How do I properly condense this Python IF statement?

Question

I am pretty new to Python, and trying to find a better way to code this. There has to be a way but just not sure how to do it.

The two queries are essentially the same, so there has to be a way to reduce. Is there a more efficient way to do this?

        if set_date is not None:

            if is_rejected != 'true':
                query = query\
                    .filter(createddate__lte=set_date) \
                    .car_statuses(CarTow.TOWED) \
                    .order_by('-createddate')
            else:
                query = query\
                    .filter(createddate__lte=set_date) \
                    .car_statuses(CarTow.TOWED,CarTow.CONFIRMED) \
                    .order_by('-createddate')

            return query

Sorry if this is a simple question, newbie here.

Answer 1

You can simplify by pulling the argument that differs into the if-statement & putting the common stuff outside.

if set_date is not None:
       if is_rejected != 'true':
             car_statuses = (CarTow.TOWED,)
       else:
             car_statuses = (CarTow.TOWED, CarTow.CONFIRMED)

       query = query\
           .filter(createddate__lte=set_date) \
           .car_statuses(*car_statuses) \
           .order_by('-createddate')
      return query

Answer 2

You can use ternary logic to add the tuples.

query = (
    query
    .filter(createddate__lte = set_date) 
    .car_statuses((CarTow.TOWED,) + ((CarTow.CONFIRMED,) if is_rejected == 'true' else ()) 
    .order_by('-createddate')
)

Answer 3

You probably want to replace this:

if set_date is not None:

with this:

if set_date:

Take a look at how Python evaluates the if conditional: Truth Value Testing (pydocs)

Here are most of the built-in objects considered false: constants defined to be false: None and False. zero of any numeric type: 0, 0.0, 0j, Decimal(0), Fraction(0, 1) empty sequences and collections: '', (), [], {}, set(), range(0)

Also, 'is' can give some strange results, it's really for determining if two labels reference the same object or not. Understanding Python's is operator