Hangman - Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python - page 145

9 - Hangman
108. correctLetters = ''
109. secretWord = getRandomWord(words)
110. gameIsDone = False
...
144. gameIsDone = False
145. secretWord = getRandomWord(words)
146. else:
Because the getRandomWord() function now returns a list of two items instead of a
string, secretWord will be assigned a list, not a string. We would then have to change
the code as follows:
108. correctLetters = ''
109. secretWord = getRandomWord(words)
110. secretKey = secretWord[1]
111. secretWord = secretWord[0]
112. gameIsDone = False
...
144. gameIsDone = False
145. secretWord = getRandomWord(words)
146. secretKey = secretWord[1]
147. secretWord = secretWord[0]
148. else:
With the above changes, secretWord is first a list of two items. Then we add a new
variable named secretKey and set it to the second item in secretWord . Then we set
secretWord itself to the first item in the secretWord list. That means that
secretWord will then be a string.
Multiple Assignment
But there is an easier way by doing a little trick with assignment statements. Try typing
the following into the shell:
>>> a, b, c = ['apples', 'cats', 42]
>>> a
'apples'
>>> b
'cats'
>>> c