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Python - turn some of the words in list/str to dots. len(list)?

I've started learning Python last week on codecademy and Google etc. but got stuck and couldn't find the answer anywhere so signed up on stackoverflow.com looking for your support.
I'm trying to build a program that only takes first 5 letters of any name and the remainder of the letter(s) to be shows as blank dot(s). e.g.
Adrian: "Adria."
Michael: "Micha.."
Alexander: "Alexa...." etc.
I tried to "fix" it with the "b" variable but that just prints three dots "..." regardless of how long the name is.
This is what I've got so far:
def namecheck():
name = raw_input("Name?")
if len(name) <=5:
print name
else:
if len(name) >5:
name = name[0:5]
b = ("...")
print name + b
namecheck()
I'm a total newbie so I apologise for any wrong spacing here, thank you for your support and patience.

As an alternative to sequence multiplication (one which is somewhat more self-documenting, and hopefully less confusing to maintainers), just use str.ljust to do your padding:
def namecheck():
name = raw_input("Name?")
# Reduce to first five (or less) characters, then pad with .s to original length
# with str.ljust
print name[:5].ljust(len(name), '.')
print name[:5] + '.' * (len(name) - 5) works fine, it's just a bit arcane (and also involves more temporary values, though in practice, the lack of actual method calls makes it faster on CPython).

you can try to use the function replace().
name = 'abcdefg'
name.replace(name[5:], '.' * len(name[5:]))
output: 'abcde..'
name='randy12345'
name.replace(name[5:],'.' * len(name[5:]))
output: 'randy.....'
name[5:] means get all the element starting 6 (5+1 because it start with 0)
'.' * len(name[5:] then this code count it and multiply it by dot
name.replace(name[5:],'.' * len(name[5:])) then use replace function to replace the excess element with dots

The most concise way I can think of:
def namecheck():
name = raw_input("Name?")
print(name[0:5] + '.' * (len(name) - 5))
namecheck()

Try something like this:
def namecheck():
name = raw_input("Name?")
if len(name) <= 5:
print name
else:
print name[0:5] + '.' * (len(name)-5)
namecheck()

Python difflib reporting unwanted difference

I am trying to compare two sequences using difflib.Differ(). However, I am observing some unwanted differences which I am not able to understand. Can someone please explain this behavior and how this can be resolved?
import difflib
a = "abc-123 Abcdef"
b = "abc-123 Abcdef-def"
a = a.strip("\n")
b = b.strip("\n")
a = a.split(" ")
b = b.split(" ")
d = difflib.Differ()
result = list(d.compare(a,b))
for s in result:
if s[0] == ' ':
continue
print s
Output:
- Abcdef
+ Abcdef-def
? ++++
Why is the ? difference reported here? I would expect only first two differences to be reported (changes only).

From the documentation:
Lines beginning with ‘?‘ attempt to guide the eye to intraline
differences, and were not present in either input sequence.
Meaning it's just a way to mark where the difference is, it's not actually another difference.
https://docs.python.org/2/library/difflib.html

How to check if variable matches, then do something

I have a script that pulls some data from a network device, strips off some crap and returns a value via a re.search.
the end result is i have two variables that contain a numerical value, say file1 contains one line with '10', file2 contains one line with '20'. i've put these into variables
oldnumber = 10
newnumber = 20
what i need to do is check to see if the numbers are the same value. if the numbers are the same, do nothing. if they aren't the same, then do something else - ie. send a mail to myself (smtplib works for me).
i'm new to python and finding my way, not sure how to code this?
i suppose the simplest way to describe this is if oldnumber = newnumber, then send mail, else do nothing.

If I remember well you're right
just do
if oldnumber!=newnumber;
do what you want
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/python_if_else.htm

almost right.
if oldnumber != newnumber:
# do something
# and then proceed..
Or:
if oldnumber == newnumber:
# do this
else:
# do that
# and then proceed..

In SPSS Python essentials, can I get the value of an SPSS variable returned to Python for further use?

