TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable' Python 3

Question

I'm trying to write a program that will open a text file from the web consisting of 10,000 words, then 'clean' the file to get rid of nonsense words, such as 'aa'. I eventually want to use these words to do other things so I want to add the non 'non-sense' words to be put into a new list. Every time i try to run this I run into the error code TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable.

import urllib.request  

def readWordList():  

response = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.mit.edu/~ecprice/wordlist.10000")
html = response.read()
data = html.decode('utf-8').split()

return data

clean = readWordList() 

def clean(aList):   
    newList = []
    for word in aList: 
        if range(len(word)) >= 2:
            newList.append(word)
    return newList


clean(clean)

clean(clean)? You can't use the same name for both a function and a list.. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Nov 16, 2017 at 23:03

Prune · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16 22:59:43Z

5

Make up your mind: is clean supposed to be a list or a function? You started as a list, but then replaced that with a function, and then told the function to clean itself. Try this:

dirty_list = readWordList()
def clean(aList):
...

clean(dirty_list)

answered Nov 16, 2017 at 22:59

Prune

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Comments

Carcigenicate · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16 23:00:08Z

1

You create a variable called clean, immediately overwrite the name by declaring a function with the same name, then pass the function clean to itself.

Either change the function name, or the variable above with the same name.

answered Nov 16, 2017 at 23:00

Carcigenicate

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Comments

Ender Look · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-16 23:13:04Z

1

Firstly you make a variable called clean and then you make a function called clean and finally you tried to use the function in the variable, both called clean. You "destroy" the variable when you defined a function. They must have different names.

Use this:

import urllib.request  

    def readWordList():  

    response = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.mit.edu/~ecprice/wordlist.10000")
    html = response.read()
    data = html.decode('utf-8').split()

    return data

    to_clean = readWordList() # Use a different name so it won't be replaced later by the function
        def clean(aList):   
        newList = []
        for word in aList: 
            if range(len(word)) >= 2:
                newList.append(word)
        return newList
    clean(to_clean)

Problem solves; now they have different names.

edited Nov 16, 2017 at 23:13

answered Nov 16, 2017 at 23:04

Ender Look

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3 Comments

Prune Over a year ago

What does this add to the previous answers? Call out your improvements.

Ender Look Over a year ago

@Prune, I think I made a better explanation so he would understand it better. But if you want... I can delete it...

Prune Over a year ago

Nope -- I wanted to make sure your improvements are obvious to later users. SGITE (Slowest Gun In The East) is often useful on SO.

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