Question

this code is for the ps3a "the first problem of problem set3:
def match2(target,key):
counter = 0
if find (target,key)==-1:
return
else:
target = target[0:find(target,key)]+target[find(target,key)+len(key):len(target)+1]
print target
match2(target,key)
counter=counter+1
print counter
but i don't understand why count doesn't want to add up ?? help please (:

Answer 1

Every time your function is recursively called, counter is reset to 0 due to the line: counter = 0
There are a couple of ways to fix it: one, declare counter outside the function, and add each time. The second way is to declare match2 as match2(target, key, counter = 0) then before calling it recursively, just do counter+=1, and pass it as an argument as match2(target,key,counter)

Answer 2

thanks (:
just before you answered me i figured it out (:
but thanks anyway(:

Answer 3

sorry but the first way "declaring outside" didn't work
it gives me "local variable not declared" ??

Answer 4

Use the global keyword, like count = 0 outside, then inside the function global counter.

Answer 5

thanks soooooo much!!