Python How to accept only certain words with user input

Question

Ok so The script is now working, Id like to thank all for the advice.

heres the final script

import smtplib 
import xbmc
import xbmcgui
import datetime

list = ("mary", "james", "tilly")

kb = xbmc.Keyboard('', 'Please type in your name to continue')
kb.doModal()
typedin = kb.getText()

if typedin.lower() in list:
    now = datetime.datetime.now()
    runtime = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")

    content = xbmc.executebuiltin('kb.getText()')
    mailserver = smtplib.SMTP("smtp.mail.com",25)
    mailserver.ehlo()
    mailserver.starttls()
    mailserver.login('mail@somemail.com','somepwd')
    mailserver.sendmail('mail@somemail.com','mail@somemail.com',typedin + ' has run proggy ' + runtime)
    mailserver.close()
    xbmc.executebuiltin("Notification(An email has been sent, yada yada yada,()")
else:
    xbmc.executebuiltin("THE INPUTTED NAME, IS NOT VALID,()")
    xbmcgui.Dialog().ok(
    "Please try again - User name not correct",
    "The input yada yada",
    "yada yada",
    "yada yada")

So, just to let you know that im using live mail which works on port 25. Tried and tested on both windows and linux and openelec. Working fine.

Answer 1

Maybe something along the lines of an if statement? So only if one of these words are given, then do the rest, otherwise do not accept.

list = ["simon", "tom", "sarah", "peter", "jane"]
word = input()
if word.lower() in list:
    print('Ok')
    #continue with rest of program
else:
     print('No, sorry')

Answer 2

The best to do in a situation where one wishes to grab input from a user is to do a while loop with a raw_input statement like:

word_list = ['simon', 'tom', 'sarah', 'peter', 'jane', 'sue']

def get_word():
    """returns the word that the user chooses"""
    print("Please choose a name from the following:")
    w_string = ""
    for w in word_list:
        w_string += w + ', '
    #print the word list without a comma at the end.
    print(w_string[:-1])

    while True:
        word = raw_input("\n> ") #use input("\n> ") for python3
        #If you wish to accept something like "SiMoN      " or "S Imon "
        #have the following line:
        word = word.lower().strip()
        if word in word_list:
            return word
        else:
            print("'%s' is not in the list of words. Please choose from the following:\n%s" % (word, w_string[:-1]))

word = get_word()
print(word)

Answer 3

I the best option would me not to covert the list to string and check if the entered name is in the list like..

import smtplib
import xbmc
import xbmcgui
import datetime

nameList = ["simon", "tom", "sarah", "peter", "jane"]
kb = raw_input('Please type in your name to continue:')

if kb in nameList:
    now = datetime.datetime.now()
    runtime = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")

    content = xbmc.executebuiltin('kb.getText()')
    mailserver = smtplib.SMTP("smtp.mail.com",25)
    mailserver.ehlo()
    mailserver.starttls()
    mailserver.login('mail@somemail.com','somepwd')
    mailserver.sendmail('mail@somemail.com','mail@somemail.com',typedin + 'has run keymail ' + runtime)
    mailserver.close()
else:
    print ("The Name %s, was not in the list")%kb

and dont use list and str as a variable names.