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Count Vowels From Raw Input

The document discusses several ways to count the vowels in a string input by the user in Python. It begins by explaining the problem with the original code provided, which is that it will only count each vowel once as it iterates through the string. It then provides multiple improved solutions, including using the 'in' operator to check if each character is in the vowels string, iterating directly over the input string without indices, using sets for faster membership checking, and various one-line implementations using sum and generators. Overall, the key is to check each character against all vowels rather than using indices to compare one character to one vowel.

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Mackenzie Lewerke
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137 views3 pages

Count Vowels From Raw Input

The document discusses several ways to count the vowels in a string input by the user in Python. It begins by explaining the problem with the original code provided, which is that it will only count each vowel once as it iterates through the string. It then provides multiple improved solutions, including using the 'in' operator to check if each character is in the vowels string, iterating directly over the input string without indices, using sets for faster membership checking, and various one-line implementations using sum and generators. Overall, the key is to check each character against all vowels rather than using indices to compare one character to one vowel.

Uploaded by

Mackenzie Lewerke
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1/24/2016

pythonCountvowelsfromrawinputStackOverflow

help

Countvowelsfromrawinput

Ihaveahomeworkquestionwhichaskstoreadastringthroughrawinputandcounthowmanyvowelsareinthestring.ThisiswhatIhaveso
farbutIhaveencounteredaproblem:
defvowels():
vowels=["a","e","i","o","u"]
count=0
string=raw_input("Enterastring:")
foriinrange(0,len(string)):
ifstring[i]==vowels[i]:
count=count+1
printcount
vowels()

Itcountsthevowelsfine,butdueto ifstring[i]==vowels[i]: ,itwillonlycountonevowelonceas i keepsincreasingintherange.HowcanI


changethiscodetochecktheinputtedstringforvowelswithoutencounteringthisproblem?
python string count
editedJul15'15at15:41

askedOct4'12at2:40

durron597
22k

10

user1679073
45

80

27

3 Howaboutaninnerlooptogooveryourlistofvowels?gtgaxiolaOct4'12at2:42
@gtgaxiolaHowexactlydoIgoaboutdoingthat? user1679073 Oct4'12at2:42

5Answers

in

operator

Youprobablywanttousethe in operatorinsteadofthe == operatorthe in operatorletsyou


checktoseeifaparticularitemisinasequence/set.
1in[1,2,3]#True
1in[2,3,4]#False
'a'in['a','e','i','o','u']#True
'a'in'aeiou'#AlsoTrue

Someothercomments:

Sets
The in operatorismostefficientwhenusedwitha set ,whichisadatatypespecifically
designedtobequickfor"isitemXpartofthissetofitems"kindofoperations.*
vowels=set(['a','e','i','o','u'])

* dict sarealsoefficientwith in ,whichcheckstoseeifakeyexistsinthedict.

Iteratingonstrings
AstringisasequencetypeinPython,whichmeansthatyoudon'tneedtogotoalloftheeffortof
gettingthelengthandthenusingindicesyoucanjustiterateoverthestringandyou'llgeteach
characterinturn:
E.g.:
forcharacterinmy_string:
ifcharacterinvowels:
#...

Initializingasetwithastring
Above,youmayhavenoticedthatcreatingasetwithpresetvalues(atleastinPython2.x)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12719600/countvowelsfromrawinput/12719624#12719624

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1/24/2016

pythonCountvowelsfromrawinputStackOverflow

involvesusingalist.Thisisbecausethe set() typeconstructortakesasequenceofitems.You


mayalsonoticethatintheprevioussection,ImentionedthatstringsaresequencesinPython
sequencesofcharacters.
Whatthismeansisthatifyouwantasetofcharacters,youcanactuallyjustpassastringof
thosecharacterstothe set() constructoryoudon'tneedtohavealistonesinglecharacter
strings.Inotherwords,thefollowingtwolinesareequivalent:
set_from_string=set('aeiou')
set_from_list=set(['a','e','i','o','u'])

Neat,huh?:)Donote,however,thatthiscanalsobiteyouifyou'retryingtomakeasetof
strings ,ratherthanasetofcharacters .Forinstance,thefollowingtwolinesarenotthesame:
set_with_one_string=set(['cat'])
set_with_three_characters=set('cat')

