How can I check if a variable exists in multiple lists?

Question

Here's an excerpt from my code!

division = ["Division","Divide","/","div"]
multiplication =["*","x","times","multiply","multiplication","multiple"]
subtraction = ["-",'minus','subtract','subtraction']
addition = ['+','plus','addition','add']
root = ['root','squareroot','square root']
square = ['square','squared','power 2']

choice = input('calculation type')
print(choice == (division or multiplication or subtraction or addition))

So far, it only gives "False". How can I check if a variable exists in multiple lists? I've tried to make lists inside of lists but I still get "False", Here's the code of that...

division = ["Division","Divide","/","div"]
multiplication = ["*","x","times","multiply","multiplication","multiple"]
subtraction = ["-",'minus','subtract','subtraction']
addition = ['+','plus','addition','add']
root = ['root','squareroot','square root']
square = ['square','squared','power 2']
basic_double = [division,multiplication,subtraction,addition]
basic_single = [root,square]
choice = input('calculation type')
print(choice == basic_double or basic_single)

Any help would be appreciated! :D thank you!!!

Answer 1

Test whether the choice is in any of the lists:

any(choice in ls for ls in [division, multiplication, subtraction, addition])

any returns True if at least one of the elements of the given iterable are truthy.

choice in ls tests whether choice is an element of the list.

choice in ls for ls in [division, multiplication, subtraction, addition] is a generator comprehension, meaning it's an iterator that returns the result of choice in ls for any possible ls in [division, multiplication, subtraction, addition].

If one of those lists contains the choice, any will return True, False otherwise.