I have a database where each case holds info about handwritten digits, eg:
Digit1Seq : when in the sequence of 12 digits the "1" was drawn
Digit1Ht: the height of the digit "1"
Digit1Width: its width
Digit2Seq: same info for digit "2"
on up to digit "12"
I find I now need the information organized a little differently as well. In particular I want a new variables with the height and width of the first digit written, then the height and width of the second, etc., as SPSS vars
FirstDigitHt
FirstDigitWidth ...
TwelvthDigitWidth
Here's a Python program I wrote to do within SPSS what ought to be a very simple computation, but it runs into a sort of namespace problem:
BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON.
import spss
indices = ["1", "2", "3","4","5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11", "12"]
seq=0
for i in indices:
spss.Submit("COMPUTE seq = COMDigit" + i + "Seq.")
spss.Submit("EXECUTE.")
spss.Submit("COMPUTE COM" + indices[seq] + "thWidth = COMDigit" + i + "Width.")
spss.Submit("COMPUTE COM" + indices[seq] + "thHgt = COMDigit" + i + "Hgt.")
spss.Submit("EXECUTE.")
END PROGRAM.
It's clear what's wrong here: the value of seq in the first COMPUTE command doesn't get back to Python, so that the right thing can happen in the next two COMPUTEcommands. Python's value of seq doesn't change, so I end up with SPSS code that gives me only two variables (COM1thWidth and COM1Hgt), into which COMDigit1Width, COMDigit2Width, etc. get written.
Is there any way to get Python to access SPSS's value of seq each time so that the string concatenation will create the correct COMPUTE? Or am I just thinking about this incorrectly?
Have googled extensively, but find no way to do this.
As I'm new to using Python in SPSS (and not all that much of wiz with SPSS) there may well be a far easier way to do this.
All suggestions most welcome.

Probably the easiest way to get your SPSS variable data into Python variables for manipulation is with the spss.Dataset class.
To do this, You will need:
1.) the dataset name of your SPSS Dataset
2.) either the name of the variable you want to pull data from or its index in your dataset.
If the name of the variable you want to extract data from is named 'seq' (as I believe it was in your question), then you can use something like:
BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON.
from __future__ import with_statement
import spss
with spss.DataStep()
#the lines below create references to your dataset,
#to its variable list, and to its case data
lv_dataset = spss.Dataset(name = <name of your SPSS dataset>)
lv_caseData = lv_dataset.cases
lv_variables = lv_dataset.varlist
#the line below extracts all the data from the SPSS variable named 'seq' in the dataset referenced above into a list
#to make use of an SPSS cases object, you specify in square brackets which rows and which variables to extract from, such as:
#Each row you request to be extracted will be returned as a list of values, one value for each variable you request data for
#lv_theData = lv_caseData[rowStartIndex:rowEndIndex, columnStartIndex:columnEndIndex]
#This means that if you want to get data for one variable across many rows of data, you will get a list for each row of data, but each row's list will have only one value in it, hence in the code below, we grab the first element of each list returned
lv_variableData = [itm[0] for itm in lv_caseData[0:len(lv_caseData), lv_variables['seq'].index]]
END PROGRAM.

There are lots of ways to process the case data held by Statistics via Python, but the case data has to be read explicitly using the spss.Cursor, spssdata.Spssdata, or spss.Dataset class. It does not live in the Python namespace.
In this case the simplest thing to do would be to just substitute the formula for seq into the later references. There are many other ways to tackle this.
Also, get rid of those EXECUTE calls. They just force unnecessary data passes. Statistics will automatically pass the data when it needs to based on the command stream.

Hi I just stumbled across this, and you've probably moved on, but it might help other folks. I don't thing you actually need to access have Python access the SPSS values. I think something like this might work:
BEGIN PROGRAM PYTHON.
import spss
for i in range(1,13):
k = "COMPUTE seq = COMDigit" + str(i) + "Seq."
l = "Do if seq = " + str(i)+ "."
m = "COMPUTE COM" + str(i) + "thWidth = COMDigit" + str(i) + "Width."
n = "COMPUTE COM" + str(i) + "thHgt = COMDigit" + str(i) + "Hgt."
o = "End if."
print k
print l
print m
print n
print o
spss.Submit(k)
spss.Submit(l)
spss.Submit(m)
spss.Submit(n)
spss.Submit(o)
spss.Submit("EXECUTE.")
END PROGRAM.
But I'd have to see the data to make sure I'm understanding your problem correctly. Also, the print stuff makes the code look ugly, but its the only way I can keep a handle on whats going on under the hood. Cheerio!

