Guys I am new to python, can please help me understand why my code is giving me "none" as output?

Question

def deal_card():

    cards = [11, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10]
    card = random.choice(cards)
    return card

user_cards = []

computer_cards = [] 

for _ in range(2):

    user_cards.append(deal_card())
    computer_cards.append(deal_card())

draw_another_card = input("Type 'y' to get another card, type 'n' to pass : ")

if draw_another_card == "y":

    new_user_cards = user_cards.append(deal_card())
    new_computer_cards = computer_cards.append(deal_card())
    print(new_user_cards)

when I print new_user_cards, it shows none. I don't understand why, I googled a lot but couldn't get any answers.

The random function is from replit.

I would really like to what is going wrong in the above code!

`append` modifies the list in place, and returns `None`, not a new updated list as you seem to expect. — Thierry Lathuille, Jul 25 '21 at 12:27
```new_user_cards = user_cards.append(deal_card())```. append is an inplace function. It returns None — , Jul 25 '21 at 12:27
See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16641119/why-does-append-always-return-none-in-python — Thierry Lathuille, Jul 25 '21 at 12:29
Does this answer your question? [Why does append() always return None in Python?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16641119/why-does-append-always-return-none-in-python) — Björn, Jul 25 '21 at 22:30

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '21 at 12:32

In addition to the comments of @ThierryLathuille and @Sujay.

If you want the new_user_card and new_computer_card values, you can:

Replace:

    new_user_cards = user_cards.append(deal_card())
    new_computer_cards = computer_cards.append(deal_card())

By:

    new_user_card = deal_card()  # without plural because there is only one
    user_cards.append(new_user_card)
    new_computer_card = deal_card()  # without plural because there is only one
    computer_cards.append(new_computer_card)

Or:

    user_cards.append(deal_card())
    new_user_card = user_cards[-1]  # last item of the list
    computer_cards.append(deal_card())
    new_computer_card = computer_cards[-1]  # last item of the list

Hey Corralien, it worked perfectly, Thank you very much and I also understood where I was going wrong with the append function! — Shaivik7, Jul 25 '21 at 13:01

Guys I am new to python, can please help me understand why my code is giving me "none" as output?

1 Answers1