python IndexError: string index out of range

Question

I'm getting the IndexError: string index out of range. Each line in the file "document_words" ends with "-99". So i think error may be because "-99" is not converted to int. But i'm not sure. If that is the case how can i convert "-99" to int and break from the loop.

Following is my code:

words=open('words','r')
image=open('document_words','r')
data=open('input','a')

linecount=0

for line in image:
    if line.strip():
        linecount+=1

image.read()
image.seek(0,0)
while linecount>0:
    line1=image.readline().split()
    for entry in line1:
        num=int(entry)
        if (num<0):
            print("break from loop")
            break
        else:
            tag=words.readline()[num]
            data.write(str(tag)+' ')
    data.write('\n')
    linecount=linecount-1

data.flush()
data.close()
words.close()
image.close()

Error would be at this line tag=words.readline()[num]. 'words' file would be empty. Also, you have opened 'words' file in read-only mode and trying to write in it. — rajpy
– rajpy, Commented Jun 25, 2013 at 5:00
@Haidro: I used print statement, it reads the first line from image until -99. Then gives: File "get.py", line 26, in <module> tag=words.readline()[num] IndexError: string index out of range — nish
– nish, Commented Jun 25, 2013 at 5:04
@rajpy: you are coorect, that is the line i'm getting error at. But 'words' file is not empty. And i'm not writing in 'words' file, i'm writing to 'input' file i suppose. — nish
– nish, Commented Jun 25, 2013 at 5:07
@gnibbler: i think tag=words.readline() is giving an empty list here. I tried to print it. That's why the error. But i'm not sure why this is happening — nish
– nish, Commented Jun 25, 2013 at 6:04

John La Rooy · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-25 05:28:13Z

1

You haven't told us which line fails, but this looks like the obvious one

tag = words.readline()[num]

so num is outside the bounds. I don't think it is the -99 because it should break in that case. You can add a try/except to help track it down

try:
    tmp = words.readline()
    tag = tmp[num]
except IndexError, e:
    print tmp, num

EDIT: Looks like you are mixing tabs and spaces for the indenting. This is a no-no unless you are using 8 character tab-stops

edited Jun 25, 2013 at 5:28

answered Jun 25, 2013 at 4:59

John La Rooy

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