Python elif Statement

What If We Have More Than Two Choices?

In the last article, we learned about if-else. It gives us two paths. One for true. One for false.

But life is not always that simple.

Think about grades.

• 90 or above: A
• 80 to 89: B
• 70 to 79: C
• 60 to 69: D
• Below 60: F

That is five possibilities. Not two.

How do we handle that in Python?

That is where elif comes in.

What Is elif in Python?

elif is short for “else if.”

It lets us check multiple conditions. One after another. Until one of them is true.

Think of it like a series of questions.

• Is it A? No.
• Is it B? No.
• Is it C? Yes! Do this.
• Stop checking.

That is how elif works.

The Structure of if-elif-else in Python

if condition1:
    # do this if condition1 is true
elif condition2:
    # do this if condition1 is false and condition2 is true
elif condition3:
    # do this if condition1 and condition2 are false and condition3 is true
else:
    # do this if all conditions are false

We can have as many elif as we want. And the else at the end is optional.

Let me show us a real example.

A Simple Python elif Example

Let’s check if a number is positive, negative, or zero.

number = 0

if number > 0:
    print("The number is positive")
elif number < 0:
    print("The number is negative")
else:
    print("The number is zero")

The number is zero

Let me explain what happened.

• First, it checked number > 0. Is 0 greater than 0? No. So it skipped.
• Then it checked number < 0. Is 0 less than 0? No. So it skipped.
• Then it went to else. Since no other condition was true, it ran the else block.

Now if number was 5:

number = 5

if number > 0:
    print("The number is positive")
elif number < 0:
    print("The number is negative")
else:
    print("The number is zero")

The number is positive

Because 5 > 0 is True. So the first block ran. And Python skipped the rest.

That is the key thing about elif. Once one condition is true, Python stops checking the rest.

Python elif: A Real-Life Example — Grades

Let’s use the grade example.

score = 85

if score >= 90:
    print("Grade: A")
elif score >= 80:
    print("Grade: B")
elif score >= 70:
    print("Grade: C")
elif score >= 60:
    print("Grade: D")
else:
    print("Grade: F")

Grade: B

Because 85 is not >= 90. But it is >= 80. So it stopped there. And printed Grade B.

Now if score was 95:

score = 95

Grade: A

Because 95 >= 90 is True. So it stopped at the first check.

And if score was 45:

score = 45

Grade: F

Because none of the conditions were true. So the else block ran.

Order Matters in Python elif

This is very important.

The order of our conditions matters. Python checks them from top to bottom. And it stops at the first true one.

Look at this:

score = 85

if score >= 60:
    print("Grade: D")
elif score >= 70:
    print("Grade: C")
elif score >= 80:
    print("Grade: B")
elif score >= 90:
    print("Grade: A")
else:
    print("Grade: F")

What will this print?

If we said “Grade: D”, we are right.

Because 85 >= 60 is True. So Python stops there. It never checks the other conditions.

But that is wrong. 85 should be a B, not a D.

So we must put the highest condition first. Or the most specific condition first.

Correct order:

if score >= 90:
    print("Grade: A")
elif score >= 80:
    print("Grade: B")
elif score >= 70:
    print("Grade: C")
elif score >= 60:
    print("Grade: D")
else:
    print("Grade: F")

Now it works correctly.

Let’s always think about the order. Put the strictest condition first.

Python elif: Another Example — Days of the Week

day = 3

if day == 1:
    print("Monday")
elif day == 2:
    print("Tuesday")
elif day == 3:
    print("Wednesday")
elif day == 4:
    print("Thursday")
elif day == 5:
    print("Friday")
elif day == 6:
    print("Saturday")
elif day == 7:
    print("Sunday")
else:
    print("Invalid day number")

Wednesday

If day was 10, output would be:

Invalid day number

Because none of the conditions matched. So the else block ran.

Python elif with input()

Let’s build a simple age classifier.

age = int(input("Enter your age: "))

if age < 0:
    print("Invalid age")
elif age < 13:
    print("You are a child")
elif age < 20:
    print("You are a teenager")
elif age < 60:
    print("You are an adult")
else:
    print("You are a senior")

If we enter 25, output is:

You are an adult

If we enter 8, output is:

You are a child

If we enter -5, output is:

Invalid age

See how each condition handles a different range? That is the power of elif.

We Do Not Always Need else

The else block is optional. We can have just if and elif.

score = 75

if score >= 90:
    print("Excellent")
elif score >= 70:
    print("Good")
elif score >= 50:
    print("Average")

If score is 30, nothing prints. Because none of the conditions are true. And there is no else.

That is fine. Sometimes we do not need a fallback.

How Many elif Can We Have?

As many as we want.

We can have one if. Then ten elif. Then one else.

But if we have too many, our code becomes hard to read. In that case, we might want to use a different approach. We will learn about that later.

For now, let’s just know that elif can be repeated as many times as we need.

Common Mistakes with Python elif

if score >= 90:
    print("A")
else if score >= 80:
    print("B")

elif score >= 80:

if score >= 60:
    print("D")
elif score >= 90:
    print("A")

if score >= 90:
    print("A")
elif score >= 60:
    print("D")

elif score >= 80
    print("B")

elif score >= 80:
    print("B")

elif score >= 80:
print("B")

elif score >= 80:
    print("B")

A Complete Python elif Example

Let’s build a simple calculator that handles different operations.

num1 = float(input("Enter first number: "))
num2 = float(input("Enter second number: "))
operation = input("Enter operation (+, -, *, /): ")

if operation == "+":
    result = num1 + num2
    print(f"Result: {result}")
elif operation == "-":
    result = num1 - num2
    print(f"Result: {result}")
elif operation == "*":
    result = num1 * num2
    print(f"Result: {result}")
elif operation == "/":
    if num2 == 0:
        print("Cannot divide by zero")
    else:
        result = num1 / num2
        print(f"Result: {result}")
else:
    print("Invalid operation")

This uses if, elif, else, and even a nested if inside one of the elif blocks.

Let’s run it with different inputs. See how it behaves.

Next, we will learn about Python Nested Conditions and place one decision inside another.