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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Lists Disemvowel

Posted by Sohail Mirza
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Sohail Mirza
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 5,158 Points

Why doesnt my code work

Please advise where am i going wrong this question

disemvowel.py 
def disemvowel(word):
    exception = ["a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "A", "E", "I", "O", "U"]
    test = list(word)
    test.remove(exception)
    return word

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
241,811 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
241,811 Points

The "remove" method only removes something that matches the argument, so if you pass it a list it will only remove an element that is an exact duplicate of that entire list.

And a few other hints:

  • to remove individual letters, you will probably want to use a loop
  • if you modify "test" but then "return word", the output of the function will be unchanged
  • there are possible solutions that do not require converting the string to a list
  • if you do convert the word to a list, remember to convert it back to a string before returning it
Sohail Mirza
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Sohail Mirza
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 5,158 Points

Hi Steven

Thanks for your reply. I am slighty confused as i ran by own example and it did not work. fruits = ["apple", "pear", "banana"] choice = ["apple"] fruits.remove(choice)

in this example i get an error.

Why is this the case

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
241,811 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
241,811 Points

Let's say you have this list "test = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']" and another list "bits = ['a', 'b', 'c']".

So if you do "test.remove(bits)" nothing will happen.

But if you started with this list inside of a list instead: "test = [['a', 'b', 'c'], 'd']" and then did "test.remove(bits)", that would leave you with just "['d']" in "test" because part of test was another list that was exactly like "bits".

Does that clear it up?

Kevin Apetrei
Kevin Apetrei
2,447 Points
Kevin Apetrei
Kevin Apetrei
2,447 Points

Tip:

You can always use (.upper) or (.lower) to simplify the (exception).

E.g: exception.lower = ("a", "e", "i", "o", "u") or exception.upper = ("A", "E", "I", "O", "U") that makes it so if you use uppercase or lowercase it will still work.