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Python Python Collections (Retired) Dictionaries Word Count

Why is this python code saying that it's not defined?

I've had a play around with it and I've put the b = string outside of the func and not in the arguement as a string as I was getting another error message when it was a local variable. please can you tell me what is wrong with this code? It says My_list is not defined.

word_count.py
# E.g. word_count("I am that I am") gets back a dictionary like:
# {'i': 2, 'am': 2, 'that': 1}
# Lowercase the string to make it easier.
# Using .split() on the sentence will give you a list of words.
# In a for loop of that list, you'll have a word that you can
# check for inclusion in the dict (with "if word in dict"-style syntax).
# Or add it to the dict with something like word_dict[word] = 1.
b = ("I am that I am")

def word_count(b):
  my_dict = {}
  My_list = b.split()

  for each_item in My_list:
    my_dict[each_item] = 0

  for each_item in My_list:
    if each_item in My_list.keys():
      my_dict[each_item] += 1

  return my_dict
print(my_dict)

2 Answers

Chris Adamson
Chris Adamson
132,143 Points

The issue with your code segment is that my_dict is declared inside the word_count method and then your trying to access it outside the method, where it doesn't have scope.

def word_count(b):
  word_list = b.split()
  ret_val = {}
  for word in word_list:
    if word in ret_val:
      ret_val[word] += 1
    else:
      ret_val[word] = 1

  return ret_val

my_dict = word_count("a b c")
print(my_dict)

Thanks again chris but I'm now getting "key error "I"" .