Why is the use of len(SEQUENCE) in condition values considered incorrect by Pylint?

Question

Considering this code snippet:

from os import walk

files = []
for (dirpath, _, filenames) in walk(mydir):
    # More code that modifies files
if len(files) == 0:         


        

Answer 1

Pylint was failing for my code and research led me to this post:

../filename.py:49:11: C1801: Do not use `len(SEQUENCE)` to determine if a sequence is empty (len-as-condition)
../filename.py:49:34: C1801: Do not use `len(SEQUENCE)` to determine if a sequence is empty (len-as-condition)

This was my code before:

def list_empty_folders(directory):
"""The Module Has Been Build to list empty Mac Folders."""
for (fullpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(directory):
    if len(dirnames) == 0 and len(filenames) == 0:
        print("Exists: {} : Absolute Path: {}".format(
            os.path.exists(fullpath), os.path.abspath(fullpath)))

This was after my code fix. By using the int() attribute, I seem to have satisfied the Pep8/Pylint and doesn't seem to have a negative impact on my code:

def list_empty_folders(directory):
"""The Module Has Been Build to list empty Mac Folders."""
for (fullpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(directory):
    if len(dirnames).__trunc__() == 0 and len(filenames).__trunc__() == 0:
        print("Exists: {} : Absolute Path: {}".format(
            os.path.exists(fullpath), os.path.abspath(fullpath)))

My Fix

By adding .__trunc__() to the sequence it seems to have settled the need.

I do not see a difference in the behaviour, but if anyone knows specifics that I am missing, please let me know.