Python if not == vs if !=

What is the difference between these two lines of code:

if not x == 'val':

and

if x != 'val':

Is one more efficient than the other?

Would it be better to use

if x == 'val':
    pass
else:

Answer

Using dis to look at the bytecode generated for the two versions:

not ==

  4           0 LOAD_FAST                0 (foo)
              3 LOAD_FAST                1 (bar)
              6 COMPARE_OP               2 (==)
              9 UNARY_NOT           
             10 RETURN_VALUE   

!=

  4           0 LOAD_FAST                0 (foo)
              3 LOAD_FAST                1 (bar)
              6 COMPARE_OP               3 (!=)
              9 RETURN_VALUE   

The latter has fewer operations, and is therefore likely to be slightly more efficient.

---

It was pointed out in the commments (thanks, @Quincunx) that where you have if foo != bar vs. if not foo == bar the number of operations is exactly the same, it’s just that the COMPARE_OP changes and POP_JUMP_IF_TRUE switches to POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE:

not ==:

  2           0 LOAD_FAST                0 (foo)
              3 LOAD_FAST                1 (bar)
              6 COMPARE_OP               2 (==)
              9 POP_JUMP_IF_TRUE        16

!=

  2           0 LOAD_FAST                0 (foo)
              3 LOAD_FAST                1 (bar)
              6 COMPARE_OP               3 (!=)
              9 POP_JUMP_IF_FALSE       16

In this case, unless there was a difference in the amount of work required for each comparison, it’s unlikely you’d see any performance difference at all.

---

However, note that the two versions won’t always be logically identical, as it will depend on the implementations of __eq__ and __ne__ for the objects in question. Per the data model documentation:

There are no implied relationships among the comparison operators. The truth of x==y does not imply that x!=y is false.

For example:

>>> class Dummy(object):
    def __eq__(self, other):
        return True
    def __ne__(self, other):
        return True


>>> not Dummy() == Dummy()
False
>>> Dummy() != Dummy()
True

---

Finally, and perhaps most importantly: in general, where the two are logically identical, x != y is much more readable than not x == y.