This simple vowel counter doesn't work

Question

def counter(sentence):
a=0
e=0
i=0
o=0
u=0
for char in sentence:
    if char == 'a' or 'A':
        a += 1
    elif char == 'e' or 'E':
        e += 1
    elif char == 'i' or 'I':
        i += 1
    elif char == 'o' or 'O':
        o += 1
    elif char == 'u' or 'U':
        u += 1
return a, e, i, o, u

Everything looks okay to me, but when I print counter("Hello how is your day going") it returns (27, 0, 0, 0, 0). 27 is the total number of characters in that sentence so it's clear that for every character the for loop goes over, it stops after the first if condition and adds 1 to a, but I don't know why.

Also, messed up the indentation after the function definition, don't know how to fix it, obviously it's not like that in the program.

bcdan · Answer 1 · 2015-08-03T15:18:43.813

2

When the if statement is evaluated, it evaluates as being char == 'a' and 'A'. Since 'A' is a boolean True, the or operator is triggered, and the if statement happens. Essentially, the if statement is translated as this:

(char == 'a') or 'A'

Demonstration

>>> char == 'a'
False
>>> 'A'
True
>>> True or False
True

edited Aug 03 '15 at 15:18

answered May 27 '15 at 00:34

bcdan

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Ah, okay, I see. The Python interpreter was reading it as `if (char == 'a') or 'A'`, and a string always evaluates to true. Thanks. – conjenks May 27 '15 at 00:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 27 '15 at 00:34

1

Here is a little hint!

if char == "a" or char == "A":
    a += 1

etc.

answered May 27 '15 at 00:34

ncmathsadist

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is better `if char in "aA":` or `if char in {"A", "a"}:` – Jose Ricardo Bustos M. May 27 '15 at 00:36
I am looking for the simplest extension possible that is consistent with the OP's attempt. This does not really lay open the real problem. – ncmathsadist May 27 '15 at 00:38

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 27 '15 at 00:42

1

This is one way to do it:

v = ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u',]
s = list("Hello World")
x = [i for i in v if i in s]
print x

answered May 27 '15 at 00:42

Joe T. Boka

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This simple vowel counter doesn't work

3 Answers3