Raise a ValueError code not working please HELP!!

Hi Steven,

Assuming that the code you posted above looks like this in your editor (see the Markdown Cheatsheet link below the forum post text boxes to see how you can do this - it's easy!):

def suggest(product_name): 
    return product_name + "inator"
if product_name <= 3: 
    raise ValueError ("Please use more than 3 characters")

suggest("nam")

The first problem is that your if statement needs to be inside the function definition. The idea is that within the suggest function, you need it to make a choice of what to do, based on the input.

• Choice 1: if the product_name is more than 3 letters long, return the name + "inator".
• Choice 2: otherwise, raise a ValueError.

Because that "if" statement is not part of the function, product_name means nothing at that point. Not only is Python running the if statement before it runs the suggest function, but because product_name only has a value inside the suggest function, product_name is not defined outside the function (we can say it is 'out of scope'). This is why you're getting a NameError.

Also, right now you're comparing product_name (a string) to a number, where what you really want is to compare the string's length to a number - so you'll want to do this:

# Do this...
if len(product_name) <= 3:

# ... not this:
if product_name <= 3:

Finally, you'll want that return product_name + "inator" line last in the function. If you put it first, where it is now, it will run that line and exit out of the function before it ever gets to your if statement.

So in summary, to fix this code, try the following:

1. Move the if statement inside the suggest function.
2. Move that return statement so it's the last thing in the function (i.e., it needs to evaluate the if statement first).
3. Make sure the if statement is comparing the length of product_name to 3.

Hope this helps!

Thank you both so much for your responses, this has been driving me mad. I have changed the code and i now get the value error. However just out of curiosity if i run it like this

def suggest(product_name): 
    if len(product_name) <= 3: 
        raise ValueError ("Please use more than 3 characters")
        return product_name + "inator"

suggest("name")

Should this now not return the name - nameinator because when I run it in the workspace nothing happens at all?

try

print(suggest("name"))

Thanks again. So just to clarify is that because a return value isnt always visible and to see the result of a return i should print it?

Brill thank you again for taking the time to help me.