How to identify if only a certain amount of numbers in an array are consecutive

Question

I've been making a poker simulator and I've managed to make a function which can identify an array which has consecutive numbers.

def straightCheck(playerHand):
    playerHand.sort()
    print(playerHand)
    for i in range(len(playerHand)-1):
        if playerHand[i] != playerHand [i+1] - 1:
            return False
            print(handstrength)
    return True
    print(handstrength)

The only problem is that I want the function to identify 5 consecutive numbers in the array when the length of the array is greater than 5. For example: I want the array [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] to return True but i also want the array [1,3,4,5,6,7,9] to return True.

Joost · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-18 21:37:46Z

2

You're returning False too soon. Instead, you could keep a running tally of the amount of consecutive numbers you've seen so far, and reset it when you come across a number that breaks the streak.

def straightCheck(playerHand):
    playerHand.sort()
    tally = 1
    for i in range(len(playerHand)-1):
        if playerHand[i] != playerHand [i+1] - 1:
            tally = 0
        tally += 1
        if tally >= 5:
            return True
    return False

answered Oct 18, 2015 at 21:37

Joost

4,1443 gold badges33 silver badges58 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Ron Deijkers · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-18 21:40:49Z

1

Right now you check if numbers are not consecutive and then return false. I think you could better check if numbers are consecutive and if so raise a counter and if not then reset it. That way you know how many numbers are consecutive. If that is 5 or higher you should return True.

answered Oct 18, 2015 at 21:40

Ron Deijkers

3,1112 gold badges24 silver badges30 bronze badges

Comments

Eugene Yarmash · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-18 21:50:01Z

1

If you have a working function, you could just process all the 5-card sets in a loop:

for i in range(len(values) - 4):
    is_straight = straightCheck(values[i:i+5])
    if is_straight:
        break
print(is_straight)

answered Oct 18, 2015 at 21:50

Eugene Yarmash

152k44 gold badges346 silver badges391 bronze badges

Comments

Ehsan Mohammadi · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-18 21:53:03Z

-2

def straightCheck(playerHand):
    playerHand.sort()
    print(playerHand)
    count = 0;
    for i in range(len(playerHand)-1):
        if playerHand[i] == playerHand [i+1] - 1:
            count += 1
            if count >= 5:
                return True
        else:
            count = 0

    return False

edited Oct 18, 2015 at 21:53

answered Oct 18, 2015 at 21:44

Ehsan Mohammadi

1118 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to identify if only a certain amount of numbers in an array are consecutive

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related