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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Lists Disemvowel

How do I check for upper-case and lower-case?

I believe I got most of this right.

But now I can't figure out how to check for both lower-case and upper-case.

Could you please tell me the theory of how to do it without telling me the direct answer :)

disemvowel.py
def disemvowel(word):
    what_to_remove = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u"]
    try:
        word = word.remove(what_to_remove)
    except ValueError:
        pass
    return word
Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

This is not an answer, but just a hint. Right now you have a list containing all the lower case vowels. Why not add the upper case vowels to that list as well? :smiley:

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points

You can compare both the lower-case and upper-case versions of a character separately as Jennifer suggested. Or if you are performing a comparison with a single letter, you could convert the case of that letter using the Python upper() or lower() functions and then just do a single comparison.

Another hint: it appears you're trying to use a "remove" method on the string "word", but strings do not have a "remove" method. Python strings are actually immutable (cannot be changed). Perhaps you were thinking of converting the string to a list first?

Thanks for the second hint. I'm trying to get it working but for some reason .split() won't get the job done. How would I turn it into a list?

def disemvowel(word):
    word = word.split()
    what_to_remove = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "A", "E", "I", "O", "U"]
    try:
        word = word.remove(what_to_remove)
    except ValueError:
        pass
    return word
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points

The "split" is probably working just fine. But you can't give "remove" a whole list of things to remove (unless the other list as a sublist that matches it exactly). You might need a loop to remove one at a time.

And don't forget that both the argument and return values are strings, so if you convert to a list, you'll need to convert back before you return it.

Could you give me an example of a loop that'll work? But don't give me a loop that matches the challenge.