How to ensure a string as an argument for a function?

Question

This code returns a NameError : 'a' is not defined.
How can I ensure that a is a string and declare it?
```strlen.py
a = str(a)
def just_right(a):
    if len(a) < 5:
        print ("Your string is too short")
    elif len(a) > 5:
        print ("Your string is too long")
    else:
        return True
```

Jennifer Nordell · Accepted Answer

You're doing fine!  And in this challenge it's not necessary to ensure that what's being sent in is a string.  That's taken care of by Treehouse.  They've guaranteed that they're sending in a string.  But you're correct, checking for that is a great idea!  We're just not really there yet. 
What you've missed is the line in the instructions where it says to return the string... not print it.  So if you remove this line here:
```python
a = str(a)
```
and then change all your print statements to return statements, your code passes!  Happy coding! :smiley:

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Sahil Sharma

Sahil Sharma

How to ensure a string as an argument for a function?

1 Answer

Jennifer Nordell

Jennifer Nordell