Why Does (1 in [1,0] == True) Evaluate to False

Why does (1 in [1,0] == True) evaluate to False?

Python actually applies comparison operator chaining here. The expression is translated to

(1 in [1, 0]) and ([1, 0] == True)

which is obviously False.

This also happens for expressions like

a < b < c

which translate to

(a < b) and (b < c)

(without evaluating b twice).

See the Python language documentation for further details.

Why does 1 in range(2) == True evaluate to False?

1 in range(2) == True is an operator chain, just like when you do 0 < 10 < 20

For it to be true you would need

1 in range(2)

and

range(2) == True

to be both true. The latter is false, hence the result. Adding parenthesis doesn't make an operator chaining anymore (some operators are in the parentheses), which explains (1 in range(2)) == True works.

Try:

>>> 1 in range(2) == range(2)
True

Once again, a good lesson learned about not equalling things with == True or != False which are redundant at best, and toxic at worst.

Is False == 0 and True == 1 an implementation detail or is it guaranteed by the language?

In Python 2.x this is not guaranteed as it is possible for True and False to be reassigned. However, even if this happens, boolean True and boolean False are still properly returned for comparisons.

In Python 3.x True and False are keywords and will always be equal to 1 and 0.

Under normal circumstances in Python 2, and always in Python 3:

False object is of type bool which is a subclass of int:

    object
       |
     int
       |
     bool

It is the only reason why in your example, ['zero', 'one'][False] does work. It would not work with an object which is not a subclass of integer, because list indexing only works with integers, or objects that define a __index__ method (thanks mark-dickinson).

Edit:

It is true of the current python version, and of that of Python 3. The docs for python 2 and the docs for Python 3 both say:

There are two types of integers: [...] Integers (int) [...] Booleans (bool)

and in the boolean subsection:

Booleans: These represent the truth values False and True [...] Boolean values behave like the values 0 and 1, respectively, in almost all contexts, the exception being that when converted to a string, the strings "False" or "True" are returned, respectively.

There is also, for Python 2:

In numeric contexts (for example when used as the argument to an arithmetic operator), they [False and True] behave like the integers 0 and 1, respectively.

So booleans are explicitly considered as integers in Python 2 and 3.

So you're safe until Python 4 comes along. ;-)

Why do both [] == true and ![] == true evaluate to false?

It's the way coercion works.

The first step of coercion is to convert any non primitive types to primitive types, then using a set of rules convert the left, right or both sides to the same type. You can find these rules here.

In your case [] == true, would pass through these 4 steps:

1. [] == true
2. [] == 1
3. "" == 1
4. 0 == 1

Whereas based on operator precedence the ! in ![] == true is executed first so the expression is converted to false == true which is obviously false.

You can try the live demo by Felix Kling to better understand how the sameness operator works.

In more words:

The value ![] is false, because [] is an Object (arrays are objects) and all objects, not including null, are truthy. So any array, even if it is empty will always be a truthy, and the opposite of a truthy is always false. The easiest way to check if a value is a truthy is by using !!.

console.log("![]: " + ![]);
console.log("!![]: " + !![]);

Why does `True == False is False` evaluate to False?

Because in fact that's a chained comparison, so

True == False is False

is equivalent to

(True == False) and (False is False)

This can be surprising in this case, but lets you write 1 <= x < 4 unlike in other languages like C.

Is true == 1 and false == 0 in JavaScript?

It's true that true and false don't represent any numerical values in Javascript.

In some languages (e.g. C, VB), the boolean values are defined as actual numerical values, so they are just different names for 1 and 0 (or -1 and 0).

In some other languages (e.g. Pascal, C#), there is a distinct boolean type that is not numerical. It's possible to convert between boolean values and numerical values, but it doesn't happen automatically.

Javascript falls in the category that has a distinct boolean type, but on the other hand Javascript is quite keen to convert values between different data types.

For example, eventhough a number is not a boolean, you can use a numeric value where a boolean value is expected. Using if (1) {...} works just as well as if (true) {...}.

When comparing values, like in your example, there is a difference between the == operator and the === operator. The == equality operator happily converts between types to find a match, so 1 == true evaluates to true because true is converted to 1. The === type equality operator doesn't do type conversions, so 1 === true evaluates to false because the values are of different types.

How to convert 'false' to 0 and 'true' to 1?

Use int() on a boolean test:

x = int(x == 'true')

int() turns the boolean into 1 or 0. Note that any value not equal to 'true' will result in 0 being returned.

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