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Python Python Basics (2015) Python Data Types Use .split() and .join()

Jan Lundeen
Jan Lundeen
5,887 Points
Posted by Jan Lundeen
Jan Lundeen
5,887 Points

Split string - receive AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'available'

Challenge Task 1 of 3 asks me to split a string and assign a new variable called sundaes.

I got the following error when I used the following code:

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'available'

banana.py available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white" sundaes = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white".split(";".available)

I played around with it and pasted the error into the help section and searched on split and attribute using https://docs.python.org/, but I couldn't find what this error meant. Any suggestions? Thanks!

banana.py 
available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white".split(";".available)
john larson
john larson
16,594 Points

Just so you know, this challenge gets a lot of people. And the last part is the worst.

1 Answer

john larson
john larson
16,594 Points 
available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
# Use .split() to break the available string apart on the semi-colons (;)
# Assign this to a new variable sundaes
# syntax would look like...
# new variable = first variable.split(";")
Jan Lundeen
Jan Lundeen
5,887 Points
Jan Lundeen
Jan Lundeen
5,887 Points

Hi John,

Thanks for the encouragement! Good to know I'm not alone.

Just to check my understanding, should my second line should look like this:

sundaes = available.split(";")

I tried sundaes = available.split(";") and it worked. Thanks for your help with this. I didn't realize that it's that simple. And I was thinking I'd have to enter the list. Perhaps that's the beauty of defining the variable (available) first.

Also, I'm not sure if I went to the right place to find help (https://docs.python.org/). Is that the right place? I thought I could copy and paste in the error message to get an idea regarding what I need to correct, but it didn't work. Probably it would be a good troubleshooting reference in the future.

Thanks!

Jan