How to pass words to an array not single characters - Python

Question

So I'm reading in a txt file in python and want to get a list of all the words in the file. I am doing so by this method.

def parse_in(file_location, input_name):
    all_words = []
    with open(file_location + input_name,'r') as f:
        for line in f:
            for word in line.split():
                all_words += word
    f.close
    return all_words

Instead of all_words returning actual words it returns a list of single characters like ['A', 'B', 'C'] and so on.

But when debugging I can see that the variable word is an actual word and not just characters. Where am I going wrong here?

f.close does nothing. Your adding a sequence (string) to another sequence (a list), so you get a sequence thats the combination of both sequences. Use list.append. — Pedro Rodrigues
– Pedro Rodrigues, Commented Feb 13, 2019 at 11:49

khelwood · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-13 11:48:35Z

3

Use

all_words.append(word)

instead of

all_words += word

If you use += then word is treated as a sequence, so the individual characters are each appended to the list.

Alternatively, you can use +=, and simplify your loop to:

for line in f:
    all_words += line.split()

answered Feb 13, 2019 at 11:48

khelwood

59.7k14 gold badges91 silver badges116 bronze badges

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

Comments

Amit Nanaware · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-13 11:47:52Z

0

try this:

def parse_in(file_location, input_name):
    all_words = []
    with open(file_location + input_name,'r') as f:
        for line in f:
            all_words += line.split()
    return all_words

answered Feb 13, 2019 at 11:47

Amit Nanaware

3,3961 gold badge9 silver badges19 bronze badges

Comments

cg909 · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-13 11:49:32Z

0

all_words += word extends the list all_words with the items in word. As word is a string, the characters are appended, as if you had iterated through it with for.

Use all_words.append(word) to append the word to the word list.

answered Feb 13, 2019 at 11:49

cg909

2,58422 silver badges25 bronze badges

Comments

kederrac · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-13 11:53:10Z

0

if you use context manager you do not need to close the file, and for simplicity you could just read entire file and just use split method

def parse_in(file_location, input_name):
    all_words = []
    with open(file_location + input_name,'r') as f:
        all_words = f.read().split()

    return all_words

answered Feb 13, 2019 at 11:53

kederrac

17.4k6 gold badges36 silver badges58 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to pass words to an array not single characters - Python

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