Python ForLoop Input - python

Basically I have to create a function where I input 2 arguments:
the first one being a letter (i.e 'i')
the second one being a list (i.e ['trees', 'iron', 'cars', 'indian'])
my function should return every item in the list that begins with the same letter in my first argument.
so for I have:
def match_first_letter(G, F):
for i in F:
if i.F[0] == G:
return F
where G is the first letter and F is the list
I keep getting:
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'L'
Is there anything specific that I am doing wrong?

First look at the line:
for i in F:
Here, you can access one element of F through i at a time.
So, you should use i[0] (first digit of i) rather than i.F[0].
Secondly,
You are returning the list, not the matched value.
If you correct it, still you only have the first match even if you have multiple match.
That's because, you are returning immediately after first match.
You can achieve your expected output with a list comprehension.
def match_first_letter(G, F):
return [i for i in F if i[0]==G]

Inside the loop you can say:
if i.startswith(G):
yield i
You can call this function as:
matches = list(match_first_letter(F, G))

First of all, you might do better to name variables sensibly. Instead of G and F, how about letter and strings? Your code is thus this:
def match_first_letter(letter, strings):
for current_string in strings:
if current_string.strings[0] == letter:
return strings
In this case, the error that you have been seeing will instead say AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'strings'. Note that this matches the current_string.strings command.
current_string[0] is what you actually want to be testing against matching letter, as that is the first letter of the string current_string.
Finally, you're currently returning the list. Instead, you should add current_string to a list to be returned.
def match_first_letter(letter, strings):
matched_strings = []
for current_string in strings:
if current_string[0] == letter:
matched_strings.append(current_string)
return matched_strings
Python actually has something called list comprehensions which can do this kind of thing much more easily.
def match_first_letter(letter, strings):
return [string_x for string_x in strings if string_x[0] == letter]
I'd recommend reading up on list comprehensions at the above link.

Since you're already saying for i in F: you can just say if i[0] == G. That is, access the zeroth element of i.
I believe you're trying to return iron and indian in the above example. See if something like this works for you.
arg1 = 'i'
arg2 = ['trees', 'iron', 'cars', 'indian']
def match_first_letter(G, F):
for i in F:
if i[0] == G:
print(i)
match_first_letter(arg1, arg2)

