Python: why is [False] evaluated as true in an if statement?

Question

print("A" if [False] else "B")

Why is [False] evaluated as true and "A" printed in the above if statement?

Answer 1

It is not a falsey. In python, the falsey values are

1. False
2. 0
3. None
4. Empty string '' or ""
5. Empty collection [], () ...

Anything else is a truthy.

Any truthy will make a condition to pass. Change [False] to False and your condition will fail.

Answer 2

It is a list that is not empty
False is not the same as [False]

Answer 3

In python any non empty object like list, tuple, dictionary or set is treated as True