Python accepting user input and deleting that input from a list

Question

I have been trying this for a few days now. I have to read in a file containing zoo animals. (i.e. ['ID', 'Name', 'Species']) Next, have to accept the user's ID choice and delete from the list. This is what I so far. I am stuck and can't proceed further until this section is complete. I appreciate any comments. Also using python 3.

f = open('ZooAnimals.txt', 'r') #read in file
file = [line.split(',') for line in f.readlines()] #turn file into list
c = input("What ID would you like to delete? ") #accept user input
file1 = list(c)#turn user input into a list item
list.pop(file1) #suppose to pop out the value
print(file)

EDIT:

The file contains the following items for example. [['1', 'Whiskers', 'Siberian Tiger\n'], ['2', 'Babbity', 'Belgian Hare\n'], ['3', 'Hank', 'Spotted Python\n'], ['17', 'Larry', 'Lion\n'], ['10', 'Magilla', 'Eastern Gorilla\n'], ['1494', 'Jim', 'Grizzy Bear\n']]

I want to try and delete for example, ID 2, Babbity, Belgian Hare

This is what I can't do with my current code

Do you have to use a nested list (e.g. for an assignment), or can you use a more appropriate data structure? — TigerhawkT3
– TigerhawkT3, Commented Apr 3, 2015 at 1:32

Navith · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-03 01:53:41Z

4

list.pop accepts an index as an argument. For lists, this can only be an integer. Also, list('abc') != ["abc"], but rather ["a", "b", "c"] because of str's iteration protocol (it goes by letter).

with open("ZooAnimals.txt") as zoo_animals_txt:
    # [("123", "cat", "felis catus"), ...]
    animals = [line.split(",") for line in zoo_animals_txt]

user_input = input("What ID would you like to delete? ")

for index, (id_, name, species) in enumerate(animals):
    if id_ == user_input:
        animals.pop(index)
        break

print("The remaining animals are:")
print(*animals, sep="\n")

Then, to update the file with the change:

with open("ZooAnimals.txt", "w") as zoo_animals_txt:
    for animal_stats in animals:
        print(",".join(animal_stats), file=zoo_animals_txt)

edited Apr 3, 2015 at 1:53

answered Apr 3, 2015 at 1:37

Navith

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4 Comments

Navith Over a year ago

Did you also want this change reflected in the file?

Seth Bulliard Over a year ago

I was about to figure that out. Would i change "with open("ZooAnimals.txt") as zoo_animals_txt:" to "with open("ZooAnimals.txt", 'w+') as zoo_animals_txt:" EDIT: nevermind that totally erases the file

Navith Over a year ago

I added a way to update the file in my answer. Edit: Also, w+ as the mode for opening the file truncates (erases) the file first, while r+ will not. I chose to just reopen the file.

Vaibhav Mule Over a year ago

@SethBulliard please give me him an upvote and add it as answer.

KSFT · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-03 01:33:43Z

0

list.pop() removes the last element of a list. You probably want file.remove(c). Also, remove file1 = list(c). I'm not sure why that's there.

edited Apr 3, 2015 at 1:33

answered Apr 3, 2015 at 1:32

KSFT

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2 Comments

Seth Bulliard Over a year ago

TypeError: descriptor 'remove' requires a 'list' object but received a 'str'

TigerhawkT3 Over a year ago

The ID isn't the whole item. The file is turned into a list with nested lists. For list.remove(c) to work (although I seriously wouldn't recommend overriding the buil-in list), c would have to be something like ['3', 'Bob', 'Lion']. Also, pop() can remove and return a specific element of a list if you pass it the index, e.g. [1,2,3].pop(2) returns 3.

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