Boolean Data Type for Determining True or False

To use conditional statements that execute code only under specific conditions, or loops that repeat code until a particular condition is met, you need to determine within the code whether a condition is true or false.

For example, consider writing a code that prints a is greater than 10 if the variable a is greater than 10, and prints a is 10 or less otherwise.

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a = 11

if a > 10:
    # Executes if a is greater than 10
    print("a is greater than 10.")
else:
    # Executes if a is 10 or less
    print("a is 10 or less.")

Here, a > 10 is true if the variable a is greater than 10, and false otherwise.

The data type that represents true and false in this way is called a Boolean.

In Python, the value representing true is True, and the value representing false is False, with the first letter capitalized.

Variable names that represent Boolean values typically use prefixes like is_, has_, can_ to increase the clarity of the variable's meaning.

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# Variable to determine active status
is_active = True

# Variable to determine login status
is_logged_in = False

# Variable to check certain permissions
has_permission = True

# Variable to check edit permissions
can_edit = False

Booleans are commonly used in conditional statements with if and else keywords to determine the truth or falsehood of a condition.

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is_active = True

# Executes if is_active is True
if is_active:
    print("The user is active.")
else:
    print("The user is inactive.")