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Python Introducing Lists Using Lists Continental

Posted by Katrine AMS Guirguis
Katrine AMS Guirguis
2,587 Points

Lists/Continents Python challenge: I need help with task 2

I’m confused about the code for task two....

continents.py 
continents = [
    '*Asia',
    '*South America',
    '*North America',
    '*Africa',
    '*Europe',
    '*Antarctica',
    '*Australia',
]
print("continents:")
for continent in continents:
    print("*" + continent)

3 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points

Hey Katrine Guirguis, After Task 1, the for-loop and the print statement output every continent in continents. For Task 2, the challenges is to only print the continents that begin with an A.

One strategy is to use a put the print statement in a code block under a conditional statement, such as an if statement. The condition would be to verify the first character of the continent name begins with an "A".

As a refresher, you can access the first character of a string continent using an index, as in, continent[0] or the method continent.startswith() where the argument is the string you hope to match, as in, startswith(“A”)

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

Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points

Sorry, there are two other errors in the code.

  • asterisks were added to the items in the continents list. These need removal
  • the print statement needs to add a space between the asterisk and the continent name
Katrine AMS Guirguis
Katrine AMS Guirguis
2,587 Points
Katrine AMS Guirguis
Katrine AMS Guirguis
2,587 Points

That’s what I thought of, but I kinda need help with the if statement... Also, would we have to use the index string as the challenge says? Thanks!

Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points
Chris Freeman
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,423 Points

I’ve expanded my answer above to show more explicit examples on how to access the first character of the variable string continent using an index and with the existing method startswith()

Katrine AMS Guirguis
Katrine AMS Guirguis
2,587 Points
Katrine AMS Guirguis
Katrine AMS Guirguis
2,587 Points

Thank you!!