Very Long If Statement in Python

Question:

I have a very long if statement in Python. What is the best way to break it up into several lines? By best I mean most readable/common.

Asked By: rectangletangle

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Answers:

According to PEP8, long lines should be placed in parentheses. When using parentheses, the lines can be broken up without using backslashes. You should also try to put the line break after boolean operators.

Further to this, if you’re using a code style check such as pycodestyle, the next logical line needs to have different indentation to your code block.

For example:

if (abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz > some_other_long_identifier and
        here_is_another_long_identifier != and_finally_another_long_name):
    # ... your code here ...
    pass
Answered By: dappawit

Here is the example directly from PEP 8 on limiting line length:

class Rectangle(Blob):

    def __init__(self, width, height,
                 color='black', emphasis=None, highlight=0):
        if (width == 0 and height == 0 and
                color == 'red' and emphasis == 'strong' or
                highlight > 100):
            raise ValueError("sorry, you lose")
        if width == 0 and height == 0 and (color == 'red' or
                                           emphasis is None):
            raise ValueError("I don't think so -- values are %s, %s" %
                             (width, height))
        Blob.__init__(self, width, height,
                      color, emphasis, highlight)
Answered By: Andrew Clark
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