String equality in python

Question

I am trying to check the equality of two strings however it seems that my code it doesnt work properly:

listes = []
for row in my_lines:
    split = re.split(r' +', row)
    print split[0], ":size of the split: ", len(split)
    if str(split[0]) == '5':
        print "...."

The printed message from my print before the if statement is the following:

'5' :size of the split:  3
'4' :size of the split:  4
'6' :size of the split:  3
'6' :size of the split:  4
'F' :size of the split:  4
'6' :size of the split:  4
'F' :size of the split:  4
'6' :size of the split:  4

However the if statement does not work. What could have been wrong here?

It appears that your split[x] contains a string of the form "'x'", but you're only comparing it to "x". — TidB
– TidB, Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 11:19
Looks like the string is actually '5' with single quotation marks and space. — Klaus D.
– Klaus D., Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 11:19

Moinuddin Quadri · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-20 11:22:06Z

4

That is because your split[0] content itself has ' as the part of the string based on the output you mentioned. You need to either compare it like:

  if str(split[0]) == "'5'":  
  #                    ^ ^ single quotes here

OR, remove ' from start and end of row as:

 if str(split[0])[1:-1] == "5":
 #                ^  ^ remove first and last character from string

answered Dec 20, 2016 at 11:22

Moinuddin Quadri

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