Discord.py IF statement not passing? - discord

Question

I feel like this is an easy fix but I can't figure out why I'm getting this response.
I set each if statement to have a unique error message so I can see where the error is.
Every time I run $setbirthday 05/03 in my server I get the "Invalid month specified!" while the first index of my argument (0) would seemingly pass this.
Here is the code:
class BirthdayCog(commands.Cog):
def __init__(self, bot):
self.bot = bot
#commands.command(pass_context=true)
async def setbirthday(self, ctx, args):
user = ctx.author
role = discord.utils.get(ctx.guild.roles, name="Creator")
if role in user.roles:
if args != '':
# If it's an actual month (index 0)
if args[0] != 0 or args[0] != 1:
await ctx.send("Invalid month specified!")
else:
# If it's an actual month (index 1)
if args[1] < 0:
await ctx.send("That's not a valid month!")
elif args[1] <= 9:
# If they separated month/day using "/"
if args[2] != "/":
await ctx.send("You have to specify your birthday like `MM/DD`!")
else:
# If it's an actual day (index 0)
if args[3] > 3:
await ctx.send("Invalid day specified!")
elif args[3] < 0:
await ctx.send("That isn't a day!")
else:
# If it's an actual day (index 1)
if args[4] < 0:
await ctx.send("Incorrect day!")
else:
# Make sure there's no extra numbers
if args[5] != '':
await ctx.send("Make sure it's just `MM/DD`!")
else:
birthday = args[0] + '' + args[1] + '' + "/" + args[3] + '' + args[4]
await ctx.send("Your birthday has been registered as: " + "`" + str(birthday) + "`" + "!")
else:
await ctx.send("Error!")
else:
await ctx.send("Set your birthday by doing `$setbirthday MM/DD`")
else:
await ctx.send("You don't have the required role to set your birthday!")

Answer 1

There are two main problems in your code :
You should use guard clauses instead of nesting if statements, it'll make your code easier to read and understand
You can use string.split() instead of having to comment what each index corresponds to, it also simplifies your conditions.
You then obtain this code:
#commands.command()
async def setbirthday(self, ctx, arg):
user = ctx.author
role = discord.utils.get(ctx.guild.roles, name="Creator")
if role not in user.roles:
return await ctx.send("You don't have the required role to set your birthday!")
if len(arg.split('/')) != 2:
return await ctx.send("You have to specify your birthday like `MM/DD`!")
month, day = arg.split("/")
if not month.isdigit() or not 1 <= int(month) <= 12:
return await ctx.send("Invalid month specified!")
if not day.isdigit() or not 1 <= int(day) <= 31:
return await ctx.send("Invalid day specified!")
await ctx.send(f"Your birthday has been registered as: {month}/{day}!")

Answer 2

Few things.
Problem #1: It seems that args[0] here would be a string, namely args[0] = '05/03'. The args are split by spaces (args = the arguments passed by the discord user excluding $setbirthday, and split by space). In order to extract the first character, you would need to do args[0][0]. Which would lead us to the next problem.
Problem #2: The if args[0] != 0 or args[0] != 1: is circular in essence. The way that the or operator works is that it checks if a is true OR if b is true, then proceed into the if statement. These conditions are independent of one another. Suppose that the input is the integer (number) 1. Then before your if statement can even get to or args[0] != 1, it has already triggered if args[0] != 0. After all, 0 != 1 . The correct operator here is and.
Problem #3: As I mentioned in #1, args[0] is a string and args[0][0] is a character. Your if statement is, in essence, checking if: '0' != 0. they are indeed not the same, so the if statement would still activate. You can either convert the character in args[0][0] to an integer (if int(args[0][0]) != 0) or you can compare args[0][0] to the character '0': (if args[0][0] != '0').
To sum all of that up, try this instead:
#String/Character Comparison
if (args[0][0] != '0') and (args[0][0] != '1'):
#Int Comparison
if (int(args[0][0]) != 0) and (int(args[0][0]) != 1):