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Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Random Item

Posted by Dominick McCleary
Dominick McCleary
3,012 Points

how would i do the random

ok i have not used random keywords in forever i was wondering how i would do this properly

item.py 
# EXAMPLE
# random_item("Treehouse")
# The randomly selected number is 4.
# The return value would be "h"

import random

def random_item("Treehouse"):
    return random_item("Treehouse").index(random.randint(0, len(random_item - 1))
Michael Barlow
Michael Barlow
34,317 Points
Michael Barlow
Michael Barlow
34,317 Points

In the function definition, you first want to make sure you're passing in a variable as an argument:

def random_item(my_string_arg):

For getting the item, you can use the randint() or the sample() function. You're really close on the former but since Python doesn't have an index() function:

    return my_string_arg[random.randint(0, len(my_string_arg) - 1)]

Since sample() returns a list, you can also do the following:

    return random.sample(my_string_arg, 1)[0]
Josh Roberts
Josh Roberts
9,930 Points

"Treehouse" needs to be brought in as an argument when you call the function. In Python, strings are easily used like arrays so, "Treehouse"[0] would be "T" in your example. This will demonstrate what you're trying to do:

import random

def random_item(arg):
    return arg[random.randint(0, len(arg) -1)]

print(random_item("treehouse"))

or if you don't want to pass through an arg:

import random

def random_item():
    return "Treehouse"[random.randint(0, len(arg) -1)]

print(random_item())