Python Ternary Operator Without else

Question

Is it possible to do this on one line in Python?

if :
    myList.append(\'myString\')

I have tried the ternary operator:

Answer 1

The reason the language doesn't allow you to use the syntax

variable = "something" if a_condition

without else is that, in the case where a_condition == False, variable is suddenly unknown. Maybe it could default to None, but Python requires that all variable assignments actually result in explicit assignments. This also applies to cases such as your function call, as the value passed to the function is evaluated just as the RHS of an assignment statement would be.

Similarly, all returns must actually return, even if they are conditional returns. Eg:

return variable if a_condition

is not allowed, but

return variable if a_condition else None

is allowed, since the second example is guaranteed to explicitly return something.