Related

how to recursively create nested list from string input

So, I would like to convert my string input
'f(g,h(a,b),a,b(g,h))'
into the following list
['f',['g','h',['a','b'],'a','b',['g','h']]]
Essentially, I would like to replace all '(' into [ and all ')' into ].
I have unsuccessfully tried to do this recursively. I thought I would iterate through all the variables through my word and then when I hit a '(' I would create a new list and start extending the values into that newest list. If I hit a ')', I would stop extending the values into the newest list and append the newest list to the closest outer list. But I am very new to recursion, so I am struggling to think of how to do it
word='f(a,f(a))'
empty=[]
def newlist(word):
listy=[]
for i, letter in enumerate(word):
if letter=='(':
return newlist([word[i+1:]])
if letter==')':
listy.append(newlist)
else:
listy.extend(letter)
return empty.append(listy)
Assuming your input is something like this:
a = 'f,(g,h,(a,b),a,b,(g,h))'
We start by splitting it into primitive parts ("tokens"). Since your tokens are always a single symbol, this is rather easy:
tokens = list(a)
Now we need two functions to work with the list of tokens: next_token tells us which token we're about to process and pop_token marks a token as processed and removes it from the list:
def next_token():
return tokens[0] if tokens else None
def pop_token():
tokens.pop(0)
Your input consist of "items", separated by a comma. Schematically, it can be expressed as
items = item ( ',' item )*
In the python code, we first read one item and then keep reading further items while the next token is a comma:
def items():
result = [item()]
while next_token() == ',':
pop_token()
result.append(item())
return result
An "item" is either a sublist in parentheses or a letter:
def item():
return sublist() or letter()
To read a sublist, we check if the token is a '(', the use items above the read the content and finally check for the ')' and panic if it is not there:
def sublist():
if next_token() == '(':
pop_token()
result = items()
if next_token() == ')':
pop_token()
return result
raise SyntaxError()
letter simply returns the next token. You might want to add some checks here to make sure it's indeed a letter:
def letter():
result = next_token()
pop_token()
return result
You can organize the above code like this: have one function parse that accepts a string and returns a list and put all functions above inside this function:
def parse(input_string):
def items():
...
def sublist():
...
...etc
tokens = list(input_string)
return items()
Quite an interesting question, and one I originally misinterpreted. But now this solution works accordingly. Note that I have used list concatenation + operator for this solution (which you usually want to avoid) so feel free to improve upon it however you see fit.
Good luck, and I hope this helps!
# set some global values, I prefer to keep it
# as a set incase you need to add functionality
# eg if you also want {{a},b} or [ab<c>ed] to work
OPEN_PARENTHESIS = set(["("])
CLOSE_PARENTHESIS = set([")"])
SPACER = set([","])
def recursive_solution(input_str, index):
# base case A: when index exceeds or equals len(input_str)
if index >= len(input_str):
return [], index
char = input_str[index]
# base case B: when we reach a closed parenthesis stop this level of recursive depth
if char in CLOSE_PARENTHESIS:
return [], index
# do the next recursion, return it's value and the index it stops at
recur_val, recur_stop_i = recursive_solution(input_str, index + 1)
# with an open parenthesis, we want to continue the recursion after it's associated
# closed parenthesis. and also the recur_val should be within a new dimension of the list
if char in OPEN_PARENTHESIS:
continued_recur_val, continued_recur_stop_i = recursive_solution(input_str, recur_stop_i + 1)
return [recur_val] + continued_recur_val, continued_recur_stop_i
# for spacers eg "," we just ignore it
if char in SPACER:
return recur_val, recur_stop_i
# and finally with normal characters, we just extent it
return [char] + recur_val, recur_stop_i
You can get the expected answer using the following code but it's still in string format and not a list.
import re
a='(f(g,h(a,b),a,b(g,h))'
ans=[]
sub=''
def rec(i,sub):
if i>=len(a):
return sub
if a[i]=='(':
if i==0:
sub=rec(i+1,sub+'[')
else:
sub=rec(i+1,sub+',[')
elif a[i]==')':
sub=rec(i+1,sub+']')
else:
sub=rec(i+1,sub+a[i])
return sub
b=rec(0,'')
print(b)
b=re.sub(r"([a-z]+)", r"'\1'", b)
print(b,type(b))
Output
[f,[g,h,[a,b],a,b,[g,h]]
['f',['g','h',['a','b'],'a','b',['g','h']] <class 'str'>

Why isn't my alternate string replacement method working?

I got a working solution to this question with my second attempt. But I'm wondering why the first option doesn't work as well.
The question is:
Complete the function to replace the word test with cat and print the new string
my code (working solution):
def replaceTest(mystring):
answer = mystring.replace("test", "cat")
print(answer)
replaceTest('This is a test')
# output:
# This is a cat
my code (solution that doesn't work):
def replaceTest(mystring):
stringSplit = mystring.split()
for i in stringSplit:
if i == 'test':
i = 'cat'
answer = " ".join(stringSplit)
print(answer)
print(replaceTest('This is a test'))
# output:
# This is a test
# None
I can't see why it doesn't work. I think I'm iterating over each item in the list and saying if that item is test, make it cat instead. And then making the list into a string. Where did i go wrong?
With i = 'cat' you are just assigning to the loop variable, which is then discarded. You need to assign to the original strinSplit list (stringSplit[i] = 'cat') where by i is the index of stringSplit, obtained from enumerate:
def replaceTest(mystring):
stringSplit = mystring.split()
for i, word in enumerate(stringSplit):
if word == 'test':
stringSplit[i] = 'cat'
answer = " ".join(stringSplit)
print(answer)
replaceTest('This is a test')
Some improvements while still using your original logic: Having an index in a loop used to access list elements is awkward and error-prone. In this case (and many others) you can avoid it using a list comprehension instead. Also, I assume you wouldn't really want to print inside the function but instead return the modified string so you can use it further:
def replaceTest(mystring):
string_split_replace = ["cat" if word == "test" else word
for word in mystring.split()]
return " ".join(string_split_replace)
print(replaceTest('This is a test'))

