Python – Same if statement multiple times in one code block

January 12, 2022

Consider this code:

def say_hi(english: bool, name: str) -> str:
    if name != "":
        if english:
            greeting = f"Hi, {name}!"
    else:
        if english:
            greeting = "Hey there!"
    if english:
        greeting = greeting + "foo bar"
    if not english:
        greeting = "I speak only English, sorry."
    return greeting

What is the best way to optimize this code to not have 3 times the same if statmenet (if english:) in one block of code? Or, perhaps a different question – does this repetitive if statement code match Python PEP standards?

>Solution :

Why not just reverse the order of if statements?

def say_hi(english: bool, name: str) -> str:
    if english:
        if name != "":
                greeting = f"Hi, {name}!"
        else:
                greeting = "Hey there!"
        greeting = greeting + "foo bar"
    else:
        greeting = "I speak only English, sorry."
    return greeting