Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Dictionaries Word Count

Holden Glass
Holden Glass
6,077 Points
Posted by Holden Glass
Holden Glass
6,077 Points

Not sure how to split on more than one parameter

It says that I need to split on not only spaces but I don't know how to split on more that one symbol.

wordcount.py 
# E.g. word_count("I do not like it Sam I Am") gets back a dictionary like:
# {'i': 2, 'do': 1, 'it': 1, 'sam': 1, 'like': 1, 'not': 1, 'am': 1}
# Lowercase the string to make it easier.

def word_count(string):
    words = {}
    stri = string.lower()
    the_string = stri.split(' ')
    for word in the_string:
        if word in words:
            words[word] = words[word] + 1
        else:
            words[word] = 1

    return words

2 Answers

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

By default split splits and all whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines, etc.)

So the solution is to not pass in any parameters, like this:

# This is only an example
"abc".split()

I hope this gives you. :smile:

~Alex

Holden Glass
Holden Glass
6,077 Points
Holden Glass
Holden Glass
6,077 Points

Yes, thank you. It worked just fine.