CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonstringsyntaxruntimetypeerror
JAvila-R
JAvila-R

Reputation: 43

Trying to create a Binary Search Program, but keep getting this error: TypeError: first argument must be string or compiled pattern

I'm trying to create a Binary Search Program, but keep getting this error: TypeError: first argument must be string or compiled pattern.

My method is part of class "Solution" and the first argument is a list of ints. The second argument is an int.

class Solution:
    def search(self, nums: List[int], target: int) -> int:
        
        print(type(nums))
        
        if len(nums) == 1:
            if nums[0] == target:
                return nums.index(target)
            else:
                return -1
        
        halfValue = len(nums)//2
        
        firstHalf = nums[:halfValue]
        
        secondHalf = nums[halfValue:]
        
        if halfValue > target:
             search(self, firstHalf, target)
        elif halfValue < target:
            search(self, secondHalf, target)
        elif halfValue == target:
            return nums.index(target)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 573

Answers (1)

Pychopath
Pychopath

Reputation: 1580

You're not calling your own search function, you're calling the re.search function that LeetCode globally imported for you. Use self.search(firstHalf, target) instead (and likewise the second case).

(You also have other bugs and nums.index(target) defeats the purpose of the binary search, but that's not the question here...)

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions