[SOLVED] I want to add a number of variables depending on user input...

Question

So, I've decided to create a questionnaire program to practically test my current knowledge on Boolean algebra. Doing little projects is probably going to help me solidify my knowledge the best.

Here's the sibling part of the questionnaire -

#Siblings questions
siblings = input("How many siblings do you have? ")
print('\n')
siblings = int(siblings)
sib_count = list(range(siblings))

while siblings > 0:
sib_name = input("What is your sibling's name? ")
siblings = siblings - 1
print (sib_name)
print('\n')

This works just fine, but I want to be able to have each answer to sib_name be its own variable, and I'm not quite sure how to do it. So, if I input that I have 3 siblings, I want to create sib_name1, sib_name2, sib_name3 so that I can have those variables stored for later output.

I've made it through the first two sections, "Basic Concepts" and "Control Structures". In looking over through my notes and back through the lessons, I cannot figure out how to accomplish my goal. I'm figuring I have to integrate a list in order to do what I want, thus the sib_count variable I've created, but I cannot figure how to integrate it to do what I want. It may be that it hasn't been covered yet, and that I just need to have more patience to be able to do more. But in the case that I'm just not connecting the dots, I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks in advance for anyone that gives their time to helping me solve this (probably rather simple) problem.

Answer 1

no_of_sib = int (input ("How many siblings do you have? \n "))
# you can directly use int above to typecast

sib_list = []
#using list to store temporarily

for i in range (no_of_sib):
# taking name input
name = input(" Enter name of your sibling : \t ")
sib_list.append (name)
# stored name in the list

# printing from list
for i in range (no_of_sib):
print (sib_list [i])

print ("Writing Inside file...")
# using "with open" to open file help you close file automatically !!

with open (" siblings.txt", "a+") as sib_file:
# using file to save it permanently on file

for i in range (no_of_sib):
# writing each name in file
sib_file.write (f"{ sib_list [i] } \t")
sib_file.write("\n")

# or you can use one between them.

Answer 2

Thank you Manish, I'm going to test this out. The "with open" and .write are things I have not learned yet, so I may wait until that pops up in the lessons before I tinker with that part.
Much appreciation for your input!

Answer 3

If you really want to create a variable for each sibling, you can try exec.

for i in range(siblings) :
sib_name=input(f"What's your number {i+1} sibling name?")
exec(f"sib_name{i+1}={sib_name}")
print(sib_name1) #first sibling name

However, a better practice is to make a dictionary, and then assign key-value pairs as index-name pair

e. g.
sib_names={}
for i in range(siblings) :
sib_name=input(f"What's your number {i+1} sibling name?")
sib_names[i+1] = sib_name
print(sib_names[1]) #first sibling name

Answer 4

For anyone interested, here's how I solved my dilemma and expanded upon the questionnaire, using Manish's tips -

#Siblings questions
no_of_sib = int(input("How many siblings do you have?\n "))

sib_list = []

print("Starting with the oldest,")
for i in range(no_of_sib):
sib_name = input("Enter your sibling's name: ")
print("\n")
sib_list.append(sib_name)

#Lists for calculating sibling ages
sib_year_list = []
sib_born_list = []
sib_bday_list = []
sib_age_list = []

for i in range(no_of_sib):
sib_born = input('What year was ' + sib_list[i] + ' born? ')
sib_born_list.append(sib_born)
sib_year = int(sib_born)
sib_year_list.append(sib_year)
print('\n')

for i in range(no_of_sib):
sib_bday = input("Has " + sib_list[i] + " had their birthday this year? ")
sib_bday_list.append(sib_bday)

for i in range(no_of_sib):
if sib_bday_list[i] == "no":
sib_year_list[i] = int(sib_year_list[i] + 1)
print('\n')

#Age calculations
for i in range(no_of_sib):
sib_age = str(2020 - sib_year_list[i])
sib_age_list.append(sib_age)

#Print ages of siblings
for i in range(no_of_sib):
print(sib_list[i] + ' is ' + sib_age_list[i] + ' years old.' '\n')

Answer 5

李立威 - Thanks for your input!

I know about libraries, but have yet to get to that part in the course, so I'm going to come back to your suggestions once I get to that point.

Manish - I've been toying with your tips and suggestions and it's exactly what I wanted as far as executing things I've learned up to this point. I meant to say in my initial post that I wanted to make and utilize lists for this. I'm working on creating more questions using the sibling lists.

Fun! Enjoying this learning process, so glad to have found an active and helpful community!