User input loop

Question

I can't get this short piece of code to work. What I am trying to do is ask user to enter a 4 letter word, if they don't then ask them to try again, if they do then to say thanks. I added the while True, try & except part as it looked like the best way to keep looping around but I didn't really get it.

while True:
    try:
        word=input("Please enter a four letter word: ")
        word_length=len(word)
    except word_length != 4:
        print("That's not a four letter word. Try again: ")
        continue
    else: 
        break

if word_length ==4:
    print("Thanks")

You could start by identifying what language you are trying to use. — Scott Hunter
– Scott Hunter, Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 20:10
not sure why my code hasn't displayed correctly in my question sorry — Eleanor Laurence
– Eleanor Laurence, Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 20:11
That's not how you use except. You use except to catch an exception thrown by something. — gen_Eric
– gen_Eric, Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 20:16

gen_Eric · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-10 20:26:53Z

1

except is for catching exceptions (other languages use try and catch instead).

In this case, you just need to use a simple if to check if the value is what you want:

while True:
    try:
        word = input("Please enter a four letter word: ")
        word_length = len(word)
    except TypeError:
        print('error getting word length')
    else:
        if word_length != 4:
            print("That's not a four letter word. Try again: ")
        else:
            break

if word_length == 4:
    print("Thanks")

edited Feb 10, 2020 at 20:26

answered Feb 10, 2020 at 20:19

gen_Eric

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2 Comments

Eleanor Laurence Over a year ago

Thank you for your help - the bit that's missing is the loop back around, so it says try again but doesn't allow user to input for a 2nd time when I test this?

gen_Eric Over a year ago

@EleanorLaurence Yes, looks like I needed to move the word_length check into the else of the try block.

Jakob F · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-10 20:19:38Z

1

Use if-else instead of try-except:

while True:
    word=input("Please enter a four letter word: ")

    if len(word) == 4:
        print("Thanks")
        break
    else:
        print("That's not a four letter word. Try again: ")

answered Feb 10, 2020 at 20:19

Jakob F

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