Using f-string with format depending on a condition

jacobcan118 picture jacobcan118 · Aug 17, 2018 · Viewed 23.7k times · Source

How can I use f-string with logic to format an int as a float? I would like if ppl is True to format num to 2 decimal places, and if ppl is False to rformat it as whatever it is.

Something like string = f'i am {num:.2f if ppl else num}' but this does not work. The below code demonstrates the behaviour that I want to achieve with a simpler f-string if possible:

ppl = True
num = 3
string = f'I am {num:.2f}' if ppl else f'I am {num}'
print(string)
#if ppl False
#=> i am 3
#if ppl True
#=> i am 3.00

Answer

Andras Deak picture Andras Deak · Aug 17, 2018

You can nest expressions to evaluate inside expressions in an f-string. This means you can move the ternary right inside your f-string:

string = f'I am {num:{".2f" if ppl else ""}}'

Note the additional pair of braces needed for nesting.

But I don't think this is cleaner. Personally I find it harder to parse what's going on here, as opposed to your clear original version. After all simple is better than complex; flat is better than nested.