defining a function for the HANGMAN game using a loop in python

Question

i am a beginner in python and would appreciate your help.

I need to define a function(part of the HANGMAN GAME):

def show_hidden_word(secret_word, old_letters_guessed):

secret_word = a string of the word the player needs to guess. old_letters_guessed = a list that contains the guessed letters by the player thus far.

the function needs to return a string made from letters and ' _ '. the string shows the letters from the old_letters_guessed list that are in the secret_word string in their right place(index), and the rest of the letters the player has not guessed yet as a ' _ '.

its supposed to look like this:

>>> secret_word = "mammals"
>>> old_letters_guessed = ['s', 'p', 'j', 'i', 'm', 'k']
>>> print(show_hidden_word(secret_word, old_letters_guessed))
m _ m m _ _ s

this is what ive tried to do and it doesn't work (has to be done using for/ while loop):

def show_hidden_word(secret_word, old_letters_guessed):
 clue = ""
 for letter in secret_word:
  if letter in clue == True:
   clue + letter
   clue = clue + letter
  else:
   clue + '_'
   clue = '_'+ clue
 return clue

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

This should do the trick:

def show_hidden_word(secret_word, old_letters_guessed):
  return " ".join([c if c in old_letters_guessed else "_" for c in secret_word])

secret_word = "mammals"
old_letters_guessed = ['s', 'p', 'j', 'i', 'm', 'k']
print(show_hidden_word(secret_word, old_letters_guessed))

Answer 2

There are a few issues in your code:

• clue = '_' + clue should be clue = clue + '_' , since you want to append the underscore, not prepend it. You did it right for the other case, where you have clue = clue + letter

• The if condition is wrong in two ways:

  • It should not have the comparison with True , as this will first compare the string with True , and only then perform the in operator.
  • You don't want to check whether the letter is in clue (which is the result you are building), but whether it is in the old guesses.

  So it should be: if letter in old_letters_guessed:

• Not a blocking issue, but the stand-alone expressions clue + letter and clue + '_' do nothing useful. These lines of code can be removed.

If you fix those issues, your code will work.