Adding to a dictionary in python3 from a txt file with multiple values

Question

A homework assignment I have been working on.

I'm currently trying to read in a txt file:

• firstname lastname 01 02 03
• firstname lastname 01 02 03
• firstname lastname 01 02 03
• firstname lastname 01 02 03

Then put the names together and add the numbers. The problem is the way my code is now I "need more than 1 value to unpack" (error) and I am not sure how to do more than 2 values currently.

fname = input("Enter the name of the file you want to open: ")
fo = open(fname, "r")

d = {}

for line in fo:
    (key, val) = line.strip().split(":")
    d[key] = int(value)

fo.close()

Answer 1

You can simply write more than two values before the = on assignment. You have five values per line, so you can write

fname, lname, val1, val2, val3 = line.strip().split(":")

But your error "need more than 1 value to unpack" signals another problem: you only get one value out of your split() and try to put it into two variables. You need to change the ":" in the call to .split() to the character separating the columns in your file. If it's a whitespace the following will work:

fname, lname, val1, val2, val3 = line.strip().split(" ")