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Python Python Collections (Retired) Dictionaries Word Count

Fareez Ahmed
Fareez Ahmed
12,728 Points

split_string not defined? What's wrong here? stuck!

def word_count(a_string): split_string = a_string.split() string_dict = {} for word in split_string: if word in string_dict[word]: string_dict[word] += 1 else: string_dict[word] = 1

word_count.py
# E.g. word_count("I am that I am") gets back a dictionary like:
# {'i': 2, 'am': 2, 'that': 1}
# Lowercase the string to make it easier.
# Using .split() on the sentence will give you a list of words.
# In a for loop of that list, you'll have a word that you can
# check for inclusion in the dict (with "if word in dict"-style syntax).
# Or add it to the dict with something like word_dict[word] = 1.

def word_count(a_string):
  split_string = a_string.split()
  string_dict = {}
for word in split_string:
    if word in string_dict[word]:
        string_dict[word] += 1
    else:
        string_dict[word] = 1

2 Answers

Paul Bentham
Paul Bentham
24,090 Points

OK I didn't immediately know how to do this but after a little searching and seeing one of Kenneths answers on another post:

Try this (see comments in the code to help):

def word_count(a_string):
  split_string = a_string.split()
  string_dict = {}
  #first populate the dictionary with the keys being each word in the string, all having zero for their values.
  for item in split_string:
    string_dict[item] = 0

  #Then cycle through the split string again and if the word is one of the keys in the dictionary add 1 each time.
  for item in split_string:
    if item in string_dict.keys():
        string_dict[item] += 1

  return string_dict        

print word_count('this is this my string')
Fareez Ahmed
Fareez Ahmed
12,728 Points

I see, thanks... so basically I didn't initialize the string items to zero in the dictionary