Python variable cant be defined for some reason

[fh1]

hello! for some reason on line 16 and 29, it says “pickanimword cant be defined.” I’ve done basically everything and even asked chatgpt and copilot (didn’t help lol) heres the code:

guesses = 3
import random
cater = input("Choose a catergory: Animals, Plants, Food\n")
animword = ["Cat", "Dog", "Coyote", "Snake", "Fish", "Lion"]
if cater.lower() == "Animals":
  pickanimword = random.choice(animword).lower()
  pickanimword = pickanimword.lower()
  lenanimword = len(pickanimword)
  print("You have 3 guesses.")
  print("The word has")
  print(lenanimword)
  print("Letters")
while True:
    guess = input("Put your guesses! Press H for a hint\n").lower()
    if guess == "H":
       if pickanimword == "Cat":                       
        print("Word starts with a C!")
       elif pickanimword == "Dog":
        print("Word Starts the a D")
       elif pickanimword == "Coyote":
        print("Word starts with a C and a O")
       elif pickanimword == "Snake":
        print("Word starts with an S")
       elif pickanimword == "Fish":
        print("Word starts with an F")
       elif pickanimword == "Lion":
        print("word starts with L")
       continue
    if guess != pickanimword:
      guesses -= 1
      print(f"Wrong! You have {guesses} guesses")
    if guesses == 0:
      print("You have no more guesses! game over.")
      quit()
    elif guess == pickanimword:
      print("correct!")
      break

 

[Johna]

The lower() method converts a string to lowercase, so all of those conditions are going to return false, because you're comparing them to strings that contain capital letters.

 

[fh1]

The lower() method converts a string to lowercase, so all of those conditions are going to return false, because you're comparing them to strings that contain capital letters.

i deleted the .lower() that makes the word lowercase but still it says that its not defined. i tried doing indentation.

 

[Johna]

Does this occur when you input "Animals" into the first input?
Could you post the exact error? (copy/paste)

Rather than removing .lower(), you could also change the strings that you're comparing to, to all lowercase.

 

[fh1]

Does this occur when you input "Animals" into the first input?
Could you post the exact error? (copy/paste)

Rather than removing .lower(), you could also change the strings that you're comparing to, to all lowercase.

the error occured when i do a guess or ask a hint

 

[menator01]

As Johna suggested, it's comparing lowercase and uppercase that's probably causing the error.

 

[menator01]

I modified the your code a little to show another way.

from random import choice

# Create the categories
categories = ['animals', 'plants', 'foods']

# Create words for the categories
animals = ['horse', 'dog', 'cat', 'bird']
plants = ['tree', 'flower', 'weed', 'grass']
foods = ['hotdog', 'hamburger', 'pizza', 'taco']

# Combined the list of words
data = [animals, plants, foods]

# Create a dict using categories as keys and the list as values
alldata = dict(zip(categories, data))

# Number of guesses
guesses = 3

while True:
    print(f'Choose a category: {", ".join([category.title() for category in categories])} or q to quit.')

    category = input('>> ').lower()

    # A way to exit
    if category == 'q':
        print('\nGoodbye!')
        exit()

    # Match a category and choose a random word from its list
    match categories:
        case [*categories] if category in categories:
            word = choice(alldata[category])
            break

        case _:
            print('\nError! That category is not included yet.')

while True:

    # Instructions and data display
    print('\nEnter a guess. Press h for hint or q to exit.')
    print(f'You have {guesses} guesses left')
    print(f'The word has {len(word)} characters\n')

    # Create a list of words from the category
    words = [word for word in alldata.get(category)]

    guess = input('>> ').lower()

    # Get a hint
    if guess == 'h':
        print(f'Word starts with {word[:1]}')
        guesses += 1

    # A way to exit
    if guess == 'q':
        print('\nGoodbye!')
        break
    
    # Match the guess with random word
    match words:
        case [*words] if guess in words:
            if guess == word:
                print('\nCongradulaions! You guessed the word.')
                play = input('Would you like to play again? (y/n)\n>> ')

                if play == 'y':
                    guesses = 3
                    print(f'\nPlease enter a category: {", ".join([category.title() for category in categories])}')
                    category = input('>> ')
                    words = alldata[category]
                    word = choice(words)
                else:
                    print('\nGoodbye!')
                    exit()
            else:
                guesses -= 1

        case _:
            guesses -= 1

    if guesses == 0:
        print(f'\nYou are out of guesses.\nThe word is {word}.\nGoodbye!')
        play = input('Would you like to play again? (y/n)\n>> ')

        if play == 'y':
            guesses = 3
            print(f'\nPlease enter a category: {", ".join([category.title() for category in categories])}')
            category = input('>> ')
            words = alldata[category]
            word = choice(words)
        else:
            print('\nGoodbye!')
            exit()

 

[cbreemer]

It's curious how you convert your input to lowercase and then consistently compare it to strings containing uppercase letters.
Also I do not understand why you define picanimword only when the input was "Animals" (which never happens because of the lowercase thing).

 

[fh1]

i have fixed the problem by moving the definition of pickanimword down a little more (it was so simple 😭😭) but now i have another problem, the hint part works but now when i try to guess it just keeps giving the hint! heres my updated code:

guesses = 3
import random
cater = input("Choose a catergory: Animals, Plants, Food\n")
animword = ["cat", "dog", "coyote", "snake", "fish", "lion"]
if cater == "Animals":
  print("You have 3 guesses.")
  pickanimword = random.choice(animword)
  lenanimword = len(pickanimword)
  print(f"The word has {lenanimword} letters")
while True:
   guess = input("Put your guesses! Press H for a hint\n")
   if guess == "H" or "h":
      print(f"Word starts with {pickanimword[:1]}")
   elif guess not in pickanimword:
      guesses -= 1
      print(f"Wrong! You have {guesses} guesses")
   if guesses == 0:
      print("You have no more guesses! game over.")
      break
   elif guess == pickanimword:
     print("correct!")
     break

 

[cbreemer]

Change
if guess == "H" or "h":
to
if guess == "H" or guess == "h":

 

[menator01]

if guess == "H" or "h": This is wrong.
Should be
if guess == "H" or guess == "h":
or you could do
if guess in ['H','h']:

 

[menator01]

Change
if guess == "H" or "h":
to
if guess == "H" or guess == "h":

You beat me to it. LOL!

 

[cbreemer]

You beat me to it. LOL!

Haha only just 🤣

 

[fh1]

lol i didn’t notice that small easy mistake 😂 im so smart

 

[cbreemer]

lol i didn’t notice that small easy mistake 😂 im so smart

What do you mean, you did not notice ? You were always getting the hint, so how did you manage not to ask yourself whether that if statement was correct or not ? It seems to me that you are just trying out things.

 

[fh1]

What do you mean, you did not notice ? You were always getting the hint, so how did you manage not to ask yourself whether that if statement was correct or not ? It seems to me that you are just trying out things.

im not entirely new to python i just forgot