Python: most idiomatic way to convert None to empty string?

Question

What is the most idiomatic way to do the following?

def xstr(s):
    if s is None:
        return \'\'
    else:
        return s

s = xstr(a) + xstr(b)
         


        

Answer 1

I use max function:

max(None, '')  #Returns blank
max("Hello",'') #Returns Hello

Works like a charm ;) Just put your string in the first parameter of the function.