Ternary conditional expression in Python - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of nested ternary conditional expression

What is the output of this Python code?

Python

x = 5
y = 10
result = 'A' if x > y else 'B' if x == y else 'C'
print(result)

A B

B A

C C

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

Remember how chained ternary expressions evaluate from left to right.

The expression checks if x > y (5 > 10) which is False, then checks if x == y (5 == 10) which is also False, so it returns 'C'.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Ternary expression with function calls

What will be printed by this code?

Python

def f():
    return 1

def g():
    return 2

value = f() if False else g()
print(value)

A 2

B 1

C None

D TypeError

💡 Hint

The condition is False, so the else part runs.

Since the condition is False, the else part calls g() which returns 2.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Ternary expression with side effects

What is the output of this code snippet?

Python

x = 0
result = (x := x + 1) if True else (x := x + 2)
print(x, result)

A SyntaxError

B 2 2

C 1 2

D 1 1

💡 Hint

The walrus operator assigns and returns the value.

The condition is True, so (x := x + 1) runs, x becomes 1 and result is 1.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Ternary expression with different data types

What will this code print?

Python

value = 10
result = 'Even' if value % 2 == 0 else 0
print(type(result))

A SyntaxError

B <class 'str'>

C TypeError

D <class 'int'>

💡 Hint

The ternary expression returns either a string or an integer.

Since 10 is even, the expression returns 'Even' which is a string, so type(result) is .

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Understanding ternary expression evaluation order

Consider the expression:

result = 'X' if False else 'Y' if True else 'Z'

What is the value of result after this runs?

A 'Y'

B 'X'

C 'Z'

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

Ternary expressions are evaluated left to right, and else can contain another ternary.

The first condition is False, so it evaluates the else part which is another ternary: 'Y' if True else 'Z'. Since True is True, it returns 'Y'.