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Python Python Collections (Retired) Dictionaries Word Count

Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points
Posted by Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points

Trouble solving word_count.

Here is what I did so far

def word_count(sentence): dict_count = {} sentence = sentence.split()

for words in sentence: if words in dict_count: dict_count += 1 else: dict_count = 1

return word_count
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(sentence):
  dict_count = {}
  sentence = sentence.split()

  for words in sentence:
    if words in dict_count:
      dict_count += 1
    else:
      dict_count = 1

    return word_count

7 Answers

Kenneth Love
STAFF
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Your problem is that you never add the word to dict_count (and you try to increment the numerical value of a dictionary which doesn't have a numerical value because it's, well, not a number).

def word_count(sentence):
  dict_count = {}
  sentence = sentence.split()

  for words in sentence:
    if words in dict_count:
      dict_count[words] += 1
    else:
      dict_count[words] = 1

    return word_count

There are still a couple of problems in here (hints: a mis-named variable and some bad indentation), but I'll leave those as problems for you to solve.

Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points
Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points

Try eliminating the variable declaration of sentence=sentence.split() and instead use 

for words in sentence.split():
Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points
Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points

Thanks! That's what I did the first time but didn't pass.

Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points
Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points

Here's what I used for this challenge. I kept a copy of the code because it stumped me. 

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

If you look at my conditional statement, you see that I loop the value of each key and used string_dict[word], which in your code would be dict_count[words]. Also, you need to make sure you are returning the name of your dictionary, not the name of your function.

Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points
Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points

Thanks a lot. I'll use yours and let you know soon.

Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points

I just got yours to pass by making the changes I noted above and by correcting the indentation.

Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points
Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points

Thanks you again. It did pass.

Tree Casiano
Tree Casiano
16,436 Points

Yay! :-)

Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points
Ronnie Barua
Ronnie Barua
17,665 Points

Thanks for pointing that out. I keep an eye on indentation but it always betrays me for some unknown reason. I did pass. Thank you Mr. Love!