Random Letters

[mdmytryk]

Simple question here. Im trying to figureout how to write a program in such a way that when a word is entered, the output is each individual letter of that word in a random order. so if pizza is entered, the output would be
P
Z
A
I
Z

I have a general idea of how to output the letters, but not without them repeating. Id like to figure this out myself, but would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. heres the code thus far:

import random
 
word = "index"
print "The word is: ", word, "\n"
 
high = len(word)
low = -len(word)
x=len(word)
 
 
for i in range(x):
    position = random.randrange(low, high)
    print "word[", position, "]\t", word[position]
 
raw_input("\n\nPress the enter key to exit.")
 

thanks

[bartonc]

>>> word = "hello"
>>> x = len(word)
>>> beenUsed = [] # and empty list of used indeces
>>> while len(beenUsed) < x:
...     position = random.randint(0, x - 1)
...     if position not in beenUsed:
...         beenUsed.append(position)
...         print "word[", position, "]\t", word[position]
...         
word[ 3 ]    l
word[ 2 ]    l
word[ 0 ]    h
word[ 4 ]    o
word[ 1 ]    e
>>> 

[KaezarRex]

Simple question here. Im trying to figureout how to write a program in such a way that when a word is entered, the output is each individual letter of that word in a random order. so if pizza is entered, the output would be
P
Z
A
I
Z

I have a general idea of how to output the letters, but not without them repeating. Id like to figure this out myself, but would appreciate being pointed in the right direction. heres the code thus far:

import random
 
word = "index"
print "The word is: ", word, "\n"
 
high = len(word)
low = -len(word)
x=len(word)
 
 
for i in range(x):
    position = random.randrange(low, high)
    print "word[", position, "]\t", word[position]
 
raw_input("\n\nPress the enter key to exit.")
 

thanks

Try using 0 as your low bound. When you have a negative low bound and your program randomly picks a negative index, it will look backwards through the word which you don't need to do.
Also, every time you find a random letter, remove it from the word so you don't pick it again. Remember to decrease you high bound by one every time you remove a letter since the word will be shorter
You could even go without bounds at all and use a statement something like:

position = random.randrange(len(word))
 

That way it will automatically adjust to the length of your word, and the lower bound will be 0 by default.

[bartonc]

Try using 0 as your low bound. When you have a negative low bound and your program randomly picks a negative index, it will look backwards through the word which you don't need to do.
Also, every time you find a random letter, remove it from the word so you don't pick it again. Remember to decrease you high bound by one every time you remove a letter since the word will be shorter
You could even go without bounds at all and use a statement something like:

position = random.randrange(len(word))
 

That way it will automatically adjust to the length of your word, and the lower bound will be 0 by default.

Except that random.randrange() returns an iterator and this one needs an int.

[KaezarRex]

Except that random.randrange() returns an iterator and this one needs an int.

Maybe it's an accident, but this works:

>>> import random
>>> word = "index"
>>> while len(word):
...        position = random.randrange(len(word))
...        print word[position]
...        word = word.replace(word[position], "", 1)
...
e
d
i
n
x
>>>

I use 2.5 if that matters

[bartonc]

Maybe it's an accident, but this works:

>>> import random
>>> word = "index"
>>> while len(word):
...        position = random.randrange(len(word))
...        print word[position]
...        word = word.replace(word[position], "", 1)
...
e
d
i
n
x
>>>

I use 2.5 if that matters

Well, I'll be... You taught me something, there. Thank you. (2.5 doesn't matter)

[mdmytryk]

Heres where it gets complicated. This is a "brain teaser" for a class i am taking. The trick here is that i cannot use a while loop and i must use the negative range as well as positive.

[KaezarRex]

Heres where it gets complicated. This is a "brain teaser" for a class i am taking. The trick here is that i cannot use a while loop and i must use the negative range as well as positive.

It sounds like recursion is a good way to go here. It's very handy when teachers say you can't use a specific kind of loop.

def recurse(word):
    if word == "":# base case
        return
    else:
        position = random.randint(-len(word), len(word)-1)
        print word[position]
        recurse(word.replace(word[position], "", 1))# call the function again with the printed letter missing from the word
 

[bvdet]

Why not use random.sample()?

import random
 
def randWord(word):
    for letter in random.sample(word, len(word)):
        print letter

[mdmytryk]

This is starting to drive me crazy. I dont see how this can be accomplished without using a while loop. We havent really covered functions in this class as of yet, so there must be another way...without getting fancy.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far.

[bartonc]

This is starting to drive me crazy. I dont see how this can be accomplished without using a while loop. We havent really covered functions in this class as of yet, so there must be another way...without getting fancy.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far.

OK. Here's a trick (thanks bvdet for your excellent use of the random module!):

import random
 
word = "index"
 
for letter in random.sample(word, len(word)):
    print letter