Most idiomatic way to convert None to empty string?
idioms, python, string
Solution
If you actually want your function to behave like the `str()` built-in, but return an empty string when the argument is None, do this:
def xstr(s):
if s is None:
return ''
return str(s)
Problem
What is the most idiomatic way to do the following? ``` def xstr(s): if s is None: return '' else: return s s = xstr(a) + xstr(b) ``` update: I'm incorporating Tryptich's suggestion to use str(s), which makes this routine work for other types besides strings. I'm awfully impressed by Vinay Sajip's lambda suggestion, but I want to keep my code relatively simple. ``` def xstr(s): if s is None: return '' else: return str(s) ```