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Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Random Item

Caleb Pitts
Caleb Pitts
967 Points
Posted by Caleb Pitts
Caleb Pitts
967 Points

Problem with random. code

What am I doing wrong here? I'm supposed to return the random character associated with its index.

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

def random_item(iterable):
    chosen = random.randint(0,(len(iterable)-1))
    return chosen
Jeremy Hill
Jeremy Hill
29,567 Points 
def random_item(iterable):
    return iterable[len(iterable)-1]

The challenge wants you to make the index the random number- that is why I used square brackets in there.

1 Answer

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points
Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

I am very proud of you that you got that far. the problem is very minor but very important, too. Your 'chosen' variable is always going to be a index, not an element in the list, so the thing missing is to get the element (from iterable) with your index. Try this (yes, yes, I got rid of the chosen variable)

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

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

Hope that help you out :smile: