Why does my output execute multiple print functions?

Question

I'm working on a guessing game where the user inputs a number until they get it correct. I'm trying to understand why my output creates multiple print functions if I don't guess in the first try. But if I guess the answer correctly on first try, it prints correctly.

ans = 5

def function(guess, ans):
    if ans != guess:
        if ans < guess:
            print("Guess lower")
            return False
        elif ans > guess:
            print("Guess higher")
            return False
    elif ans == guess:
        print("Correct!")

def init():
    print("Guess a number between 1 and 10: ")
    guess = int(input())
    main(guess)

def main(guess):
    while function(guess, ans) == False:  
        init()
        function(guess, ans)
        break

init()

Outputs:

Correct guess on first attempt:

Guess a number between 1 and 10:
5
Correct!

Correct guess on third attempt:

Guess a number between 1 and 10:
4
Guess higher
Guess a number between 1 and 10:
6
Guess lower
5
Correct!
Guess lower
Guess higher

Answer 1

It is because of this:

1. The answer is incorrect. So you go to init()
2. The init() again passes the argument to main() function. So, it has become a sort of recursion where the function is executed again.

Here is what your code is doing.

main()
|__init()
|  |
|  main()
|  |
|  function()
|
function()

That is why you are getting that output. Also, this hierarchy increases 1 level with each incorrect answer.

Instead, here is what you can do:

ans = 5
guess=0
def function(guess, ans):
    if ans != guess:
        if ans < guess:
            print("Guess lower")
            return False
        elif ans > guess:
            print("Guess higher")
            return False
    elif ans == guess:
        print("Correct!")
        return True
def init(guess):
    while True:
        print("Guess a number between 1 and 10: ")
        guess = int(input())
        if function(guess, ans):
            break

init(guess)

Answer 2

All explanations were given by @Sujay.

This is an alternative with local variable.

ans = 5

def guess_my_number(guess, ans):  # <- choose a meaning function name
    if ans != guess:
        if ans < guess:
            print("Guess lower")
            return False
        elif ans > guess:
            print("Guess higher")
            return False
    elif ans == guess:
        print("Correct!")
        return True  # <- It's important to return True

def main():
    # If user guessed the answer, this variable is set to True
    good_answer = False
    # So while the user has not found, continue to ask him a number
    while good_answer != True:
        print("Guess a number between 1 and 10: ")
        guess = int(input())
        good_answer = guess_my_number(guess, ans)

main()

Answer 3

The answer to your question is that when your input isn't correct the first time, your code is entering into a recursive call because of the main(guess) line that you've put in the init() function which later is returning those extra lines of output that you don't want to see. (For n incorrect tries, you'll be seeing n such extra lines after your code prints out Correct! depending on whether your previous inputs were higher or lower.)

First, there is no need of ans != guess , you can simply make a conditional with if-elif-else condition like:

def function(guess, ans):
    if ans < guess:
        print("Guess lower")
        return False
    elif ans > guess:
        print("Guess higher")
        return False
    else: # This will automatically be ans = guess case 
        print("Correct!")
        return True # You weren't returning any value here and I suppose you wanted to exploit this

You'll need to remove the main(guess) line from your init() function to avoid recursive-call and add a line to return guess ie user input so that you can pass it on to the main() function.

def init():
    print("Guess a number between 1 and 10: ")
    guess = int(input())
    return guess

Now, you need to modify your main function like-

def main():
    while True:  
        guess = init()
        if function(guess, ans):
            break

You can call the main function as shown below and it'll work-

main()

PS- There are many ways to fix your code into the one which does what you wish to do and this is just one of those ways.

Answer 4

Just remove function(guess, ans) in the main() function. you are already using while loop and returning bool values from function()

Answer 5

在函数function()中，当满足value时返回true