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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Dictionaries String Formatting with Dictionaries

Erik Nemcik
Erik Nemcik
1,569 Points
Posted by Erik Nemcik
Erik Nemcik
1,569 Points

String formatting with dictionaries

Could you please tell me what is wrong here?

string_factory.py 
# Example:
# values = [{"name": "Michelangelo", "food": "PIZZA"}, {"name": "Garfield", "food": "lasagna"}]
# string_factory(values)
# ["Hi, I'm Michelangelo and I love to eat PIZZA!", "Hi, I'm Garfield and I love to eat lasagna!"]
template = [{"name": "Michelangelo", "food": "PIZZA"}, {"name": "Garfield", "food": "lasagna"}]

def string_factory(dicts, strings):
    newlist = []
    for d in dicts:
       newitem = strings.format(**d)
       newlist.append(newitem)
    return newlist

string_factory(template)

2 Answers

Christian Mangeng
Christian Mangeng
15,970 Points
Christian Mangeng
Christian Mangeng
15,970 Points

Hi Erik,

1) The function only accepts one argument, which is a list of dictionaries ("dicts" in your example), so delete the "strings" parameter.

2) The string you want to format is the "template" string, so newitem needs to be defined as:

newitem = template.format(**d)

3) You do not need to call the function at the end.

Hope that helps!

Arturo Mascarinas
Arturo Mascarinas
4,037 Points
Arturo Mascarinas
Arturo Mascarinas
4,037 Points

Hi Erik,

I don't know if you solved it or not, but I took a look at this, because I was having a hard time trying to figure out where to begin.

I actually worked on it in Workspaces because the challenges are difficult to debug.

Like Christian said earlier, this function only takes one argument. Also you need to keep the template which was stated in the challenge:

template = "Hi, I'm {name} and I love to eat {food}!"

You just about have it. Let's just rename your dictionary list to make it easier:

values = [{"name": "Michelangelo", "food": "PIZZA"}, {"name": "Garfield", "food": "lasagna"}]

template = "Hi, I'm {name} and I love to eat {food}!"
values = [{"name": "Michelangelo", "food": "PIZZA"}, {"name": "Garfield", "food": "lasagna"}]

def string_factory(new_list):
  newlist = []
  for d in new_list:
    newitem = template.format(**d)
    newlist.append(newitem)
  return newlist

string_factory(values)

The key line is newitem = template.format(**d). In this line you are unpacking the dictionary in the list and then taking the values name and food in the dictionary, and replacing them in the variable name holders {name} and {food} in the template.

I tested this in Workspaces and named it test.py. In order to see the output, I changed the line return newlist to print(newlist) so I could just see the output.

treehouse:~/workspace$ python test.py
["Hi, I'm Michelangelo and I love to eat PIZZA!", "Hi, I'm Garfield and I love to eat lasagna!"]