# Learn String Manipulation by Building a Cipher - Step 42 **URL:** \ **Category:** Curriculum Help\ **Tags:** python\ **Created:** [May 13, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948 "2024-05-13T00:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mcfbros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@mcfbros](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/mcfbros)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/1 "2024-05-13T00:08:35Z")
### Tell us what’s happening: what have i done wrong text = ‘Hello World’ shift = 3 alphabet = ‘abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz’ encrypted\_text = ‘’ for char in text.lower(): if char == “space”: print (“space”) index = alphabet.find(char) new\_index = index + shift encrypted\_text += alphabet[new\_index] print(‘char:’, char, ‘encrypted text:’, encrypted\_text) pass ### Your code so far ```py # User Editable Region text = 'Hello World' shift = 3 alphabet = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' encrypted_text = '' for char in text.lower(): if char == "space": print ("space") index = alphabet.find(char) new_index = index + shift encrypted_text += alphabet[new_index] print('char:', char, 'encrypted text:', encrypted_text) pass # User Editable Region ``` ### Your browser information: User Agent is: `Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/124.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/124.0.0.0` ### Challenge Information: Learn String Manipulation by Building a Cipher - Step 42 > **[freeCodeCamp.org](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/scientific-computing-with-python/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher/step-42)** > > Learn to Code — For Free ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/2 "2024-05-13T00:11:54Z")
> print the result of comparing `char` with a space (`' '`) A space string, a space character in quotes. Not the word “space” but " " In a sentence, if you are going through it character by character, you will encounter spaces. “I”, “n”, " ", “a”, " ", “s”, “e” Don’t use `if` just print the result of the comparison ---
**Author:** ![mcfbros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@mcfbros](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/mcfbros)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/3 "2024-05-13T21:08:42Z")
still wrong do you have any more ideas but thanks text = ‘Hello World’ shift = 3 alphabet = ‘abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz’ encrypted\_text = ‘’ ```auto for char in text.lower(): char == "space" print ("space") index = alphabet.find(char) new_index = index + shift encrypted_text += alphabet[new_index] print('char:', char, 'encrypted text:', encrypted_text) pass ``` ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/4 "2024-05-13T21:12:55Z")
I’ve edited your code for readability. When you enter a code block into a forum post, please precede it with a separate line of three backticks and follow it with a separate line of three backticks to make it easier to read. You can also use the “preformatted text” tool in the editor (``) to add backticks around text. ![Pre-formatted-text](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/original/3X/1/b/1b18854f1059217f29370444396145cc3a0cd8ae.gif) See [this post](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/forum-code-formatting/25574) to find the backtick on your keyboard. **Note:** Backticks (`) are not single quotes ('). ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/5 "2024-05-13T21:15:12Z")
> [@mcfbros](#): > > `char == "space"` You’re still comparing `char` to the word space, not a space character ```auto "space" #the word space ' ' #space character ``` And you are printing the word “space”, not the comparison (the expression with `==` is a comparison because it compares the left and right sides of the `==` and returns `true` if they are equal and `false` if they are not). ---
**Author:** ![mcfbros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@mcfbros](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/mcfbros)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/6 "2024-05-13T21:28:35Z")
still wrong text = ‘Hello World’ shift = 3 alphabet = ‘abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz’ encrypted\_text = ‘’ for char in text.lower(): if char == " “: print(”==") encrypted\_text == char else: index = alphabet.find(char) new\_index = index + shift encrypted\_text += alphabet[new\_index] print(‘char:’, char, ‘encrypted text:’, encrypted\_text) thanks tho this is my first time trying coding ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/7 "2024-05-13T21:39:59Z")
Can you try formatting this as code so the indentation is visible? ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/8 "2024-05-13T21:42:05Z")
```auto char == " " ``` This is a comparison, comparing `char` and `" "` ```auto "==" ``` This is a comparison operator No need for `if` because the instructions don’t mention it ---
**Author:** ![mcfbros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@mcfbros](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/mcfbros)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/9 "2024-05-13T21:47:05Z")
under that i put print(“false”) what should it be ![Screenshot 2024-05-13 224836](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/original/4X/4/6/d/46dcaf4ffa7b39c9cc9f178cbe9698a391683e29.png) ---
**Author:** ![pkdvalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/user_avatar/forum.freecodecamp.org/pkdvalis/32/350571_2.png) [@pkdvalis](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/pkdvalis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/10 "2024-05-13T21:59:02Z")
The loop will cycle through each character in the sentence. You don’t know if it will be a letter or a space. Instead of printing “False”, just print the comparison: ```auto char == " " ``` This is the comparison ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/freecodecamp/original/3X/e/1/e1c433102e34b46dfaa3e15d13ab9a514b127078.svg) [@system](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:59am UTC](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/learn-string-manipulation-by-building-a-cipher-step-42/689948/11 "2024-11-12T09:59:13Z")
Closed on November 12, 2024, 9:59am UTC This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.