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Python Python Basics (2015) Number Game App String length

Christian Coker
Christian Coker
3,872 Points

Why is this code wrong?

This code should work but I keep getting it wrong. Does anyone know why?

strlen.py
def just_right(mystring):
    if len((list(mystring))) > 5:
        print("Your string is too long")

    elif len((list(mystring))) < 5:
        print("Your string is too short")

    else:
        return True

2 Answers

Anish Walawalkar
Anish Walawalkar
8,534 Points

Hey Cristian, there are only 2 same problems in your code:

  1. In python, strings are an array of characters so you can just do len(mystring)
  2. If the the string is too long/too short you need to return the message not print

In code it looks like this:

def just_right(mystring):
    if len(mystring) > 5:
        return "Your string is too long"

    elif len(mystring) < 5:
        return "Your string is too short"

    else:
        return True

you could also make you5 code look cleaner if you implement it like this:

def just_right(mystring):
    if len(mystring) == 5:
        return True

    return "Your string is too short" if len(mystring) < 5 else "Your string is too short"
Christian Coker
Christian Coker
3,872 Points

Thanks a lot Anish, that worked!