Member Avatar for fuston05

im asking w input() for user to input "spelling words" for a kids homework, and i want it to append or add the words entered into a list. i got it to ask for user input for the words, but not sure how to make it add them into a list. any ides?? thanx in advance :)

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Dani AI

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Short answer: create the list once before the loop and give the loop a clear exit. was correct — putting the list creation inside the loop resets it every time, and you need a break condition so the program can stop. Also fix the shebang if you use one (/usr/bin/python, not /usr/ben/python).

Example (Python 3): this loads any previously saved words, prompts until the user enters a blank line, appends each new word, then writes the full list back to a text file.

try:
    with open('spelling_words.txt') as f:
        spell = [line.strip() for line in f if line.strip()]
except IOError:
    spell = []

print("Enter spelling words. Press Enter on a blank line to finish.")
while True:
    word = input("Word: ").strip()
    if not word:
        break
    if word not in spell:
        spell.append(word)

print("Saved words:", spell)

with open('spelling_words.txt', 'w') as f:
    for w in spell:
        f.write(w + "\n")

Troubleshooting tips: use input() on Python 3 (older Python 2 used raw_input()), call .strip() to avoid empty/whitespace entries, and check for duplicates if needed. If multiple runs must append instead of overwrite, open the file with mode 'a' or load-merge-then-write as shown. For quick reference on builtins and file I/O see the official docs: input() docs and reading and writing files.

Applied to : move your list initialization above the loop and add a clear exit (blank line or a sentinel like "done"), and the list will remember previous entries across iterations as expected.

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Member Avatar for fuston05

ok, heres what i have so far. now it will append the input to a list but it doesnt seem to remember the last thing you enter 'cause it will print the list showing only what word you just entered instaed of showing a growing (appended) list. weird. i need it to save all the words i enter and add the new ones when i enter them as well. heres the code so far:

#!/usr/ben/python
#SpellingWordPractice
from __future__ import print_function

more_words = "y"
while more_words == "y":
   spell = []
   a = raw_input("Please enter all you spelling words? ")
   spell.append(a)
   print(spell)
Member Avatar for woooee

spell = []
defines an empty list on every pass through the loop. You want it before the while(). Also, your code is an infinite loop, i.e. there is no exit.

Member Avatar for fuston05

awesome, tyvm :) much appreciated

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