[Tutor] split a string inside a list

[Alan Gauld]

On 09/05/15 04:24, Kayla Hiltermann wrote:
> i want to account for variability in user input,
 > like using commas or just spaces.

> the user input is initially a string, but is converted to a list once
 > run through .split() .
 > I would like to split the user input by commas or spaces,

I would first replace all non-space separators with spaces
then do the split

separators = ',.;:'   # plus any others you might get
for sep in separators:
      inString.replace(sep,' ')
sides = inString.split()


> import re
>
> def pythagorean_function():
> 	sides = raw_input("Please enter three sides to a triangle: \n").split(" |,")

> 	sides_int = []
> 	for value in sides:
> 		try:
> 			sides_int.append(int(value))
> 		except ValueError:
> 			continue

You could use a list comprehension here, although you
may not have seen them yet. It would look like:

try:
    sides_int = [int(value) for value in sides]
except ValueError:
    print ("Remember all sides must be integers \n")
    return    # no point continuing with the function using bad data

> 	while len(sides_int) != 3:
> 		print ("you did not enter THREE sides! remember all sides must be integers \n")
> 		break

This should just be an 'if' test, not a while loop.
You only want to test the length once.

> 	sides.sort()
> 	if sides[0]**2 + sides[1]**2 == sides[2]**2:
> 		print "\nthis triangle IS a pythagorean triple!\n"
> 	else:
> 		print "\nthis triangle is NOT a pythagorean triple\n"
>
> 	redo()	

Rather than use recursion here it would be better to
put your function in a top level while loop.

> def redo():
> 	redo_question = raw_input("would you like to see if another triangle is a pythagorean triple? Y/N\n")
> 	if redo_question == "Y":
> 		pythagorean_function()
> 	else:
> 		print "thanks for stopping by!"

You could write that like

redo_question = 'Y'
while redo_question.upper() == 'Y':
     pythagorean_function()
     redo_question = raw_input("would you like to see if another 
triangle is a pythagorean triple? Y/N\n")

print "thanks for stopping by!"


HTH
-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
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