Python: For loop skip in If

Question

Why do the line "old_langpacks.append(act_item)" get skipped? When I use just the for loop, without the if, then it works.

    if act_file == "Languages.csv":
        temp_list = open(act_file,"r")
        for act_item in temp_list:
            old_langpacks.append(act_item)
    else:
        pass

Err... maybe because act_file isn't "Languages.csv"? Have you tried debugging it? — Mark Byers, Dec 13 '11 at 22:57
It looks as if the condition is not true. For easy debugging, at print statements to both branches so you can see which is taken. — Daniel Fischer, Dec 13 '11 at 22:59
print act_file, "Languages.csv" to check if they are really same. — Bora Caglayan, Dec 13 '11 at 23:00

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 13 '11 at 23:06

The reason it is not working is because your if condition is evaluating to false.

In addition to what Mark Byers suggested one thought came to mind:

Is it possible that act_file is a file object, opposed to a string which represents the name of the file?

How is act_file created?

If you obtain it via something similar to:

act_file = open("Languages.csv")

then you will not be able to check its name the way you have written, because act_file is indeed a file object.

If act_file is a file object, the correct way to write your if statement would be:

if act_file.name == "Languages.csv":

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 14 '11 at 19:28

Probably the condition in your if is resulting in False even though you think it should be true.

That might be due to case sensitivity - if you are on Windows, the file names will work with any casing, but the string comparison in your if won't compare true, if the case of any letter in the act_file variable differs from the way they are in the Languages.csv string.

To work around this I'd suggest you change the if line to:

if act_file.lower() == "languages.csv":

Python: For loop skip in If

2 Answers2