"x not in" vs. "not x in"

When you write a not in b it is using the not in operator, whereas not a in b uses the in operator and then negates the result. But the not in operator is defined to return the same as not a in b so they do exactly the same thing. From the documentation:

The operators in and not in test for collection membership. x in s evaluates to true if x is a member of the collection s, and false otherwise. x not in s returns the negation of x in s.

Similarly there is a is not b versus not a is b.

The extra syntax was added because it makes it easier for a human to read it naturally.

not x in L isn't explicitly disallowed because that would be silly. x not in L is explicitly allowed (though it compiles to the same bytecode) because it's more readable.

x not in L is what everyone uses, though.

The two forms make identical bytecode, as you can clearly verify:

>>> import dis
>>> dis.dis(compile('if x not in d: pass', '', 'exec'))
  1           0 LOAD_NAME                0 (x)
              3 LOAD_NAME                1 (d)
              6 COMPARE_OP               7 (not in)
              9 JUMP_IF_FALSE            4 (to 16)
             12 POP_TOP             
             13 JUMP_FORWARD             1 (to 17)
        >>   16 POP_TOP             
        >>   17 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
             20 RETURN_VALUE        
>>> dis.dis(compile('if not x in d: pass', '', 'exec'))
  1           0 LOAD_NAME                0 (x)
              3 LOAD_NAME                1 (d)
              6 COMPARE_OP               7 (not in)
              9 JUMP_IF_FALSE            4 (to 16)
             12 POP_TOP             
             13 JUMP_FORWARD             1 (to 17)
        >>   16 POP_TOP             
        >>   17 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
             20 RETURN_VALUE        

so obviously they're semantically identical.

As a matter of style, PEP 8 does not mention the issue.

Personally, I strongly prefer the if x not in y form -- that makes it immediately clear that not in is a single operator, and "reads like English". if not x in y may mislead some readers into thinking it means if (not x) in y, reads a bit less like English, and has absolutely no compensating advantages.

>>> dis.dis(lambda: a not in b)
1           0 LOAD_GLOBAL              0 (a)
          3 LOAD_GLOBAL              1 (b)
          6 COMPARE_OP               7 (not in)
          9 RETURN_VALUE      

>>> dis.dis(lambda: not a in b)
1           0 LOAD_GLOBAL              0 (a)
          3 LOAD_GLOBAL              1 (b)
          6 COMPARE_OP               7 (not in)
          9 RETURN_VALUE  

when you do "not a in b" it will need be converted for (not in)

so, the right way is "a not in b".