please help me with my else if loop in python ?

Question

i am trying to learn python by myself on codeacademy, and i am looking through past lessons, but i can't figure out what i did wrong. i think i copied everything correctly.

the assignment is to check the user input word to see if it contains at least one character. if it does contain more than one character, the program is supposed to print the word the user inputted in the beginning. if not, the program is supposed to say " empty".

the code lets me input a word, but then even if the word has more than one character, it will not print out the word. i feel like the solution is probably very simple, but i can't figure it out. i think the semicolons are in the right spaces. i would appreciate your help very much

print "Welcome to the English to Pig Latin translator!"
original = raw_input("tell me your secrets")
def true_function():
    if len(original)>= 1:
        print(original)
    else:
        print("empty")

You should use input() in Python 3.

squiguy
– squiguy

2013-07-08 06:17:51 +00:00
Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:17 — squiguy
– squiguy, Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:17
@squiguy It's not python 3 (Codecademy teaches 2.7)

TerryA
– TerryA

2013-07-08 06:34:50 +00:00
Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:34 — TerryA
– TerryA, Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:34
@Haidro I saw print(). I guess I should read more :).

squiguy
– squiguy

2013-07-08 06:35:41 +00:00
Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:35 — squiguy
– squiguy, Commented Jul 8, 2013 at 6:35

mfjones · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-08 06:17:51Z

5

It's because you never call the true_function() function.

You can either remove that, and just have:

print "Welcome to the English to Pig Latin translator!"
original = raw_input("tell me your secrets")

if len(original)>= 1:
  print(original)
else:
  print("empty")

Or, call the true_function() afterwards, passing the variable original as an argument:

def true_function(original):
  if len(original)>= 1:
    print(original)
  else:
    print("empty")

print "Welcome to the English to Pig Latin translator!"
original = raw_input("tell me your secrets")
true_function(original)

answered Jul 8, 2013 at 6:17

mfjones

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Comments

Serial · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-08 06:20:00Z

1

you need to call the true_function() for it to be executed

do something like this

print "Welcome to the English to Pig Latin translator!"

def true_function():
    original = raw_input("tell me your secrets")
    if len(original)>= 1:
        print(original)
    else:
        print("empty")
true_function()

notice how i call true_function() before you were just taking input and thats it but know the input is asked in the function then ran through the condition

here are a few tutorials on functions if you dont fully understand

Tutorials point: Functions

ZetCode calling functions

answered Jul 8, 2013 at 6:20

Serial

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2 Comments

user1476390 Over a year ago

oh wow, the solution is so simple and it works now :D I saw yours first, so i'll accept it when the time counts down. Thank you very much !

Serial Over a year ago

no problem i used code academy when i learned to keep it up :)

Wingston Sharon · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-08 06:25:18Z

0

original = raw_input(...)

That returns user input to a variable called output.

def true_function():

this like defines a function. note that it doesnt really do anything, more like just tell python that something like true_function() exists.

now if you call true_function() your code will work. But i would suggest the following changes.

def true_function(arg):
    if len(arg)>= 1:
        print(arg)
    else:
        print("empty")

now note, that your function takes an argument called arg. whenever you call this function, you give it a variable in the function call like

true_function(original)

see python function documentation for more details

answered Jul 8, 2013 at 6:25

Wingston Sharon

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Comments

misguided · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-08 06:29:16Z

0

Mate you need to call the function . Also the function should take string argument ,as I am assuming you will be enetering string as the input.

def true_function(string):
    if len(original)>= 1:
        print(original)
    else:
        print("empty")

print "Welcome to the English to Pig Latin translator!"
original = raw_input("tell me your secrets")
true_function(original)

answered Jul 8, 2013 at 6:29

misguided

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