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Python Python Basics (2015) Python Data Types Use .split() and .join()

Trouble answering Question 1 of Code Challenge.

The Code Challenge Question is ; "I think it's time for a snack. Luckily I have a string full of types of ice cream sundaes. Unluckily, they're all in one string and the string has semi-colons in it too. Use .split() to break the available string apart on the semi-colons (;). Assign this to a new variable sundaes." I simply don't know what next step to take. Here is the code I came up with. I am obviously missing something obvious, but cannot seem to see it.

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
available.split(';')
available.join + ';'.join(sundaes)
banana.py
available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
available.split(';')
available.join + ';'.join(sundaes)

5 Answers

Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
21,074 Points

In task one you only have to "Use .split() to break the available string apart on the semi-colons (;). Assign this to a new variable sundaes.". You could do that like this:

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(";")
Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
21,074 Points

Remember not to forget the "=" operator to actually assign the String to the "menu" variable.

In the second task you have to create the "menu" variable and assign it the string "Our available flavors are:{}."

Then in the third task you have to format that string, placing in the "placeholder {}" the joined version of the variable "sundaes". Remember that we split the variable "sundaes" so we convert it into a list and then we are converting it to a string again. You could do it like this:

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(";")
menu = "Our available flavors are:{}.".format(", ".join(sundaes))

Ok, so the second task only passed once I copied Carlos's entire code into it. Adding the "=" operator did nothing. Also, that piece of code solved the second and third task in a row, requiring no additional coding. Why would it do that?

On a side question, for what purpose are the operators {} .". inserted in to the menu value? What purpose do they serve, since we didn't even use the curly braces as a placeholder when we ran ".format" to fill the menu with the "sundaes" variable?

Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
Carlos Federico Puebla Larregle
21,074 Points

Adding the "=" operator didn't make pass the task because you have a dot at the end of the line. So

Task 1:

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(";")

Task 2:

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(";")
menu = "Our available flavors are:{}."

Task 3:

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(";")
menu = "Our available flavors are:{}.".format(", ".join(sundaes))

You use the "{}" to put in there the string "banana split, hot fudge, cherry, malted, black and white". The one you had in the first place but with commas instead of ";".

Thanks for the help Carlos!

Predictably, I'm not understanding how to solve the next question either.

Let's add a new string variable for displaying our menu items. Make a new variable named menu that's set to "Our available flavors are: {}.".

available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(';')
menu  "Our available flavors are: {}.".

Am I supposed to insert the value of the variable "available" into the wacka wackas?

I'm pretty sure the only thing you are missing here is the = after the word 'menu'.

Remember, anything not assigned to a variable won't be saved and accessible later on (which was your problem with the first part, as you did not assign the .split() to a variable). The = symbol is what tells python 'this is a variable and this is what it holds' so without it python thinks its just broken coding.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Gotcha. I was confused by the grammar that Treehouse used to write the instructions. They put a period at the end of the sentence, to finish the sentence grammatically. I thought that the period was a piece of syntax,