for loop dictionary not working

Question

I need to create three dictionaries. I want to use a for loop to do this, but it is not turning out the way I want it to. This is my code:

names=["lloyd", "alice", "tyler"]

for name in names:
    name = {
        "name": [name],
        "homework": [],
        "quizzes": [], 
        "tests":[],
        }

The three dictionaries are being created, but are stored in the variable name. I assumed the second name (after the line starting the for loop) would also be substituted with the values stored in names, but this does not happen. How come? How can I fix this?

`name` is a separate reference one of the strings in the list; setting it to reference another object (like the dictionary) won't change what the list references. — Martijn Pieters, Jul 04 '15 at 21:15
Why on earth would you assume that? Strings are **not** the same as identifiers, although Python offers various options for converting between them if you do so explicitly. Doing so implicitly would be incredibly frustrating. — jonrsharpe, Jul 04 '15 at 21:15
@jonrsharpe, did you actually try and read the first two words of my post? Also, would you mind to go into a little more detail and help me out? I would very much appreciate that. — Vincent, Jul 04 '15 at 21:17
So? As a self-confessed *"noob"* you should be even more careful about making assumptions rather than doing research. Why not try following a structured tutorial? This is probably worth a read, too: http://nedbatchelder.com/text/names.html — jonrsharpe, Jul 04 '15 at 21:19

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '15 at 21:29

names=["lloyd", "alice", "tyler"]

name_dicts = []

for name in names:
    name_dicts.append({
        "name": [name],
        "homework": [],
        "quizzes": [], 
        "tests":[],
        })

Now you have an array of dictionaries with all the names.

Try to avoid using the same variable name for different things as per @johnsharpe (you should read his link - very helpful)

for loop dictionary not working

1 Answers1