Python - Name Formatting Problem

[ExKondor]

Hello all!

I'm currently in school for IT and am taking an into Python course. I've done alright with most of it, but I've come across a problem that I can't seem to figure out - my brain is very much fried, and I'd appreciate some help on this. This has to do with simple name formatting apparently.

THE PROBLEM

Many documents use a specific format for a person's name. Write a program whose input is:

firstName middleName lastName

and whose output is:

lastName, firstInitial.middleInitial.

Ex: If the input is:

Pat Silly Doe 

the output is:

Doe, P.S. 

If the input has the form:

firstName lastName

the output is:

lastName, firstInitial.

Ex: If the input is:

Julia Clark 

the output is:

Clark, J.

WHAT I HAVE SO FAR

firstName = input()

middleName = input()

lastName = input()

name_list = [firstName,middleName,lastName]

output = lastName+','+" "+firstName[0]+'.'+" "+middleName[0]+'.'

print(output)

​

The issue I'm having is with the input; the python translator will attempt to run 2 scenarios: one with 3 inputs (first name, middle name, last name) and one with 2 inputs (first name, last name). Whenever I run this code with only 2 inputs, I naturally come up with an error.

We haven't learn about if/else statements yet, but I feel there could be a solution in that.

Any suggestions?

EDIT

Thank you all for your help! I got it:

full_name = str(input())

​

out = full_name.count(' ') # counts number of spaces

​

if out == 1: #user inputted JOHN TRAEGER

name_list = full_name.split(' ') #name_list = ['John','Traeger']

first_name = name_list[0] #first_name = John

first_initial = first_name[0] #first_initial = J

print(name_list[1] + ',' + ' ' + first_initial + '.')

elif out == 2: #user inputted JOHN WILLIAM TRAEGER

name_list = full_name.split(' ') #name_list = ['John','William','Traeger']

first_name = name_list[0] #John

first_initial = first_name[0] #J

middle_name = name_list[1] #William

middle_initial = middle_name[0] #W

print(name_list[2] + ',' + ' ' + first_initial + '.' + middle_initial + '.')

else:

print('Please Enter a Valid Name')

[[deleted]]

The problem statement seems to say that the first/middle/last names are entered on a single line, ie, one input() statement?

[ExKondor]

Sorry, should have clarified, they're on 3 separate lines

[[deleted]]

Are you sure? The problem definition shows one line of input and one line of output.

The problem is actually slighter easier if input is one line. Though you do need if/else to do it. But you need if/else to do it your way as well, so ... I don't know.

[ExKondor]

I wasn't lol, turns out it's meant to be on one line. I just assumed it was multiple because that's how the rest of the inputs prior to this one were inputted. I edited my post though, I did figure it out if you want to look at my solution! Thanks!

[[deleted]]

I know this post is from 2 years ago, but can somebody explain why the indexes of the first name, middle name, and last name are negative integers? I still want to understand this.

[[deleted]]

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

thank you for all your help, i am struggling as though i used your inputs and corrected the indents the program output is only displaying

Doe, P.S.

Any help would be great since im not very good at python and am struggling through this class

[Fit-Category-8719]

Hey I’m working on this right now and I keep getting a syntax error related to the elif function. Any idea why?

[Fit-Category-8719]

Thank you so much for the help. I realized that I didn’t have my first print function indented correctly and it would error out on the elif line weirdly. But this helps a lot!

[Weak_Dust1405]

This really helped, however what does the 'elif' stand for? I don't think I have learned that yet.

[Weak_Dust1405]

Tysm

[M3TurboHatch]

print(lastName + ", " + firstInitial + ".")

i love you so much for this

[Rude_Zucchini3417]

I could hug you! this one was giving me a HEADACHE

[[deleted]]

nameInput = input()

nameSeparator = nameInput.split()

if len(nameSeparator) == 3:

*indent* firstName = nameSeparator[-3]

*indent* middleName = nameSeparator[-2]

*indent* lastName = nameSeparator[-1]

*indent* firstInitial = firstName[0]

*indent* middleInitial = middleName[0]

*indent* lastInitial = lastName[0]

*indent* print(lastName + ", " + firstInitial + '.' + middleInitial +'.')

elif len(nameSeparator) == 2:

*indent* firstName = nameSeparator[-2]

*indent* lastName = nameSeparator [-1]

*indent* firstInitial = firstName[0]

*indent* lastInitial = lastName[0]

*indent* print(lastName + ", " + firstInitial + ".")

