Arithmetic-formatter

[parodiadrian3]

Hi everyone. I’m pretty new with python and I’m having trouble with the exit format of the arithmetic problems (as many do). I compared the format with the tests, they look exactly the same, yet I cannot pass the tests =(
Let me share the code of the function (It is also in a link at the end of this message). Please I would appreciate if someone could tell me why I’m getting wrong results. Thanks!

def arithmetic_arranger(problems, show_result=False):
  if len(problems)>5:
      print('Error: Too many problems.')
      quit()

  first=[]
  sign= []
  second= []
  spaces=[] #List that saves the maximum spaces for each operation
  diff_spaces=[] #list used to accomodate lines 1 and 2 in the exit
  result=[ ]
  
  counter=0 

  for elem in problems:
     
      x=elem.split()

      # Convert the elements to int to make math operations
      try:
          first_int= int(x[0])
          sec_int= int(x[2])
      except:
          print('Error: Numbers must only contain digits.')
          quit()

      if len(x[0])>4 or len(x[2])>4:
          print('Error: Numbers cannot be more than four digits.')
          quit()

      #The first and second elements as well as the sign go in different lists
      first.append(x[0])
      sign.append(x[1])
      second.append(x[2])

      #Tracking the operand with the higher length, to order the output
      if len(x[0])>=len(x[2]):
          length= len(x[0])
      else:
          length= len(x[2])

      spaces.append(length)

      difference= len(x[2])-len(x[0])
      diff_spaces.append(difference)


     #Math operations and checking for error in the sign

      if sign[counter]=='+':
          result.append(str(first_int+sec_int))
      elif sign[counter]=='-':
          result.append(str(first_int-sec_int))
      else:
          print('Error: Operator must be ''+'' or ''-'' ')
          quit()

      counter=counter+1

Your browser information:

User Agent is: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/99.0.4844.74 Safari/537.36

Challenge: Arithmetic Formatter

Link to the challenge:

freeCodeCamp.org

replit: boilerplate-arithmetic-formatter-4

[Jagaya]

I’m really wondering where people got the idea to use quit() - that’s not even covered in the course, is it? Yet it seems to quite often be used…

Anyway, for a start: you are supposed to return the results, including the error messages. Not print() them because the program has no idea what’s in the console. Also not calling quit().

Once you do that, we can take a look at the error messages

[parodiadrian3]

Hi Jagaya, thanks for your quick response. I suppose I use quit() because I’been trying for method to quit from python in the console and that one worked out. I don’t remember If it was discussed in the course, to be honest. What do you recommend me to use instead? I don’t really see a problem in using it but… I’m a newbie.

On the other hand, I’ve actually written the code with the return sentence. I also pasted the link but it seems not to be in my previous message. Let me try again:

boilerplate-arithmetic-formatter-4 - Replit

Hopefuly, the link is just above this sentence. I’ll share the code again, just in case (still with the forbidden quit() statments )

def arithmetic_arranger(problems, show_result=False):
if len(problems)>5:
print(‘Error: Too many problems.’)
quit()

first=
sign=
second=
spaces= #List that saves the maximum spaces for each operation
diff_spaces= #list used to accomodate lines 1 and 2 in the exit
result=

counter=0

for elem in problems:

  x=elem.split()

  # Convert the elements to int to make math operations
  try:
      first_int= int(x[0])
      sec_int= int(x[2])
  except:
      print('Error: Numbers must only contain digits.')
      quit()

  if len(x[0])>4 or len(x[2])>4:
      print('Error: Numbers cannot be more than four digits.')
      quit()

  #The first and second elements as well as the sign go in different lists
  first.append(x[0])
  sign.append(x[1])
  second.append(x[2])

  #Tracking the operand with the higher length, to order the output
  if len(x[0])>=len(x[2]):
      length= len(x[0])
  else:
      length= len(x[2])

  spaces.append(length)

  difference= len(x[2])-len(x[0])
  diff_spaces.append(difference)


 #Math operations and checking for error in the sign

  if sign[counter]=='+':
      result.append(str(first_int+sec_int))
  elif sign[counter]=='-':
      result.append(str(first_int-sec_int))
  else:
      print('Error: Operator must be ''+'' or ''-'' ')
      quit()

  counter=counter+1

#Each line of the otput is a string

line1=’’
line2=’’
line3=’’
line4=’’

#Each line is constructed in several steps, depending in how many operations we have
C=0
for elem in result:
if diff_spaces[C]>=0:
line1=line1 + 2*’ ’ + abs(diff_spaces[C]) * ’ ’ + first[C] + 4 * ’ ’
line2=line2 + sign[C] + ’ ’ + second[C] + 4 * ’ ’

  else:
      line1=line1 + 2*' ' + first[C]+ 4 * ' '
      line2=line2 + sign[C] + ' ' + abs(diff_spaces[C]) * ' ' + second[C] + 4 * ' '

  line3=line3 + '-'*(spaces[C]+2) + 4 * ' '  

#Result line
if int(result[C])>=0 and int(result[C])<10000:
line4=line4 + 2 * ’ ’ + result[C] + 4 * ’ ’
else: #Formato para numeros negativos o >10000
line4=line4 + ’ ’ + result[C] + 4 * ’ ’

  C=C+1

#Saving the output of the function

if show_result == True:
arranged_problems= line1 + ‘\n’ + line2 + ‘\n’ + line3 +’\n’ + line4
else:
arranged_problems= line1 + ‘\n’ + line2 + ‘\n’ + line3 +’\n’

return arranged_problems

[Jagaya]

@parodiadrian3

What do you recommend me to use instead?

The point of quit() is to terminate a program. You shouldn’t use it in a function unless the function is meant to terminate the program.

Also you are still printing the error messages - those should be returned.

As for the arranged problems, you add a pointless linebreak if the result is not displayed - that’s an error.

- - 698    - 3801    + 43    +  49    +  40
+ - 698    - 3801    + 43    +  49    +  40    
?                                          ++++

And here you got excess spaces at the end.

[parodiadrian3]

Oh okay! very useful recommendations and concepts! thanks! I’ll work on that then. Have a great weekend