Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Dictionaries Word Count

How do i get it to read the string as separate words instead of letters

I'm struggling to understand this problem, i know i need to iterate through the string first but i only get it in separate letters not separate words. Please help

wordcount.py
# E.g. word_count("I do not like it Sam I Am") gets back a dictionary like:
# {'i': 2, 'do': 1, 'it': 1, 'sam': 1, 'like': 1, 'not': 1, 'am': 1}
# Lowercase the string to make it easier.


def word_count(arg):
    #something to iterate through string
    for item in arg:
        print item 
        print arg.count(item.lower())
    #count how many times a word is in the string 
    #put into dict

word_count("I do not like it Sam I Am")
'''

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

One thing that might be useful is to convert the string into a list using the "split" method. With the appropriate syntax, it can create a list placing each word into a separate item. The list can then be an iteration source.