python / python/cpython

Behavior change for `foo and 1 or 2`: 3.12 newly converts `foo` to bool twice

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3.14 docs interpreter-core type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

We noticed a behavior change between 3.11 and 3.12. The following code calls Foo.__bool__ once in 3.11 and twice in 3.12. Consequently for this contrived example, the expression evaluates to different results in 3.11 and 3.12.

class Foo:
    def __init__(self):
        self._a = True
    def __bool__(self):
        self._a = not self._a
        print(f"Foo.__bool__ -> {self._a}")
        return self._a

Foo() and "a string" or 42

In Python 3.11:

>>> Foo() and "a string" or 42
Foo.__bool__ -> False
42

In Python 3.12 (and 3.13.0b2):

>>> Foo() and "a string" or 42
Foo.__bool__ -> False
Foo.__bool__ -> True
<__main__.Foo object at 0x7f0ae554c1a0>

Is this change intentional?

Note that I'm not necessarily asking to change this. We should arguably change the code to "a string" if Foo() else 42, which evaluates the same in 3.11 and 3.12.

CPython versions tested on:

3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Linked PRs
  • gh-124394
  • gh-124723

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Run the provided Foo.__bool__ reproducer on Python 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13, then review linked PRs gh-124394 and gh-124723 for the current direction. Done means the behavior change is resolved or explicitly documented with regression coverage and the expected result is clear.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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