CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
tom feore
tom feore

Reputation: 11

Print the lowest numeric value from a text file

I have a text file consisting of some stocks and their prices and what not, I am trying to print out the stock which has the lowest value along with the name of the company here is my code.

stocks = open("P:\COM661\stocks.txt")

name_lowest = ""
price_lowest = 0

for line in stocks:
    rows = line.split("\t")
    price = float(rows[2])
    if price>price_lowest:
        price_lowest = price
        name_lowest = rows[1]
print(name_lowest + "\t" + str(price_lowest))

I'm trying to go through the file and compare each numeric value to the one before it to see if it is higher or lower and then at the end it should have saved the lowest price and print it along with the name of the company. Instead it prints the value of the last company in the file along with its name.

How can I fix this?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 117

Answers (5)

vash_the_stampede
vash_the_stampede

Reputation: 4606

Just make a little adjustment start your price_lowest at None then set it to your first encounter and compare from there on 

stocks = open("P:\COM661\stocks.txt")

name_lowest = ""
price_lowest = None

for line in stocks:
    rows = line.split("\t")
    price = float(rows[2])
    if price_lowest = None:
        price = price_lowest
        name_lowest = rows[1]
    elif price < price_lowest:
        price_lowest = price
        name_lowest = rows[1]
print(name_lowest + "\t" + str(price_lowest))

Upvotes: 0

Matheus Valiente Souza
Matheus Valiente Souza

Reputation: 368

Your "if" logic is backwards, it should be price<lowest_pre.

Upvotes: 0

Maroun
Maroun

Reputation: 95978

Others already suggested a solution that fixes your current code. However, using Python you can have a shorter solution:

with open('file') as f:
    print min(
        [(i.split('\t')[0], float(i.split('\t')[1])) for i in f.readlines()],
        key=lambda t: t[1]
    )

Upvotes: 1

Arghya Saha
Arghya Saha

Reputation: 5733

You made 2 mistakes. First is initialised the initial value to 0 You should initialise the initial value to the max available number in python float. 

import sys
price_lowest  = sys.float_info.max

Or else you could initialise it to the first element

Second your should if statement should be 

if price<price_lowest:

Upvotes: 2

Vikrant Sharma
Vikrant Sharma

Reputation: 419

Initialize: 

price_lowest = 999999  # start with absurdly high value, or take first one

Plus your if check is the opposite.
Should be: 

if price < price_lowest

Upvotes: 1

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