Any trick or workaround for indexing a string using a variable?

Question

import random

word_list = ['ardvark', 'baboon', 'camel']
word = random.choice(word_list)
riddle = len(word) * '_'
print(riddle)

while '_' in riddle:
    guess = input('Guess a letter: ').lower()
    for letter in word:
        index = (word.index(guess))
        if letter == guess:
            riddle[index] = letter
            print(riddle)

resulting in

     riddle[index] = letter
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment

I know I know, strings are immutable but still... why? They are indexable so this just might work somehow if proper workaround is applied. Or not?

Strings are immutable, meaning you can't change them. You need to build a new string. — h0r53, May 03 '22 at 16:22
Does this answer your question? [Why are Python strings immutable? Best practices for using them](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8680080/why-are-python-strings-immutable-best-practices-for-using-them) — alex, May 03 '22 at 16:24

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 03 '22 at 16:23

2

make riddle a list and then print it with no seperator when needed

riddle = list(len(word) * '_')


print(*riddle, sep="")

answered May 03 '22 at 16:23

Sayse

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 03 '22 at 16:23

In python (and some other languages) strings are immutable. The workaround is to use a list instead:

import random

word_list = ['ardvark', 'baboon', 'camel']
word = random.choice(word_list)
riddle =   ['_'] * len(word)
print(''.join(riddle))

while '_' in riddle:
    guess = input('Guess a letter: ').lower()
    for letter in word:
        index = (word.index(guess))
        if letter == guess:
            riddle[index] = letter
            print(''.join(riddle))

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 03 '22 at 16:29

You can redifine riddle in this way. However, you should also catch better the error resulting if one guesses a letter which is not contained in the word.

import random

word_list = ['ardvark', 'baboon', 'camel']
word = random.choice(word_list)
riddle = len(word) * '_'
print(riddle)

while '_' in riddle:
    guess = input('Guess a letter: ').lower()
    for letter in word:
        index = (word.index(guess))
        if letter == guess:
            riddle = riddle[:index] + letter + riddle[index+1:]
            print(riddle)

Thank you, seemed like a very original solution but would not work for word 'ardvark' even when 'a' gets guessed twice. — Mirek Hotový, May 03 '22 at 17:00

Any trick or workaround for indexing a string using a variable?

3 Answers3