TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable' Python 3

Question

I'm trying to write a program that will open a text file from the web consisting of 10,000 words, then 'clean' the file to get rid of nonsense words, such as 'aa'. I eventually want to use these words to do other things so I want to add the non 'non-sense' words to be put into a new list. Every time i try to run this I run into the error code TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable.

import urllib.request  

def readWordList():  

response = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.mit.edu/~ecprice/wordlist.10000")
html = response.read()
data = html.decode('utf-8').split()

return data

clean = readWordList() 

def clean(aList):   
    newList = []
    for word in aList: 
        if range(len(word)) >= 2:
            newList.append(word)
    return newList


clean(clean)

`clean(clean)`? You can't use the same name for both a function and a list.. — Martijn Pieters, Nov 16 '17 at 23:03

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 16 '17 at 22:59

Make up your mind: is clean supposed to be a list or a function? You started as a list, but then replaced that with a function, and then told the function to clean itself. Try this:

dirty_list = readWordList()
def clean(aList):
...

clean(dirty_list)

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 16 '17 at 23:00

1

You create a variable called clean, immediately overwrite the name by declaring a function with the same name, then pass the function clean to itself.

Either change the function name, or the variable above with the same name.

answered Nov 16 '17 at 23:00

Carcigenicate

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Ender Look · Answer 3 · 2017-11-16T23:13:04.063

1

Firstly you make a variable called clean and then you make a function called clean and finally you tried to use the function in the variable, both called clean. You "destroy" the variable when you defined a function. They must have different names.

Use this:

import urllib.request  

    def readWordList():  

    response = urllib.request.urlopen("http://www.mit.edu/~ecprice/wordlist.10000")
    html = response.read()
    data = html.decode('utf-8').split()

    return data

    to_clean = readWordList() # Use a different name so it won't be replaced later by the function
        def clean(aList):   
        newList = []
        for word in aList: 
            if range(len(word)) >= 2:
                newList.append(word)
        return newList
    clean(to_clean)

Problem solves; now they have different names.

edited Nov 16 '17 at 23:13

answered Nov 16 '17 at 23:04

Ender Look

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What does this add to the previous answers? Call out your improvements. – Prune Nov 16 '17 at 23:12
@Prune, I think I made a better explanation so he would understand it better. But if you want... I can delete it... – Ender Look Nov 16 '17 at 23:14
Nope -- I wanted to make sure your improvements are obvious to later users. SGITE (Slowest Gun In The East) is often useful on SO. – Prune Nov 16 '17 at 23:15

TypeError: 'function' object is not iterable' Python 3

3 Answers3

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