Why does the following not work? if letter == ('O' or 'Q'): statement

Question

It only does the ststement if 'O' is true, not if 'Q' is true.

Answer 1

if letter=="O" or letter=="Q":
#......

Answer 2

In this way you are trying to compare the letter variable already to the boolean result of the or statement. So you tell Python to check if letter == True, not if it is equal to any of those chars.

You should either decompose it like Valentin suggested or use the 'in' phrase:

if letter in ['Q', 'O']:
statement

It is more flexible because you can easily add consecutive letters only and not another 'or letter==' phrase.

Answer 3

That worked, but i dont understand why the first only evaluates the first letter.

Answer 4

Thank you both! That makes sense!