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Python Python Basics (2015) Shopping List App Continue

Suraj Shah
Suraj Shah
1,055 Points
Posted by Suraj Shah
Suraj Shah
1,055 Points

Loop Challenge

I need to loop through items.

If item begins with 'a' then skip else print the item

Not sure why my code is not passing the challenge. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

breaks.py 
def loopy(items):
    for item in items:
        try:
            if item.index('a') == 0:
        except[ValueError]:
            continue
        else:
            print(item)

2 Answers

Nick Osborne
Nick Osborne
4,612 Points
Nick Osborne
Nick Osborne
4,612 Points

I think the problem is that your if will only return True or False rather than a ValueError. Something like this is more simple:

def loopy(items):
    for item in items:
        if item[0]=="a":
            continue
        else:
            print(item)
Andy Hughes
Andy Hughes
10,049 Points
Andy Hughes
Andy Hughes
10,049 Points

I've just done this challenge myself and as usual, over complicated it. This first part is straight forward i.e. print the items. So we have our function:

loopy.py 
def loopy(items):

and we need the for statement to print "items"

loopy.py 
def loopy(items):
    for item in items:
        print(items)

This completes the first part of the challenge. The next part is then to add in the 'break' based on the condition 'STOP' being in the 'items' list. If 'STOP' is not present, we need to then print(items). So the first part needs the 'if' statement to catch 'STOP'.

loopy.py 
def loopy(items):
    for item in items:
        if items == "STOP":
            break

This gives us our requirement for the 'Break' in the challenge. The last part is to continue with the 'for loop' if 'STOP' is not present and print the items in the list.

loopy.py 
def loopy(items):
    # Code goes here
    for item in items:
        if items == "STOP":
            break
        else: 
            print(item)

I spent a good few hours trying various combinations of 'if ==' and 'if !=' and started getting way too complicated. In the end I rewatched the videos, looked up the code syntax example in python manual and then stripped it back.

Hope it helps anyone else stuck here. :)