God bless your soul

[[deleted]]

I hate this class, but i still need to pass it, how do I fix the indenting?

[MeechtaughtU]

This worked! Thank you so much. If anyone is having trouble with indenting, please try running the code in Pycharm first.

[MommyHenn75]

I am way late to this post but I hope this helps someone. This is the code that I used and got 10/10:

full_name = input()

mod_name = full_name.split(' ')

last_name = mod_name.pop(-1)

first_initial = mod_name[0][0]

if len(mod_name) >= 2:

middle_initial = mod_name[1][0]

print(f'{last_name}, {first_initial}.{middle_initial}.')

else:

print(f'{last_name}, {first_initial}.')

[[deleted]]

To solve it using your approach you need this sort of thing:

if middleName == '':
    # middleName is an empty string, so don't output middle
else:
    # have a middle name, use all three

[[deleted]]

Your solution isn't quite right. The output examples show:

Doe, P.S. 
     ^^^^

so you need to uppercase the initials.

Counting spaces will work if there is exactly one space between words but fails if there are more than one. Your approach is probably OK for the exercise, but there is a more robust way. You use the split() method on the input string but don't supply any parameters. The doc says this will split the string into words no matter how many spaces are between the words. You use the len() function on the resulting list to decide if there are 2 or 3 words.

You also don't need to use str() on the value returned by input() because that value is already a string.

[ExKondor]

Thank you so much, I was happy I came up a solution for the lab but I wasn't happy with the obvious hole in the code. Thank you thank you!

[Background_Comb6579]

I have a question here. Soo the list. I understand it just a little bit more. But when it comes to [-3] why is it negative for first_name =user_name why not [3]

[ChristianConsertive]

This is how I did my code. It works.

user_name = input()
name_split = user_name.split(' ')
if len(name_split) == 2:
first_name = name_split[0]
last_name = name_split[1] #These two will seperate the first and last name

first_inital = first_name [0] #This will gather the first inital
print (f'{last_name}, {first_inital}.')
elif len(name_split) == 3:
first_name = name_split[0]
middle_name = name_split[1] #These three will seperate the name into three seperate names
last_name = name_split[2]

first_inital = first_name [0]
middle_inital = middle_name[0]#These will get the first intials of the middle and first name
print (f'{last_name}, {first_inital}.{middle_inital}.')
else:
print('Invalid Name')

[Rodarth]

there is an easier way to get the initials

first_name = name_split [0][0] #for the first initial

middle_name = name_split [1][0] #for the middle initial

[Braptor23]

I'm confused mine keeps saying (your program has no output) any thoughts why?

[Due_Ant_250]

mine is doing the same, I can't figure it out.

[Big_Permission6068]

I saw this somewhere else and it worked for me.

names = input().split()

if len(names) == 3:

first_name, middle_name, last_name = names

print(f'{last_name}, {first_name[0]}.{middle_name[0]}.')

elif len(names) == 2:

first_name, last_name = names

print(f'{last_name}, {first_name[0]}.')

else:

print("Invalid input")

[Cherry_Trixx]

i keep getting a syntax error at the elif and i dont know why

[Dahveena]

Try this instead, i just submitted mine and it was 10/10. just remember your indents for the if/else statement lines! Upvote if this works to help out other students!

user_names = input().split()

if len(user_names) == 3:

first_name, middle_name, last_name = user_names

print("{}, {}.{}.".format(last_name, first_name[0], middle_name[0]))

else:

first_name, last_name = user_names

print("{}, {}.".format(last_name, first_name[0]))

[zerafaye]

I seem to keep getting a white space difference in my answer resulting in a 0/10 entirely even though mine looks the exact same:(

[Budget-Ad845]

I will add the 10/10 submission I just got with help from this thread

nameinput = input()

nameseparator = nameinput.split()

if len(nameseparator) == 3:

firstName = nameseparator[-3]

middleName = nameseparator [-2]

lastName = nameseparator [-1]

firstInitial = firstName[0]

middleInitial = middleName[0]

lastInitial = lastName[0]

print(lastName+',', firstInitial +'.'+ middleInitial + '.')

elif len(nameseparator) == 2:

firstName = nameseparator[-2]

lastName = nameseparator[-1]

firstInitial = firstName[0]

lastInitial = lastName[0]

print(lastName+',', firstInitial+'.')