Why Does Python’s and vs. or Matter? Understanding Operator Precedence

Introduction

Hello, I'm PiPi. A fan named Chloe asked a basic Python question about the logical operators and and or. I share the discussion here for everyone to learn.

Solution

In Python, except when parentheses are used, and has higher precedence than or. Therefore the expression is evaluated from left to right: first the and part, then the or part.

For example, the and operation yields False, and combining it with or results in True.

Additional interesting usages of and and or are shown below:

print(1 and 'string')   # output: string
# Explanation: x and y returns y if x is true, otherwise x

print(0 or 'string')    # output: string
# Explanation: x or y returns x if x is true, otherwise y

Conclusion

The article explains the precedence of and and or in Python, provides concrete examples and code demonstrations, and offers extra tips to deepen understanding.