[docs] [issue22843] doc error: 6.2.4. Match Objects

[Terry J. Reedy]

Terry J. Reedy added the comment:

David is correct that the current phrasing is correct.  The phase 'x has a boolean value of True' means 'bool(x) is True', which is always true for match objects, as well as for non-zero numbers, non-empty collections, and many other things.  This does *not* imply equality between the object and its boolean value.  In fact, nearly all objects are not equal to their boolean value.  Clayton could just as well as have written "blah = 'a'" or "blah = 1 + 1j" and gotten the name non-surprising result.

There is nothing special about boolean values in this respect.  The string value of x is str(x) and in general, x != str(x).  (This also sometimes confuses people.)  Similarly, if x has an integral value int(x), it does not necessarily equal that value: int(3.1459) != 3.

I think the doc is fine as is.  The fact that "3 is considered to be '3' in a display context" does not mean that we do not write "the string value of 3 is '3'".  It is fundamental to Python that essentially all objects o have a string value str(o) and a boolean value bool(o) and that those mappings are sometimes used automatically for display and logic.

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nosy: +terry.reedy

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