Replacing a list element in python

Question

The function should return the text with the word replaced with asterisks. Not sure why my original code wouldn't work as the logic seems correct to me.

text = "this shit is cool"
def censor(text, word):
    lst = text.split()
    ast = ""
    result = ''
    for char in word:
        ast += "*"
    for wrd in lst:
        if wrd == word:
            wrd = ast    #why doesn't this part work??

    print " ".join(lst)

censor(text, "shit")

This is my corrected code after I looked up some other related problems. It just seems more complex and unnecessary. Why does this one work instead of my original code?

def censor(text, word):
    lst = text.split()
    ast = ""
    result = ''
    for char in word:
        ast += "*"
    for wrd in lst:
        if wrd == word:
            loc = lst.index(word)     #I can't just change it directly? using wrd?
            lst[loc] = ast

    return " ".join(lst)

Answer 1

Try this:

def censor(text,word):
    return text.replace(word,'*'*(len(word)))