CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythontypes
trang nguyen
trang nguyen

Reputation: 65

Could not cast a String to a List

I got so frustrated because of this error message here and couldn't figure out what went wrong with such a simple code:

secret_word_list = list('trang')

TypeError: 'tuple' object is not callable

secret_word_list is a new variable. where does the 'tuple' type come from? Also if I assign the string to a variable, can I cast it to a string just by calling its name. For example:

string = 'abc'
list = list(string)

I tried but the same error message kept popping up.

Also, I write this in Spyder. If I wrote in PythonTutor, things would go well.

Thank you in advance for your time!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 379

Answers (2)

Right leg
Right leg

Reputation: 16720

Here's what it does when I run your code in a fresh interpreter:

>>> secret_word_list = list('trang')
>>> secret_word_list
['t', 'r', 'a', 'n', 'g']
>>>

In other words, it behaves as expected. If you take a closer look at the error you get, you can understand that Python sees that a tuple is being called:

TypeError: 'tuple' object is not callable

The only call is on list. Therefore, list is a tuple. This can only mean that list has been rebound somewhere in your code.

You need to find the line where you wrote something like

list = ...

and use a different name instead of list.

Upvotes: 1

DBedrenko
DBedrenko

Reputation: 5029

The problem is being caused because you're shadowing a builtin keyword of Python: list.

Never create variables with names of builtin keywords.

Your code works perfectly fine if you choose another variable name:

>> string = 'abc'
>> my_list = list(string)
>> print(my_list)
['a', 'b', 'c']

I suspect you're getting a TypeError because you previously assigned a tuple to a variable called list.

Upvotes: 1

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