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Python

John Nguyen
John Nguyen
32 Points
Posted by John Nguyen
John Nguyen
32 Points

Python Recursion

Lets say I wanted to make a def that takes only the first initials of a word in a list. How would I do that?

For example listName = ['Bob' , 'Joe' , Ashley'] def first_letter(listName): //returns [B,J,A]

2 Answers

William Li
PLUS
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 Points
William Li
William Li
Courses Plus Student 26,868 Points

List Comprehension

def first_letter(listName):
  return [i[0] for i in listName]

But if you really want to do it in recursion

# recursive version
def first_letter(listName):
  if len(listName) == 0:   # base case
    return []
  else:
    return [listName[0][0]] + first_letter(listName[1:])  # recursive call

Seriously, list comprehension is way better here.

John Nguyen
John Nguyen
32 Points
John Nguyen
John Nguyen
32 Points

Thank you William . That really helped me. I appreciate it !