to save your progress and unlock chapter 2.