# Line of code not working as expected

> Source: <https://discourse.haskell.org/t/line-of-code-not-working-as-expected/14435#post_8>
> Published: 2026-07-20 10:34:14+00:00

i have a line of code which doesn’t work as i expect it too:

parentspermission x y = if x && y == False then print(“no”) else print (“yes”)

when i run parentspermission False False in ghci it gives me “yes” instead of “no” as it should be when false && false is false

this may not be worth mentioning but i am a beginner to haskell ive had some experience in python before and i am against using ai to learn haskell, i want to do it the old school way

a little addition is that when i ran parentspermission True False i got “no” as expected but when i ran parentspermission False True i somehow got “yes”

Check the precedences of `(&&)`

and `(==)`

. Neither function is magical in the language.

my understanding of this is the order i place && and ==, i would have usually placed a singlar equal sign after x && y but this isnt possible as a single equal sign is used to define functions.

The fix was to put x && y in parenthesis like so, (x && y) == False.

Noting that you are new to Haskell, you do not need `( )`

around the `"no"`

and `"yes"`

values. To apply a function `f :: a -> b`

to `x :: a`

, you write `f x`

. Accordingly, you can write `print "no"`

.

Also, here, if you want Haskell code to be presented nicely, you can put it between ‘fences’ (each on their own lines) before and after the code `~~~haskell`

(opening fence) and `~~~`

(closing fence). For example:

``` php
parentspermission :: Bool -> Bool -> IO ()
parentspermission x y = if (x && y) == False then print “no” else print “yes”
```

A second also: `print "no"`

is equivalent to `putStrLn (show "no")`

. As `"no"`

is a `String`

, it may be that you do not actually want to output `show "no"`

but simply `"no"`

. That is because:

```
> show "no" == "\"no\""
True
```

(where `\"`

is an escaped double quote character in a Haskell string).

I’d also add to this that I’d probably usually write `if not (x && y) then ... else ...`

instead of `(x && y) == False`

in the conditional.

Edit: Also, welcome to Haskell

Building on [@slow-dive](/u/slow-dive) 's suggestion, there is a helpful (non-AI) tool named `hlint`

:

which can help you learn by thinking through its suggestions.

For example, if you put your code in a module:

``` php
module MyModule
  ( parentspermission
  ) where

parentspermission :: Bool -> Bool -> IO ()
parentspermission x y = if (x && y) == False then print ("no") else print ("yes")
```

and command `hlint MyModule`

, it offers up (but in colour):

```
MyModule.hs:6:28-44: Suggestion: Redundant ==
Found:
  (x && y) == False
Perhaps:
  not (x && y)

MyModule.hs:6:57-62: Warning: Redundant bracket
Found:
  ("no")
Perhaps:
  "no"

MyModule.hs:6:75-81: Warning: Redundant bracket
Found:
  ("yes")
Perhaps:
  "yes"

3 hints
```

Thx i will check this out