Strings and Booleans

15 min · Beginner

Text and decisions form the foundation of every application. Python represents text with str and truth values with bool.

String literals and quotes

String (str) is the type for text. You write it between single or double quotes, and it can hold letters, digits, spaces and symbols.

In Python, you can enclose strings in single quotes '...' or double quotes "...". Both create identical string objects.

Python

city = 'Bengaluru'role = "Software Engineer"print(city)print(role)

Example 1 · A quote inside text

Python

message = "It's ready"print(message)print(type(message))

Output

It's ready
<class 'str'>

What this code does

Double quotes let the text contain a single quote.
type shows str, because the value is text.

Using double quotes lets you include single quotes inside the text (such as "It's ready") without escaping.

Multiline text with triple quotes

When you need text spanning multiple lines or docstrings, enclose it with triple quotes """...""".

Python

message = """Invoice Summary:- Status: Paid- Total: 4500"""print(message)

Triple-quoted strings preserve line breaks and indentation exactly as typed.

Boolean type: True and False

Boolean (bool) is the type with exactly two values, True and False. Both are written with a capital first letter.

Python's bool type has exactly two values: True and False. Notice that both start with a capital letter.

Python

is_admin = Truehas_passed = Falseprint(is_admin)print(type(is_admin))

Writing lowercase true or false produces a NameError because Python is case-sensitive.

Truthiness: truthy and falsy values

Truthiness is whether a value counts as True or False when Python needs a yes or no answer. Zero, empty text and None count as False; most other values count as True.

Every object in Python has an inherent boolean truth value. Use bool() to evaluate an object's truthiness.

Python

print(bool(0))print(bool(42))print(bool(""))print(bool("MentorNxt"))

Example 2 · Checking an account

Python

1user_name = "Priya"2is_verified = True3login_attempts = 04
5print(user_name)6print(is_verified)7print(bool(login_attempts))8print(bool(user_name))

Output

Priya
True
False
True

What this code does

user_name holds a string.
is_verified holds a boolean True.
login_attempts is 0, which evaluates to False.
user_name is non-empty, which evaluates to True.

Example 3 · The text "False" is still true

Python

flag_text = "False"print(bool(flag_text))print(bool(""))

Output

True
False

What this code does

Any non-empty string is truthy, whatever it says.
Only the empty string "" is falsy.
To get a real boolean, write False without quotes.

Falsy values include 0, 0.0, empty strings "", empty lists [], and None. Everything else is truthy.

Next step

Check your understanding

9 quick questions

Strings and Booleans

15 min · Beginner

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Text and decisions form the foundation of every application. Python represents text with str and truth values with bool.

String literals and quotes

String (str) is the type for text. You write it between single or double quotes, and it can hold letters, digits, spaces and symbols.

In Python, you can enclose strings in single quotes '...' or double quotes "...". Both create identical string objects.

Python

city = 'Bengaluru'role = "Software Engineer"print(city)print(role)

Example 1 · A quote inside text

Python

message = "It's ready"print(message)print(type(message))

Output

It's ready
<class 'str'>

What this code does

Double quotes let the text contain a single quote.
type shows str, because the value is text.

Using double quotes lets you include single quotes inside the text (such as "It's ready") without escaping.

Multiline text with triple quotes

When you need text spanning multiple lines or docstrings, enclose it with triple quotes """...""".

Python

message = """Invoice Summary:- Status: Paid- Total: 4500"""print(message)

Triple-quoted strings preserve line breaks and indentation exactly as typed.

Boolean type: True and False

Boolean (bool) is the type with exactly two values, True and False. Both are written with a capital first letter.

Python's bool type has exactly two values: True and False. Notice that both start with a capital letter.

Python

is_admin = Truehas_passed = Falseprint(is_admin)print(type(is_admin))

Writing lowercase true or false produces a NameError because Python is case-sensitive.

Truthiness: truthy and falsy values

Truthiness is whether a value counts as True or False when Python needs a yes or no answer. Zero, empty text and None count as False; most other values count as True.

Every object in Python has an inherent boolean truth value. Use bool() to evaluate an object's truthiness.

Python

print(bool(0))print(bool(42))print(bool(""))print(bool("MentorNxt"))

Example 2 · Checking an account

Python

1user_name = "Priya"2is_verified = True3login_attempts = 04
5print(user_name)6print(is_verified)7print(bool(login_attempts))8print(bool(user_name))

Output

Priya
True
False
True

What this code does

user_name holds a string.
is_verified holds a boolean True.
login_attempts is 0, which evaluates to False.
user_name is non-empty, which evaluates to True.

Example 3 · The text "False" is still true

Python

flag_text = "False"print(bool(flag_text))print(bool(""))

Output

True
False

What this code does

Any non-empty string is truthy, whatever it says.
Only the empty string "" is falsy.
To get a real boolean, write False without quotes.

Falsy values include 0, 0.0, empty strings "", empty lists [], and None. Everything else is truthy.

Next step

Check your understanding

9 quick questions