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Python Python Basics (2015) Shopping List App Continue

Posted by Dan Holroyd
Dan Holroyd
1,172 Points

I'm not sure if I'm getting "Bummer" because of a syntax error or because of something I'm leaving out.

If someone might give me a clue, I'd be appreciative. Thank you.

breaks.py 
def loopy(items):
    # Code goes here
    try:
        for item in items:
            print(item)
    except:
        if item.lower == "a":
    else:
        print(item)
Andrew Fitzpatrick
Andrew Fitzpatrick
3,013 Points

im having the same problem i cant figure out how to make the program look just at the index 0 to check for 'a'

3 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,457 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,457 Points

You have the right elements, but a few fixes are needed:

  • The 'try/exceptcode is not needed Atry` block is used to capture errors when working with possible unknown results.
  • when calling method lower() include parens to call the function. Otherwise you're just pointing to the function.
  • To reference the first character use the slice notation: item.lower()[0]
  • be sure to print if not an "a"

Structure should be:

# for statement
    # if statement
        # print statement

Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!!

Ari Misha
Ari Misha
19,323 Points
Ari Misha
Ari Misha
19,323 Points

Hiya Dan! Lets look at the example given in the challenge: ["abc", "xyz"] will just print "xyz". So for each item in the list thats being passed to the function, if the character at index 0 is "a" , the we want to skip that step and continue, otherwise we need to print the current member. So your code should look like this:

def loopy(items):
    # Code goes here
    for item in items:
        if item[0] == "a":
            continue
        else:
            print(item)
Frank Torchia
Frank Torchia
18,346 Points
Frank Torchia
Frank Torchia
18,346 Points

Hi Dan,

Try blocks should really be reserved for error handling. For example, if you wanted to loop through the items and make sure there were no special characters (#^&$%) or null items.

That being said, this is what I changed for your answer

def loopy(items):
    for item in items:
        if item[0].lower() != "a":
            print(item)

Notice how I'm comparing item[0] instead of item? Using item means that our code is using the entire string. For the exercise, we need to find the first letter, or in other words, the letter in the first index in the string, hence item[0].

I also used the != equality operator which translates to does not equal. In English if item[0].lower() != "a": means if the first letter in the item does not equal 'a'

Hope this helps!