Python - Converting a Number to a Letter without an if statement

I am making a program for my own purposes (a naming program) that completely generates a random name. The problem is I cannot assign a number to a letter, so as a being 1 and z being 26, or a being 0 and z being 25. It gives me a SyntaxError. I need to assign this because the random integer (1,26) triggers a letter (if the random integer is 1, select A) and prints the name.
EDIT:
I have implemented your advice, and it works, I am grateful for this, but I wish to have my program create readable names, or more procedural. Here is an example of a name after I tweaked my program: ddjau. Now that doesn't look like a name, so I want it my program to work as if it were creating REAL names, like Samuel or other common names. Thanks!
EDIT (2):
Thanks, Adam, but I need a sort of 'seed' for the user to enter for the start of the name is. (Seed = A, Name = Adam. Seed = G, Name = George.) Should I do this by searching the file line by line, at the very beginning? If so, how do I do this?

Short Answer
Look into Python dictionaries to allow the 1 = 'a' type assignments. Below I have working example that would generate a random name based on gender and a 'litter'.
Disclaimer
I do not fully understand (via the code) what you're trying to accomplish with char/ord and a random letter. Also note having absolutely no idea of your design goals or requirements, I have made the example more complex than it may need to be for instructional purposes.
Additional Resources
* Python Docs for dictionary
* Using Python dictionary relationship to search both ways
In response to the last edit
If you are looking to build random 'real' names, I think your best bet will be to use a large list of names and just pick a random one. If I were you I'd look into something linking to the census results: males and females. Note that male_names.txt and female_names.txt are a copy of the list found at the census website. As a disclaimer, I'm sure there is a more efficient way to load / read the file. Just use this example as a proof on concept.
Update
Here's a quick and dirty way to seed the random values. Again I am not sure that this is the most pythonic way or most efficient way, but it works.
Example
import random
import time
def get_random_name(gender, seed):
if(gender == 'male'):
file = 'male_names.txt'
elif(gender == 'female'):
file = 'female_names.txt'
fid = open(file,'r')
names = []
total_names = 0
for line in fid:
if(line.lower().startswith(seed)):
names.append(line)
total_names = total_names + 1
random_index = random.randint(0,total_names)
return names[random_index]
if (__name__ == "__main__"):
print 'Welcome to Name Database 2.2\n'
print '1. Boy'
print '2. Girl'
bog = raw_input('\nGender: ')
print 'What should the name start with?'
print 'A, Ab, Abc, B, Ba, Br, etc...'
print ''
l = raw_input('Leter(s): ').lower()
new_name = ''
if bog == '1': # Boy
print get_random_name('male',l)
elif bog == '2':
print get_random_name('female',l)
Output
Welcome to Name Database 2.2
1. Boy
2. Girl
Gender: 2
What should the name start with?
A, Ab, Abc, B, Ba, Br, etc...
Leter(s): br
BRITTA

chr (see here) and ord (see here) are the two functions you're looking for (though you already seem to know about the latter). Follow those links for a more detailed explanation.
The first gives you a one-character string based on the integer, the second does the reverse operaion (technically, it handles Unicode as well, which chr doesn't, though you have unichr for that if you need it).
You can base your code on the following:
ch = "E"
print ord (ch) - ord ("A") + 1 # should give 5 for the fifth letter
val = 7
print chr (val + ord ("A") - 1) # should give G, the seventh letter

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to do, but you can convert a number into a letter with the chr() function. chr() takes an ASCII code, so if you want to use the range [0, 25] instead you can adapt it like so:
chr(25 + ord('a')) # 'z'