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Python Python Collections (2016, retired 2019) Lists Disemvowel

Vic A
Vic A
5,452 Points

what is the issue here? My code looks correct to me.

For some reason this code isn't working quite right. Need help

disemvowel.py
def disemvowel(word):
    word = list(word)
    vowels = list("aeiouAIEOU")
    for v in word:
        if v in vowels:
            word.remove(v)
        else:
            continue
    word2 = ''.join(word)
    return word2
Caleb Shook
Caleb Shook
3,194 Points

I was running into the same issue. When altering lists with a loop, I learned it is best to work with a copy of the list. When you call the remove() function, after removing the value, the rest of the indexes get decremented. For example; you call disemvowel on "aAc" you would get back Ac because it skipped over 'A' due to its index moving backward. You should create a copy of the list before the for loop. Then iterate through the original list and remove the vowels from the list copy and return that one.

2 Answers

Logan R
Logan R
22,989 Points

Your solution basically works but you have a small problem. You are modifying your variable word in the middle of the loop with your .remove(v). This messes up the loop and doesn't properly iterate over it.

Some examples:

> disemvowel("HellOoO")
'Hllo'

> disemvowel("HelloO")
'HllO'

A simple solution that works in this case is to just iterate over a copy of the list. This way as you modify the list, it doesn't modify the list it is iterating over. To do this, you can just do:

for v in list(word):
    .....

If you can't get it to work, feel free to leave a reply!

Vic A
Vic A
5,452 Points

Thanks a lot for the help. Although I don't fully understand the fix, your solution fixed the problem. Also, I am curious to know if you know the cleanest/shortest way to write this function. I feel there is a more concise way than I have attempted.

Thanks Again

Logan R
Logan R
22,989 Points

Check out Caleb Shook reply above. He explains why pretty well.

The shortest possible way is to jam up the whole thing onto two lines.

def disemvowel(word):
    return ''.join([letter for letter in word if letter.lower() not in 'aeiou'])

The shortest and cleanest way to write it is to expand the previous example. This is my preferred way of tackling this challenge.

def disemvowel(word):
    result = ''
    for letter in word:
        if letter.lower() not in 'aeiou':
            result += letter
    return result

I hope this helps :grin:

:sparkles: :+1: :sparkles:

:dizzy: ~Alex :dizzy:

Vic A
Vic A
5,452 Points

Awesome. Thanks man. I didn't know you could iterate through string using 'not in'. Now I know.

No problem :)

You can also use in and not in on lists.