python, printing longest length of string in a list

My question is to write a function which returns the longest string and ignores any non-strings, and if there are no strings in the input list, then it should return None.
my answer:
def longest_string(x):
for i in max(x, key=len):
if not type(i)==str:
continue
if
return max
longest_string(['cat', 'dog', 'horse'])
I'm a beginner so I have no idea where to start. Apologies if this is quite simple.
This is how i would do it:
def longest_string(x):
Strings = [i for i in x if isinstance(i, str)]
return(max(Strings, key=len)) if Strings else None
Based on your code:
def longest_string(x):
l = 0
r = None
for s in x:
if isinstance(s, str) and len(s) > l:
l = len(s)
r = s
return r
print(longest_string([None, 'cat', 1, 'dog', 'horse']))
# horse
def longest_string(items):
try:
return max([x for x in items if isinstance(x, str)], key=len)
except ValueError:
return None
def longest_string(items):
strings = (s for s in items if isinstance(s, str))
longest = max(strings, key=len) if strings else None
return longest
print(longest_string(['cat', 'dog', 'horse']))
Your syntax is wrong (second-to-last line: if with no condition) and you are returning max which you did not define manually. In actuality, max is a built-in Python function which you called a few lines above.
In addition, you are not looping through all strings, you are looping through the longest string. Your code should instead be
def longest_string(l):
strings = [item for item in l if type(item) == str]
if len(strings):
return max(strings, key=len)
return None
You're on a good way, you could iterate the list and check each item is the longest:
def longest_string(x)
# handle case of 0 strings
if len(x) == 0:
return None
current_longest = ""
# Iterate the strings
for i in x:
# Handle nonestring
if type(i) != str:
continue
# if the current string is longer than the longest, replace the string.
if len(i) > len(current_longest):
current_longest = i
# This condition handles multiple elements where none are strings and should return None.
if len(current_longest) > 0:
return current_longest
else:
return None
Since you are a beginner, I recommend you to start using python's built-in methods to sort and manage lists. Is the best when it comes to logic and leaves less room for bugs.
def longest_string(x):
x = filter(lambda obj: isinstance(obj, str), x)
longest = max(list(x), key=lambda obj: len(obj), default=None)
return longest
Nonetheless, you were in a good way. Just avoid using python´s keywords for variable names (such as max, type, list, etc.)
EDIT: I see a lot of answers using one-liner conditionals, list comprehension, etc. I think those are fantastic solutions, but for the level of programming the OP is at, my answer attempts to document each step of the process and be as readable as possible.
First of all, I would highly suggest defining the type of the x argument in your function.
For example; since I see you are passing a list, you can define the type like so:
def longest_string(x: list):
....
This not only makes it more readable for potential collaborators but helps enormously when creating docstrings and/or combined with using an IDE that shows type hints when writing functions.
Next, I highly suggest you break down your "specs" into some pseudocode, which is enormously helpful for taking things one step at a time:
returns the longest string
ignores any non-strings
if there are no strings in the input list, then it should return None.
So to elaborate on those "specifications" further, we can write:
Return the longest string from a list.
Ignore any element from the input arg x that is not of type str
if no string is present in the list, return None
From here we can proceed to writing the function.
def longest_string(x: list):
# Immediately verify the input is the expected type. if not, return None (or raise Exception)
if type(x) != list:
return None # input should always be a list
# create an empty list to add all strings to
str_list = []
# Loop through list
for element in x:
# check type. if not string, continue
if type(element) != str:
pass
# at this point in our loop the element has passed our type check, and is a string.
# add the element to our str_list
str_list.append(element)
# we should now have a list of strings
# however we should handle an edge case where a list is passed to the function that contains no strings at all, which would mean we now have an empty str_list. let's check that
if not str_list: # an empty list evaluates to False. if not str_list is basically saying "if str_list is empty"
return None
# if the program has not hit one of the return statements yet, we should now have a list of strings (or at least 1 string). you can check with a simple print statement (eg. print(str_list), print(len(str_list)) )
# now we can check for the longest string
# we can use the max() function for this operation
longest_string = max(str_list, key=len)
# return the longest string!
return longest_string

Why isn't my return command being obeyed?

