Python : Why does False or 'name' returns 'name' and not False?

Question

AFAIK :

and, or are boolean operators and any boolean expression should return a boolean.

So, why does this happens :

• False or 'name' returns 'name' and not True
• True and '' returns '' and not False

Please explain, how does python handles boolean expressions ?

Answer 1

No, in python the or and and operations short circuit and return the last evaluated item.

See Boolean operations:

The expression x and y first evaluates x; if x is false, its value is returned; otherwise, y is evaluated and the resulting value is returned.

The expression x or y first evaluates x; if x is true, its value is returned; otherwise, y is evaluated and the resulting value is returned.

If you must have a boolean value, use bool():

>>> bool(False or 'name')
True