CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xlistfor-loopnested-lists
Michael
Michael

Reputation: 79

How to find a char in a list of lists?

I'm writing code that creates a crossword and I want code that finds a specific char in a table. so for example if the board contains the word 'car' and I'm looking for the char 'a', it would return the value for the row and column. This is the code I have for printing the board and the first word.

board = [[' '] * 20 for i in range(20)] 
def printboard(board):
    columns = '01234567890123456789'
    rows = '_' * 20
    print(' ' + columns)
    print(' ' + rows)
    for i in range(20):
        s = ''.join(board[i])
        print('|' + s +'|' + str(i))
    print(' ' + rows)
    print(' ' + columns)

def addFirstWord(board, word):
    n = len(word)
    if n > 20:
        return False
    row = 10
    col = (20 - n) // 2
    board[row][col:col+n] = word
    return True
addFirstWord(board, 'car')
printboard(board)

I think I have to write a loop that checks every index in the board but i'm not sure how to write it. Thanks

Upvotes: 2

Views: 560

Answers (1)

CDJB
CDJB

Reputation: 14486

This should work:

def findCharacter(board, char):
    # Loop through all rows and columns
    for i, c in enumerate(board):
        for j, r in enumerate(c):
            # If we find the character, return it
            if r == char:
                return j, i

For example:

>>> board = [[' '] * 20 for i in range(20)] 
>>> addFirstWord(board, 'car')
>>> findCharacter(board, 'c')
(8, 10)

Upvotes: 4

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