Does '!=' equivelent to 'is not'

[Erik Max Francis]

pirata wrote:

> I'm a bit confusing about whether "is not" equivelent to "!="
> 
> if a != b:
>   ...
> 
> if a is not b:
>   ...
> 
> 
> What's the difference between "is not" and "!=" or they are the same thing?

The `==` operator tests equality.  The `is` operator tests identity.

If you don't specifically intend to test for identity, use `==`.  If you 
don't know what identity tests are for (with the exception of testing 
for None-ness), then you don't need it.

-- 
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