How can I clean up this code so that it isn't as long and does not involve much copying and pasting?

Question

This code is for a hangman game and it works perfectly.It, however, is quite messy and long because I had to copy and paste a lot of the code over and over again. It works but is not the most functional way of doing this. How can I clean up this code to not have to copy and paste over and over again? I already tried using a for loop and a while loop but that just messed up the game and the game then didn't work properly. How can I improve this code?

import random

def getWord():
    dictionary_file=open("dictionary.txt","r")
    lines=dictionary_file.readlines()
    words=[]
    for i in range(0,len(lines)-1):
        x=lines[i]
        z=len(x)
        a=x[:z-1]
        words.append(a)
    words.append(lines[i+1])
    game_word=random.choice(words)
    dictionary_file.close()
    return(game_word)

def display(game_word):
    for i in range(len(game_word)):
        print('_ ', end='')
    print()

def play(game_word):
    n = len(game_word)
    word = list("_"*n)

    guess1 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess1.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if guess1 in game_word[j]:
                word[j] = guess1 + " "
            else:
                word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))

    guess2 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess2.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess2 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess2 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess3 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess3.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess3 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess3 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess4 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess4.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess4 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess4 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess5 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess5.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess5 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess5 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return
        return

    guess6 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess6.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess6 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess6 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess7 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess7.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess7 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess7 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess8 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess8.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess8 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess8 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess9 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess9.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess9 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess9 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess10 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess10.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess10 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess10 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess11 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess11.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess11 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess11 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess12 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess12.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess12 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess12 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess13 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess13.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess13 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess13 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess14 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess14.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess14 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess14 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    guess15 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess15.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess15 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess15 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

    print("YOU LOSE")
    print('Word was '+ game_word)

game_word = getWord()
display(game_word)
play(game_word)

Answer 1

import random

def getWord():
    dictionary_file=open("dictionary.txt","r")
    lines=dictionary_file.readlines()
    words=[]
    for i in range(0,len(lines)-1):
        x=lines[i]
        z=len(x)
        a=x[:z-1]
        words.append(a)
    words.append(lines[i+1])
    solution_word=random.choice(words)
    dictionary_file.close()
    return(solution_word)

def print_in_game(word):
    for i in range(len(word)):
        print(word[i], end=' ')
    print()

def play(solution_word):
    n = len(solution_word)
    word = list("_"*n)
    print_in_game(word)
    for index in range(15):
        guess = input("Letter: ")
        if not guess.isalpha():
            print("try letters please")
            continue
        for character_index in range(n):
            if word[character_index] == '_':
                if guess == solution_word[character_index]:
                    word[character_index] = guess + " "
                else:
                    word[character_index] = "_"
        print_in_game(word)
        if '_' not in word:
            print("YOU WIN")
            return    

    print("YOU LOSE")
    print('Word was '+ solution_word)

solution_word = getWord()
play(solution_word)

I hope it helps. It still can be improved with better variable names, and maybe the play function can be split to smaller functions it still seems a little long.

Answer 2

You can use enumerate to tidy up the range part in the for-loop, and with enumerate, instead of keep using subscriptions to get a value from the list, simple use the second variable.

That means, (i, lines[i]) turns into (i, v).

Opening and closing a file is considered bad practice, and should be replaced with a context manager:

def getWord():
    with open("dictionary.txt","r") as dictionary_file: #  Context manager are a better practice
        lines=dictionary_file.readlines()
        words=[]
        for i,v in enumerate(lines): # Enumerate will allow you to use the index of an iteration along-side the corresponding value
            words.append(v[:len(v)-1])
        words.append(v)
        game_word=random.choice(words)
        return(game_word)

Answer 3

You need to use a loop.

And in your case, it will be very simple.

Obviously, as you noticed, your code is largely a repetition of the same (or very similar) instructions.

For instance :

    guess10 = input("Letter: ")
    if guess10.isalpha():
        for j in range(n):
            if word[j] == '_ ':
                if guess10 in game_word[j]:
                    word[j] = guess10 + " "
                else:
                    word[j] = "_ "
    print("".join(word))
    if '_ ' not in word:
        print("YOU WIN")
        return

Is an example of the "pattern" that is repeated. The only difference is the number 10 in the variable name, because that's the 10's time that this code is executed.

Look at the definition of the variable : guess10 = input("Letter: ")

Then, look at where it is used : only in this small part. Not after, not before.

So, instead of using different variables, you can **reuse"" the same (let's say guess).

Then, you just need to repeat the same code 14 times (as in the original code).

So, you just need to wrap this part of code in a for a in range(14):, replace guess10 by simply guess, and that will reduce the line of codes used a lot.