If statement question help

[Larz60+]

guard will always be True if you type anything for input("True or false the guard is present on the gate")

Correct. didn't pay attention to input statement.

Normally a boolean value is implicitly set:
guard = True
or
guard = False
Then can be used as conditional.

>>> def where_is_guard():
...     if guard:
...         print(f"guard is present")
...     else:
...         print("guard is away")
... 
>>> guard = True
>>> where_is_guard()
guard is present
>>> guard = False
>>> where_is_guard()
guard is away
>>>