How to reference a string in a list in python

Question

I've been writing a program (a hangman game) today, and have come across a few snags, I know you guys don't like people just using this as answers to their homework, but I have searched quite a while, and while I have posted this program earlier in the development, I have come to new ground. I am getting to grips with lists, tuples, dictionaries, etc. and this program has been great practice. Sorry for the wall of text!

The Question:

Is there a way to refer to a string when using a list?

Context - defining a function (last line being a test to see if working)

def click_1 (text):
    key_1 = word.index [letter]
    hidden_word[key_1] = letter
    print (hidden_word)

This throws up a long error, which I wont post, here is the 'important' part in my eyes:

File "/Users/foo/Desktop/Hangman.py", line 19, in click_1
    key_1 = word.index [letter]
TypeError: 'builtin_function_or_method' object is not subscriptable

If someone could help me, that would be great. I've tried using the 'in' statement, but I have not been able to make it work - currently, though I suspect it may be part of the solution. I've tried:

key_1 = word.index [letter in word]

and:

key_1 = word.index([letter] in word)

both of which do not work.

Cheers in advance from a young programmer!

Answer 1

I have no idea what your function is SUPPOSED to do, but here's the issue you're having:

def click_1(text):
    key_1 = word.index [letter]
    # word.index(letter) calls the function,
    # word.index[letter] tries to treat the function like a dictionary
    # and pull up its value attached to the key `letter`
    hidden_word[key_1] = letter
    print (hidden_word)

Alternatively I'd suggest looking at a different design pattern. Try instead:

the_word = generate_random_word_from(word_list)
# which is probably as simple as random.choice(word_list)

guessed_letters = set()

def display_word():
    global the_word
    global guessed_letters
    # globals are bad in practice, but this is actually a great use case
    # for a global if you haven't wrapped this all up in OOP yet!

    masked_list = [letter if letter in guessed_letters else "_" for
                     letter in the_word]
    # this is literally:
    # # masked_list = []
    # # for letter in the_word:
    # #     if letter in guessed_letters:
    # #         masked_list.append(letter)
    # #     else:
    # #         masked_list.append("_")
    masked_word = ''.join(masked_list)
    # join the list on an empty string, e.g.:
    # ['s','_','m','e','w','_','r','d'] becomes 's_mew_rd'
    print(masked_word)
    # this wouldn't be a bad place to trigger your win condition, too.
    # Could be as simple as
    # # if "_" not in masked_word:
    # #     you_win()

def guess_letter():
    global the_word
    global guessed_letters

    guessed_letter = prompt_for_letter_somehow()
    if guessed_letter not in the_word:
        add_hangman_piece() # put another arm/leg/whatever on your dude
    guessed_letters.add(guessed_letter)
        # add that letter to the guessed_letters set anyway
    # validation would be nice here so you can't just keep guessing the same letters

Answer 2

This is a hangman game I had to make for the mitx intro to computer science a long time ago, you may find it useful and it shows how to make a game without the need for any global declaration:

from string import ascii_lowercase


def is_word_guessed(secret_word, letters_guessed):
    return all(x in letters_guessed for x in secret_word)


def get_available_letters(letters_guessed):
    return "".join([x for x in ascii_lowercase if x not in letters_guessed])


def get_guessed_word(secret_word, letters_guessed):
    return "".join([letter if letter in letters_guessed else "_" for letter in secret_word])


def hangman(secret_word):
    print "Welcome to the game Hangman!"
    print "I am thinking of a word that is {} letters long\n-----------".format(len(secret_word))
    guesses = 8
    letters_guessed = []
    missed_l = ''
    correct_l = ''
    while True:
        if is_word_guessed(secret_word, letters_guessed):
            print "Congratulations, you won!"
            break
        elif len(missed_l) == 8:
            print "Sorry, you ran out of guesses. The word was {}.".format(secret_word)
            break
        print "You have {} guesses left".format(guesses)
        print "Available Letters: {}".format(get_available_letters(letters_guessed))
        l = raw_input("Please guess a letter: ").lower()
        if l in letters_guessed:
            print "Oops! You've already guessed that letter: {}\n-----------".format(
                get_guessed_word(secret_word, letters_guessed))
        elif l in secret_word:
            letters_guessed.append(l)
            get_guessed_word(secret_word, letters_guessed)
            correct_l += l
            print( "Good guess: {}\n-----------".format(
                "".join([x if x in letters_guessed else "_" for x in secret_word])))
        elif l not in secret_word:
            letters_guessed.append(l)
            guesses -= 1
            print "Oops! That letter is not in my word: {}\n-----------".format(
                get_guessed_word(secret_word, letters_guessed))
            missed_l += l

hangman("foobar")