CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonfunctionoutput
balakumaran
balakumaran

Reputation: 3

incorrect output while calling function

I'm a noobie, learning to code and i stumbled upon an incorrect output while practicing a code in python, please help me with this. I tried my best to find the problem in the code but i could not find it.

Code:

def compare(x,y):
    if x>y:
        return 1
    elif x==y:
        return 0
    else:
        return -1

i=raw_input("enter x\n")
j=raw_input("enter y\n")

print compare(i,j)

Output:

-> python python.py
enter x
10
enter y
5
-1

The output that i had to receive is 1 but the output that i receive is -1. Please help me with the unseen error in my code.

Thank you.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 79

Answers (3)

kvivek
kvivek

Reputation: 3491

Use the inbuilt cmp builtin function.

>>> help(cmp)
Help on built-in function cmp in module __builtin__:

cmp(...)
    cmp(x, y) -> integer

    Return negative if x<y, zero if x==y, positive if x>y.

So your function will look like this.

>>> def compare(x,y):
...   return  cmp(x,y)
...
>>>

Then get two variables using raw_input() which returns string, So If you are typing two numbers with a blankspace in the middle, splitting based on blank space will save two numbers in these x and y, and then apply map function which takes two parameters, one int function and the sequence which is nothing but a list created out of split(). 

>>> x,y = map(int, raw_input().split())
3 2

Now Comparing the x and y, Since x = 3 and y =2, Now since as per the documentation of cmp(), It Return negative if xy.

>>> compare(x,y)
1
>>> compare(y,x)
-1
>>> compare(x-1,y)
0
>>>

Upvotes: 0

TeaPow
TeaPow

Reputation: 677

Your issue is that raw_input() returns a string, not an integer.

Therefore, what your function is actually doing is checking "10" > "5", which is False, therefore it falls through your if block and reaches the else clause.

To fix this, you'll need to cast your input strings to integers by wrapping the values in int().

i.e.

i = int(raw_input("enter x\n")).

Upvotes: 0

Anbarasan
Anbarasan

Reputation: 1207

raw_input returns a string always.

so you have to convert the input values into numbers.

i=raw_input("enter x\n")
j=raw_input("enter y\n")
print compare(i,j)

should be 

i=int(raw_input("enter x\n"))
j=int(raw_input("enter y\n"))
print compare(i,j)

Upvotes: 1

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