Random.choice not working correctly python

Question

I have the following code for example:

n = ['321','243','780']
b = ['12','56','90']
a = ['178', '765', '111']

E = input('Enter Word...')
qw = 1
Code = ('')
E_ready = [E[no:no+qw] for no in range(0, len(E), qw)]
for code in E_Ready:
   letter = random.choice(code)
   Code += letter

If you enter the word 'nba' then it will output as 'nba', I want it to output with random elements from each letter's respective list so for example '32112178'

Actually you do not want that, that is really bad design: call-by-name is rather unsafe. You better use a dictionary. — willeM_ Van Onsem
– willeM_ Van Onsem, Commented Apr 1, 2017 at 20:23
I was gonna use a dictionary but I really don't wanna use one, unless you can assign variables to lists in a dictionary. — Yousef Radwan
– Yousef Radwan, Commented Apr 1, 2017 at 20:30
I understand that it is handling 'code' as a list, so how can i make it take the value of code and use that — Yousef Radwan
– Yousef Radwan, Commented Apr 1, 2017 at 20:32

Montmons · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-01 21:17:05Z

2

As Willem van Onsem correctly mentioned in the comments:

"...that is really bad design, call-by-name is rather unsafe. You better use a dictionary."

So, try this:

n = {'option1':'321','option2':'243','option3':'780'}
letter = random.choice(list(n.values()))

Or, shorter, as Chris has mentioned:

d = {'n':[321, 243, 780]}
letter = random.choice(d['n'])

Results from print(letter) (on both options):

321
321
780
243
etc..

EDIT:

How to add extra variables:

n = 'n'
d = {n:[321, 243, 780]}
letter = random.choice(d[n])
q = 'q'
d[q] = [600, 234, 180]
new_letter = random.choice(d[q])

Now print(new_letter) gives:

234
180
180
600
etc..

SECOND EDIT (which btw is pure bonus since the question turned into a completely different one then first asked.. therefor, it is left unoptimized. Yet, working nonetheless..):

import random
d = {'n':[321, 243, 780], 'b':['12','56','90'], 'a':['178', '765', '111']}

E = input('Enter Word...')

inputword = list(E)

for key in d.keys():
    if key in inputword:
        for i in range(len(inputword)):
            if inputword[i] == key:
                try:
                    inputword[i] = str(random.choice(d[key]))
                except:
                    pass

result = ''.join(inputword)
print(result)

If input = nba then output = 32190111

If input = nhhsygbbvvra then output = 321hhsyg5690vvr178

Etc..

edited Apr 1, 2017 at 21:17

answered Apr 1, 2017 at 20:34

Montmons

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8 Comments

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

oh, I think I can make this work, I'll try it out and reply if it works.

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

I still want to use a variable bec. I'm gonna have multiple lists/dictionaries so i need to use sth like this random.choice(list(VariableName.values()))

Montmons Over a year ago

Could you update your question with the adapted code you are trying to execute now and the exact error it gives you?

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

I just did, hopefully it helps

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

so how do i implement this exactly?

|

MrJLP · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-01 20:29:33Z

1

Okay, you have a few fundamental issues. When you want to assign one variable to another then you wouldn't put it in quotes. So it should be:

code = n

But actually I'm wondering why you need the variable code at all. You could simply do

import random
code = [ '321', '243', '780' ]
letter = random.choice(code)
print letter

answered Apr 1, 2017 at 20:29

MrJLP

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4 Comments

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

I can't do that bec. in the bigger picture, I will be taking code from a for loop so i want it to take a random element from different lists.

Montmons Over a year ago

See Willem van Onsem's comment to the original question, call-by-name is bad design..

Yousef Radwan Over a year ago

like i.e i have 'a', 'b', 'c' lists, I made a for loop that will return 'a' , 'b' or 'c' so i want it to take a random element out of the respective list.

juanpa.arrivillaga Over a year ago

@YousefRadwan you really should not do that.

Chris · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-01 20:34:11Z

1

I agree with the comment, it is better to use something like:

d = {'n':[mylist]}
letter = random.choice(d['n'])

the problem is that random.choice works on strings too... it simply considers them to be a list of characters. in your case the code variable and n are supposed to be exactly the same but are in fact not. You could also do

n = [list]
code = n ## only makes any sense, if there 
         ## is a procedure assigns it based on some condition 
letter = random.choice(code)

answered Apr 1, 2017 at 20:34

Chris

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