if not Statement in Python

The if statement in Python checks a specific condition and executes a code block if the condition is true.

The if not does the opposite of the if statement. It tests if a condition is false and then execute some statements.

The use of the if not statement improves the readability of the code and can directly execute some statements for conditions returning False.

The following code will help in explaining its use.

x = 5
if not x > 10:
    print("False")

Output:

False

Since x > 10 is False, the code gets executed.

Similar to the if statement, it can have multiple conditions, and we can also use it with the else keyword to create if-else blocks.

The if not statement can also be used to check if a data collection like a list, a dictionary is empty or not. In Python, if a variable or object is 0 or empty, then it is considered false. See the following example.

lst = []
if not lst:
    print("Empty")

Output:

Empty

Similarly, its use can extend to other conditions like checking if something is not present in a collection. For example, we can use the if not with the in keyword to execute some statements if an element is not present in a list, as shown below.

lst = [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]
if not 4 in lst:
    print("All Okay")
else:
    print("Not Okay")

Output:

All Okay