CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
Adam Rose
Adam Rose

Reputation: 11

why am i getting error -Single '}' encountered in format string

I am writing some code to see print out a list of words that I can make with the string of letters 'myLetters', but for some reason my formatting wont work. It is supposed to come out as a list of words with as many spaces between it and the value as the length of myLetters + 4 

def scrabbleWords(myLetters):
        letterPoints = {'a':1,'b':3,'c':3,'d':2, 'e':1,'f':4,'g':2,'h':4,\
    'i':1,'j':8,'k':5,'l':1,'m':3,'n':1,'o':1,'p':3,'q':10,'r':1,'s':1,\
    't':1,'u':1,'v':4,'w':4,'x':8,'y':4}
        wordList = createWordList('wordlist.txt')
        myWords = []
        for myWord in wordList:
            x = canWeMakeIt(myWord,myLetters)
            if x == True:
                myWords.append(myWord)


        pointWordList = []
        for myWord in myWords:
            t = getWordPoints(myWord,letterPoints)
            pointWordList.append((t,myWord))
        pointWordList.sort(reverse=True)


        lenx = str(len(myLetters)+4)
        for pointValue, myWord in pointWordList:
            x = '{:'+lenx+'}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue)
            print(x)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4938

Answers (3)

martineau
martineau

Reputation: 123501

The problem is with the '{:'+lenx+'}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue) expression which tries to add lenx+'}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue) to the sum '{:'+lenx.

This would do what I think you want and be a little more readable in my opinion:

x = '{:{width}}{}'.format(myWord, pointValue, width=lenx)

EDIT: Plus this works whether lenx is an integer or string value.

Upvotes: 3

HerrB
HerrB

Reputation: 176

The "Single '}' encountered in format string" error is due to the fact that we are looking at a bit of code that does not work without some bracketing.

You wrote

'{:'+lenx+'}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue)

but probably meant

('{:'+lenx+'}{}').format(myWord,pointValue)

whereas python's interpretation is:

'{:'+lenx+('}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue))

Upvotes: 0

eumiro
eumiro

Reputation: 213015

'{:'+lenx+'}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue)

interprets as

'{:'     +     lenx     +     '}{}'.format(myWord,pointValue)

Change it to:

'{1:{0}}{2}'.format(lenx, myWord, pointValue)

EDIT: don't forget to change lenx to an integer (or don't convert it to string at all):

lenx = len(myLetters) + 4

Upvotes: 4

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