---
title: Use isna instead of isnull
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Static Code Analysis (SAST) > SAST
  Rules > Use isna instead of isnull
---

# Use isna instead of isnull

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## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**ID:** `python-pandas/isna-instead-of-isnull`

**Language:** Python

**Severity:** Notice

**Category:** Best Practices

## Description{% #description %}

The functions `isna` and `isnull` are similar. However, this is a best practice to use `isna` since other methods use the same naming patterns.

#### Learn More{% #learn-more %}

- [Pandas isna() and isnull(), what is the difference?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52086574/pandas-isna-and-isnull-what-is-the-difference)

## Non-Compliant Code Examples{% #non-compliant-code-examples %}

```python
nulls = pd.isnull(val)  # prefer using isna
```

## Compliant Code Examples{% #compliant-code-examples %}

```python
nas = pd.isna(val)
```
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