Styling multi-line conditions in 'if' statements? [closed]

Sometimes I break long conditions in ifs onto several lines. The most obvious way to do this is:

  if (cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and
      cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4'):
      do_something

Isn't very very appealing visually, because the action blends with the conditions. However, it is the natural way using correct Python indentation of 4 spaces.

For the moment I'm using:

  if (    cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and
          cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4'):
      do_something

But this isn't very pretty. :-)

Can you recommend an alternative way?

You don't need to use 4 spaces on your second conditional line. Maybe use:

if (cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and 
       cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4'):
    do_something

Also, don't forget the whitespace is more flexible than you might think:

if (   
       cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and 
       cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4'
   ):
    do_something
if    (cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and 
       cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4'):
    do_something

Both of those are fairly ugly though.

Maybe lose the brackets (the Style Guide discourages this though)?

if cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and \
   cond3 == 'val3' and cond4 == 'val4':
    do_something

This at least gives you some differentiation.

Or even:

if cond1 == 'val1' and cond2 == 'val2' and \
                       cond3 == 'val3' and \
                       cond4 == 'val4':
    do_something

I think I prefer:

if cond1 == 'val1' and \
   cond2 == 'val2' and \
   cond3 == 'val3' and \
   cond4 == 'val4':
    do_something

Here's the Style Guide, which (since 2010) recommends using brackets.

I've resorted to the following in the degenerate case where it's simply AND's or OR's.

if all( [cond1 == 'val1', cond2 == 'val2', cond3 == 'val3', cond4 == 'val4'] ):

if any( [cond1 == 'val1', cond2 == 'val2', cond3 == 'val3', cond4 == 'val4'] ):

It shaves a few characters and makes it clear that there's no subtlety to the condition.

Someone has to champion use of vertical whitespace here! :)

if (     cond1 == val1
     and cond2 == val2
     and cond3 == val3
   ):
    do_stuff()

This makes each condition clearly visible. It also allows cleaner expression of more complex conditions:

if (    cond1 == val1
     or 
        (     cond2_1 == val2_1
          and cond2_2 >= val2_2
          and cond2_3 != bad2_3
        )
   ):
    do_more_stuff()

Yes, we're trading off a bit of vertical real estate for clarity. Well worth it IMO.