Help with simple grocery list program

[mjs051]

I'm currently learning Python, and at the moment I'm writing a simple grocery list program.

At one point in the program, the user is asked how many items are on their shopping list. What I want to do is take the number that the user inputs (lets say it's 5), and the program then requests input from the user for 5 different grocery items (item name and cost). For the time being I've just added a bunch of code to accept values for 1 - 10 items, but I'd like to have a small chunk of code that can accept any value and request the appropriate amount of data. I'm terrible at explaining this, but basically if the user inputs 5 for their number of items, they're required to input information for 5 items. If they put 30 for their number of items, they're required to input information for 30 items. So when printed on their screen it would look something like:

How many items on your list? 5

Item 1 Name: Bananas
Item 1 Cost: $1.25

Item 2 Name: Pasta
Item 2 Cost: $ ..

All the way through Item 5 (or whatever number they gave the program).

I would appreciate any help, and sorry if my explanation was redundant / confusing.

[TrustyTony]

It would be easier to help you in your problem if you posted your code and error message you are getting.

[mjs051]

I'm not getting an error message, my temporary 'solution' is working fine.

What I'm asking is HOW I could code the program to handle any value without having a section of code for each value.

For example, right now my code is pretty much:

while item_amount:
    itemnumber = raw_input('How many items on your list?: ')
    try:
        number = int(itemnumber)
        if number == 1:
        codecodecodecode
        codecodecodecode

        elif number == 2:
        codecodecodecode
        codecodecodecode

    except ValueError:
        print " "
        print "Please enter a number."
        item_amount = True

That's (obviously) not exactly what my code looks like, but it's to give you an idea. I basically have if / elif code for every value from 1 - 10, and I'm looking for a simpler solution.

[snippsat]

Look into dictionary.
Example Banana is the key and price is the value.
So if you call key you get price.

Here is a code example you can look.
This code will run in a loop given bye argument number given to function.
And save result to a dictionary,that you can use later.

def question(times=None):
    '''Dok string some info about code'''
    grocery_ditch = {}
    print 'Enter grocery item and price'
    for i in range(times):
        key = raw_input('item %d' % int(i+1))
        value = int(raw_input('price'))
        grocery_ditch[key] = value
    print grocery_ditch  #Or use return to get result out of function

question(3)

[mjs051]

Look into dictionary.
Example Banana is the key and price is the value.
So if you call key you get price.

Here is a code example you can look.
This code will run in a loop given bye argument number given to function.
And save result to a dictionary,that you can use later.

def question(times=None):
    '''Dok string some info about code'''
    grocery_ditch = {}
    print 'Enter grocery item and price'
    for i in range(times):
        key = raw_input('item %d' % int(i+1))
        value = int(raw_input('price'))
        grocery_ditch[key] = value
    print grocery_ditch  #Or use return to get result out of function

question(3)

Ok say so lets say I had this line:

test = int(raw_input('How many items on your shopping list? '))

How would I get that function to run "test" times?

Edit: Nevermind, figured it out.

times = int(raw_input('How many items on your shopping list? '))

def question(times):
    grocery_list = {}
    print
    print 'Enter grocery item and price.'
    print
    for i in range(times):
        key = raw_input('Item %d Name: ' % int(i+1))
        value = raw_input('Item %d Price: $' % int(i+1))
        print
        grocery_list[key] = value
    print grocery_list

question(times)

[mjs051]

Ok so now that the user entered the information and it's stored in a dictionary, how can I 'access' each piece of information individually.

Let's say they entered information for 4 items, so that would make grocery_list =

{'Pasta': '2.25', 'Soda': '3.55', 'Bananas': '1.09', 'Cereal': '2.75'}

How could I print those names in a list and their total cost like so:

Grocery List

Bananas
Pasta
Cereal
Soda

The total cost of your grocery list is $9.64

[TrustyTony]

How about:

grocery_list = {'Pasta': '2.25', 'Soda': '3.55', 'Bananas': '1.09', 'Cereal': '2.75'}
print ("""
Grocery List

%s

The total cost of your grocery list is $%.2f""" %
       ('\n'.join(grocery_list),
        sum(map(float, grocery_list.values()))
        ) )

[mjs051]

How about:

articles = {'Pasta': '2.25', 'Soda': '3.55', 'Bananas': '1.09', 'Cereal': '2.75'}
print ("""
Grocery List

%s

The total cost of your grocery list is $%.2f""" %
       ('\n'.join(articles),
        sum(float(articles[key]) for key in articles)
        ) )

I got an invalid syntax error for the comma after join(articles).

I'm using Python 2.7 if that has anything to do with it. I fixed the print function to work with 2.7 but I don't know what else is different between 2.x and 3.

[Beat_Slayer]

Only the print implementation.

You can do

from __future__ import print_function

and keep the 3.x print style.

Cheers and Happy coding

[mjs051]

Alright thanks guys, got everything working!

Edit: I lied. Might be able to figure out this last problem, if not I'll post it.

[TrustyTony]

Current edit of my code with map is running OK in 2.7, I rechecked. Also the version in your quote is OK in 2.7. Copy paste error?

[mjs051]

Current edit of my code with map is running OK in 2.7, I rechecked. Also the version in your quote is OK in 2.7. Copy paste error?

Yeah your code is working fine now, the problem is in:

grocery_list = {'Pasta': '2.25', 'Soda': '3.55', 'Bananas': '1.09', 'Cereal': '2.75'}

It should equal whatever was entered by the user in this function:

def item_entry(items):
    grocery_list = {}
    print ('\nEnter grocery item and price.\n\n')
    for i in range(items):
        key = raw_input('Item %d Name: ' % int(i+1))
        value = raw_input('Item %d Price: $' % int(i+1))
        print()
        grocery_list[key] = value
    os.system("cls")  

item_entry(items)

Those values I gave were just an example of user input.

[TrustyTony]

Return value of that function is None as there is no return statements. grocery_list is local variable so the value of it is lost.

[mjs051]

Return value of that function is None as there is no return statements. grocery_list is local variable so the value of it is lost.

Ah ok, I get it.

I set grocery_list as a global variable and got rid of this line:

grocery_list = {'Pasta': '2.25', 'Soda': '3.55', 'Bananas': '1.09', 'Cereal': '2.75'}

So now everything is working as intended.

Thanks again guys, appreciate the help!

[TrustyTony]

More correct answer though is to return the grocery_list and do:

grocery_list = item_entry(items)