Openfile function in python

Question

I'm having trouble with my code which is producing the wrong output.

def main():
    count = 1
    filename = input('Enter filename: ')
    for lines in open(filename):
        lines.strip('')
        print('Total # of characters: ',len(lines))
        count = count + 1
    print('Total number of lines =', count)
main()

The problem - Write a program that reads a file, words.txt, that has one word per line and prints out the total number of characters and the total number of lines in the file.

So, my code using count to count the number of lines in the file which will be printed at the end. This count works fine. However, counting the characters is wrong. My output...

Enter filename: word.txtEnter filename: word.txt
Total # of characters:  3
Total # of characters:  6
Total # of characters:  5
Total # of characters:  6
Total # of characters:  6
Total number of lines = 5

The word.txt file =

hi
hello
hiiiiiiii
herrooo
herr

What is the actual issue you are having? That output looks correct to me, considering the newline characters. — kindall
– kindall, Commented Oct 14, 2013 at 19:35
The problem is the length of the characters. For instance, the length of hi should be 2. How would I get rid of the new line character? — steve
– steve, Commented Oct 14, 2013 at 19:37

karthikr · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-14 19:34:49Z

3

By doing lines.strip('') you are stripping only on ''

Do this:

lines = lines.strip()

strip() would strip out the \n at the end too.

answered Oct 14, 2013 at 19:34

karthikr

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6 Comments

karthikr Over a year ago

it should be lines= lines.strip(), not just lines.strip()

Andy Over a year ago

I didn't see your edit before my submission. +1 to you for the ninja edit

millimoose Over a year ago

Also to just get rid of the newline, lines.rstrip('\n') would be more appropriate. Depending on whether a space is a valid "character" for the OP's purposes.

Nafiul Islam Over a year ago

@karthikr Haven't seen ya in a long time. Where have you been? :)

karthikr Over a year ago

@GamesBrainiac Here i am :)

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Andy · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-14 19:40:41Z

1

The problem you have is with the lines.strip('') line. By passing it a parameter, it will only strip the line when it is ''. The other problem is that you are not assigning this statement to anything. Try replacing it with

lines = lines.strip()

answered Oct 14, 2013 at 19:40

Andy♦

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