Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python

Posted by Maryam nazemi
Maryam nazemi
1,315 Points

why is .lower() needed?

This is the code i am writing (please see below), question is, why would the code not work if i remove the ".lower()" from the code?:

def lumberjack(name): if name.lower()=="kenneth": print("kenneth is a lumberjack") else: print("{} sleeps all night and {} works all day".format(name,name))

lumberjack("dolly")

1 Answer

Evan Demaris
Evan Demaris
64,262 Points
Evan Demaris
Evan Demaris
64,262 Points

Hi Maryam,

The .lower() is important because the string is being compared against "kenneth". Without .lower() being applied, only an input of "kenneth" would work; so "Kenneth", "KenNeth", "KENNETH" etc wouldn't be equal to "kenneth".