Theformerisasetwithoneelement:
'cat'inset_with_one_string#True
'c'inset_with_one_string#False

Whereasthelatterisasetwiththreeelements(eachoneacharacter):
'c'inset_with_three_characters`#True
'cat'inset_with_three_characters#False

Casesensitivity
Comparingcharactersiscasesensitive. 'a'=='A' isFalse,asis 'A'in'aeiou' .Toget
aroundthis,youcantransformyourinputtomatchthecaseofwhatyou'recomparingagainst:
lowercase_string=input_string.lower()
editedOct4'12at3:13

answeredOct4'12at2:44

Amber
216k

30

366

383

OhwowIthinkthisdidit.Thanksforthatbitofinformationitwilldefinitelycomeinhandy. user1679073
Oct4'12at2:45
1 greatanswer!holycowJoranBeasley Oct4'12at2:52
Agreed,quiteanexplanation!+1squiguy Oct4'12at2:56

Youcansimplifythiscode:
defvowels():
vowels='aeiou'
count=0
string=raw_input("Enterastring:")
foriinstring:
ifiinvowels:
count+=1
printcount

StringsareiterableinPython.
editedOct4'12at2:52

answeredOct4'12at2:42

squiguy
13k

26

41

+1EvenbetterthisapproachgtgaxiolaOct4'12at2:43
@nneonneoFixed,thankyou.squiguy Oct4'12at2:44
1 also,(nitpick), count+=1 nneonneoOct4'12at2:44
TIMTOWTDIThereIsMoreThanOneWayToDoIt:)squiguy Oct4'12at2:46
But,"Thereshouldbeoneandpreferablyonlyoneobviouswaytodoit."nneonneoOct4'12at2:47

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12719600/countvowelsfromrawinput/12719624#12719624

2/3

1/24/2016

pythonCountvowelsfromrawinputStackOverflow

foriinrange(0,len(string)):
ifstring[i]==vowels[i]:

Thisactuallyhasasubtlerproblemthanonlycountingeachvowelonceitactuallyonlytestsif
thefirstletterofthestringisexactly a ,ifthesecondisexactly e andsoon..untilyougetpast
thefifth.Itwilltrytotest string[5]==vowels[5] whichgivesanerror.
Youdon'twanttouse i tolookinto vowels ,youwantanestedloopwithasecondindexthat
willmakesensefor vowels eg,
foriinrange(len(string)):
forjinrange(len(vowels)):
ifstring[i]==vowels[j]:
count+=1

Thiscanbesimplifiedfurtherbyrealisingthat,inPython,youveryrarelywanttoiterateoverthe
indexes intoasequencethe for loopknowshowtoiterateovereverythingthatyoucando
string[0] , string[1] andsoon,giving:
forsinstring:
forvinvowels:
ifs==v:
count+=1

Theinnerloopcanbesimplifiedusingthe in operationonlistsitdoesexactlythesamething
asthiscode,butitkeepsyourcode'slogicatahigherlevel(whatyouwanttodovs.howtodo
it):
forsinstring:
ifsinvowels:
count+=1

Now,itturnsoutthatPythonletsdomathwithbooleans(whichiswhat sinvowels givesyou)


andints True behavesas 1 , False as 0 ,so True+True+False is 2 .Thisleadstoaone
linerusingageneratorexpressionandsum:
sum(sinvowelsforsinstring)

Whichreadsas'foreverycharacterin string ,counthowmanyarein vowels '.


answeredOct4'12at2:56

lvc
16.3k

24

59

youcanusefilterforaoneliner
printlen(filter(lambdach:ch.lower()in"aeiou","ThisisaString"))
answeredOct4'12at2:49

JoranBeasley
46.2k

37

68

Here'samorecondensedversionusing sum withagenerator:


defvowels():
string=raw_input("Enterastring:")
printsum(1forxinstringifx.lower()in'aeiou')
vowels()
answeredOct4'12at2:53

MuMind
6,187

17

49

1 Youcansumboolsdirectly(boolsubclassesint) sum(x.lower()in'aeiou'forxinstring) .lvc


Oct4'12at2:58

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12719600/countvowelsfromrawinput/12719624#12719624

3/3

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