[Tutor] Trying to access a random value in a list

[Steven D'Aprano]

On 13/01/12 10:56, Nick W wrote:
> first problem: easy fix just remember that len() returns the actual
> number of items in the list but that list is indexed starting at 0 so
> just replace your line of
>          pick = len(names)
> with:
>         pick = len(names) - 1


Another good trick for choosing a random value from a list is to avoid picking 
a number first and just ask for a random choice:


 >>> import random
 >>> L = ['spam', 'ham', 'cheese', 'eggs']
 >>> random.choice(L)
'cheese'



> and for problem #2:
> just use string formating... like for example instead of:
>          print (names[win_number], " is the winner!")
> try something along the lines of:
>         print("{} is a winner".format(names[win_number]))

Apart from being longer and harder, is there an advantage to the second form?

:)

A third alternative is:

print("%s is a winner" % names[win_number])

In any case, none of these solve the actual problem. The original poster is 
talking about printing the list of names:

print (names, "have been entered.")

which prints an actual LIST, so you get (e.g.):

['fred', 'barney']

instead of:

fred barney

The easy way to fix that is to use:

print (" ".join(names), "have been entered.")



-- 
Steven