Find Longest Word Python

Question

Please help. This is my code:

txt = input()

def longword():

x = max(txt.split())
return x

print(longword())

Now, I know the only thing I am missing is key=len right after the txt.split(), but I don't know why this is required. I thought the max function just returned the longest word in a list. Why do I need to add this to make it work? Because without it, every test fails.

Answer 1

Because otherwise, max() compares words based on the first letter (a<b<c...). and if they are equal, it checks the next letters.

Answer 2

Ok, thank you. That makes much more sense now.