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Python

Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points
Posted by Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points

Correct Answer outside def, what am I doing wrong?

Hi,

Reference Challenge 1 of 1 Dictionaries Membership

I must be having issues understanding functions, the layout and rules on calling them.

I can run the below code and get the answer to to the challenge but when I try to put the code into a def I get errors.

Code outside a def

my_dict = {'apples': 1, 'bananas': 2, 'coconuts': 3}
my_list = ['apples', 'coconuts', 'grapes', 'strawberries']
for name in my_dict and my_list:
    if name in my_dict and my_list:
        print(name)
    else:
        print("Else Print")
        break

When I put the above into a def as below I get a error (Bummer! Expected 2, got apples.):

def members(adict, alist):
    my_dict = {'apples': 1, 'bananas': 2, 'coconuts': 3}
    my_list = ['apples', 'coconuts', 'grapes', 'strawberries']
    for name in my_dict and my_list:
        if name in my_dict and my_list:
            print(name)
            return(name)
        else:
            print("Else Print")
            continue
    members(my_dict, my_list)

Any help would be much appreciated.

Jennifer Nordell
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Try removing this line and see what happens:

return(name)

This would explain why you're returning apples instead of 2.

Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points
Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points

Jennifer, I removed the return(name) and I am now getting Bummer! Try again!

I presume this approach I am taking is not valid.

1 Answer

Idan Melamed
Idan Melamed
16,285 Points
Idan Melamed
Idan Melamed
16,285 Points

Hi Malcolm

I've noticed a few things:

  1. The challenge asks you to count and return how many times the items in the list are also keys in the dictionary.
  2. You don't need to assign my_list and my_dict
  3. You also don't need to call the function
  4. I would try to change the for loop and if statement to check only in one variable. For example, my for loop would be: for word in my_list:

If you want to see a solution, you can check out this link: https://trinket.io/python/a803c750e9

Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points
Malcolm Robertson
Malcolm Robertson
8,478 Points

Hi Idan,

I see what you mean.

Thanks for your help.