I'm trying to write a function to return the longest common prefix from a series of strings. Using a debugger, saw that my function reaches the longest common prefix correctly, but then when it reaches the statement to return, it begins reverting to earlier stages of the algorithm.
For test case strs = ["flower","flow","flight"]
The output variable holds the following values:-
f > fl > f
instead of returning fl.
Any help would be appreciated, because I don't really know how to Google for this one. Thank you.
class Solution(object):
def longestCommonPrefix(self, strs, output = ''):
#return true if all chars in string are the same
def same(s):
return s == len(s) * s[0]
#return new list of strings with first char removed from each string
def slicer(list_, list_2 = []):
for string in list_:
string1 = string[1:]
list_2.append(string1)
return list_2
#return string containing first char from each string
def puller(list_):
s = ''
for string in list_:
s += string[0]
return s
#pull first character from each string
s = puller(strs)
#if they are the same
#add one char to output
#run again on sliced list
if same(s):
output += s[0]
self.longestCommonPrefix(slicer(strs), output)
return output
This can be handled with os.path.commonprefix.
>>> import os
>>> strs = ["flower","flow","flight"]
>>> os.path.commonprefix(strs)
'fl'
It doesn't "revert". longestCommonPrefix potentially calls itself - what you're seeing is simply the call-stack unwinding, and flow of execution is returning to the calling code (the line that invoked the call to longestCommonPrefix from which you are returning).
That being said, there's really no need to implement a recursive solution in the first place. I would suggest something like:
def get_common_prefix(strings):
def get_next_prefix_char():
for chars in zip(*strings):
if len(set(chars)) != 1:
break
yield chars[0]
return "".join(get_next_prefix_char())
print(get_common_prefix(["hello", "hey"]))
You are looking at the behavior...the final result...of recursive calls to your method. However, the recursive calls don't do anything to affect the result of the initial execution of the method. If we look at the few lines that matter at the end of your method:
if same(s):
output += s[0]
self.longestCommonPrefix(slicer(strs), output)
return output
The problem here is that since output is immutable, its value won't be changed by calling longestCommonPrefix recursively. So from the standpoint of the outermost call to longestCommonPrefix, the result it will return is determined only by if same(s) is true or false. If it is true it will return s[0], otherwise it will return ''.
The easiest way to fix this behavior and have your recursive call affect the result of the prior call to the method would be to have its return value become the value of output, like this:
if same(s):
output += s[0]
output = self.longestCommonPrefix(slicer(strs), output)
return output
This is a common code pattern when using recursion. Just this change does seem to give you the result you expect! I haven't analyzed your whole algorithm, so I don't know if it becomes "correct" with just this change.
Can you try this? I
class Solution(object):
def longestCommonPrefix(self, strs, output = ''):
#return true if all chars in string are the same
def same(s):
return s == len(s) * s[0]
#return new list of strings with first char removed from each string
def slicer(list_, list_2 = []):
for string in list_:
string1 = string[1:]
list_2.append(string1)
return list_2
#return string containing first char from each string
def puller(list_):
s = ''
for string in list_:
s += string[0]
return s
#pull first character from each string
s = puller(strs)
# Can you Try this revision?
# I think the problem is that your new version of output is being lost when the fourth called function returns to the third and the third returns to the second, etc...
# You need to calculate a new output value before you call recursively, that is true, but you also need a way to 'store' that output when that recursively called function 'returns'. Right now it disappears, I believe.
if same(s):
output += s[0]
output = self.longestCommonPrefix(slicer(strs), output)
return output

