freeCodeCamp/guide/english/python/any-iterable/index.md

title
Python Any Iterable

any() is a built-in function in Python 3 (and Python 2 since version 2.5), to check if any of the items of an iterable is True. It takes one argument, iterable.

Argument

iterable

The iterable argument is the collection whose entries are to be checked. It can typically be a list, str, dict, tuple etc., even a file object.

Return Value

The return value is a Boolean. If and only if all entries of iterable are False, or the iterable is empty; it returns False. This function essentially performs a Boolean OR operation over all elements.

If even one of them is True, it returns True.

The any() operation is equivalent to (internally, may not be implemented exactly like this)

def any(iterable):
    for element in iterable:
        if element:
            return True
    return False

Code Sample

print(any([])) #=> False
print(any({})) #=> False
print(any([None])) #=> False
print(any(['', {}, 0])) #=> False
print(any([6, 7])) #=> True
print(any([6, 7, None])) #=> True
print(any([0, 6, 7])) #=> True
print(any([9, 8, [1, 2]])) #=> True

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