How do I find the predominant letters in a list of strings

I want to check for each position in the string what is the character that appears most often on that position. If there are more of the same frequency, keep the first one. All strings in the list are guaranteed to be of identical length!!!
I tried the following way:
print(max(((letter, strings.count(letter)) for letter in strings), key=lambda x:[1])[0])
But I get: mistul or qagic
And I can not figure out what's wrong with my code.
My list of strings looks like this:
Input: strings = ['mistul', 'aidteh', 'mhfjtr', 'zxcjer']
Output: mister
Explanation: On the first position, m appears twice. Second, i appears twice twice. Third, there is no predominant character, so we chose the first, that is, s. On the fourth position, we have t twice and j twice, but you see first t, so we stay with him, on the fifth position we have e twice and the last r twice.
Another examples:
Input: ['qagic', 'cafbk', 'twggl', 'kaqtc', 'iisih', 'mbpzu', 'pbghn', 'mzsev', 'saqbl', 'myead']
Output: magic
Input: ['sacbkt', 'tnqaex', 'vhcrhl', 'obotnq', 'vevleg', 'rljnlv', 'jdcjrk', 'zuwtee', 'xycbvm', 'szgczt', 'imhepi', 'febybq', 'pqkdfg', 'swwlds', 'ecmrut', 'buwruy', 'icjwet', 'gebgbq', 'djtfzr', 'uenleo']
Expected Output: secret
Some help?
Finally a use case for zip() :-)
If you like cryptic code, it could even be done in one statement:
def solve(strings):
return ''.join([max([(letter, letters.count(letter)) for letter in letters], key=lambda x: x[1])[0] for letters in zip(*strings)])
But I prefer a more readable version:
def solve(strings):
result = ''
# "zip" the strings, so in the first iteration `letters` would be a list
# containing the first letter of each word, the second iteration it would
# be a list of all second letters of each word, and so on...
for letters in zip(*strings):
# Create a list of (letter, count) pairs:
letter_counts = [(letter, letters.count(letter)) for letter in letters]
# Get the first letter with the highest count, and append it to result:
result += max(letter_counts, key=lambda x: x[1])[0]
return result
# Test function with input data from question:
assert solve(['mistul', 'aidteh', 'mhfjtr', 'zxcjer']) == 'mister'
assert solve(['qagic', 'cafbk', 'twggl', 'kaqtc', 'iisih', 'mbpzu', 'pbghn',
'mzsev', 'saqbl', 'myead']) == 'magic'
assert solve(['sacbkt', 'tnqaex', 'vhcrhl', 'obotnq', 'vevleg', 'rljnlv',
'jdcjrk', 'zuwtee', 'xycbvm', 'szgczt', 'imhepi', 'febybq',
'pqkdfg', 'swwlds', 'ecmrut', 'buwruy', 'icjwet', 'gebgbq',
'djtfzr', 'uenleo']) == 'secret'
UPDATE
#dun suggested a smarter way of using the max() function, which makes the one-liner actually quite readable :-)
def solve(strings):
return ''.join([max(letters, key=letters.count) for letters in zip(*strings)])
Using collections.Counter() is a nice strategy here. Here's one way to do it:
from collections import Counter
def most_freq_at_index(strings, idx):
chars = [s[idx] for s in strings]
char_counts = Counter(chars)
return char_counts.most_common(n=1)[0][0]
strings = ['qagic', 'cafbk', 'twggl', 'kaqtc', 'iisih',
'mbpzu', 'pbghn', 'mzsev', 'saqbl', 'myead']
result = ''.join(most_freq_at_index(strings, idx) for idx in range(5))
print(result)
## 'magic'
If you want something more manual without the magic of Python libraries you can do something like this:
def f(strings):
dic = {}
for string in strings:
for i in range(len(string)):
word_dic = dic.get(i, { string[i]: 0 })
word_dic[string[i]] = word_dic.get(string[i], 0) + 1
dic[i] = word_dic
largest_string = max(strings, key = len)
result = ""
for i in range(len(largest_string)):
result += max(dic[i], key = lambda x : dic[i][x])
return result
strings = ['qagic', 'cafbk', 'twggl', 'kaqtc', 'iisih', 'mbpzu', 'pbghn', 'mzsev', 'saqbl', 'myead']
f(strings)
'magic'

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