Python Forum

Folks on here were so quick to help with my first question--I appreciate everyone who replies!

I completed a task assigned to me, but I'm missing some clarifying piece.

Quote:Instructions:
create this program with a Boolean function bird_available()

• has parameter that takes the name of a type of bird
  
• for this exercise the variable bird_types = 'crow robin parrot eagle sandpiper hawk pigeon'
  
• return True or False (we are making a Boolean function)
  
• call the function using the name of a bird type from user input
  
• print a sentence that indicates the availability of the type of bird checked

Here's my code which make sense to me:

def bird_available(bird):
    bird_types = 'crow, robin, parrot, eagle, sandpiper, hawk, pigeon'
    return bird.lower() in bird_types
    


bird_input = bird_available(input("Type bird name here: "))

print("The bird is available T/F: ", bird_input)

Here's some normal, expected, and correct output examples:

Output:
Type bird name here: crow
The bird is available T/F:  True
#or
Type bird name here: dog
The bird is available T/F:  False

What happens, though, is that if I type in any consecutive letters from the values in bird_types, I get True. (e.g., "ro" from "crow", or "pig" from "pigeon")

Output:
Type bird name here: ro
The bird is available T/F:  True

Can someone help on how to address that aspect? I feel like the answer has something do to with the variable bird_types but I can't figure out what to do.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

-a brand new student to this

you want bird_types to be list/tuple/set - i.e. container type, not str

Your bird_types variable is a string so if the combo of letters is anywhere "in" it, you'll get a true.
I think you meant to make it a list with each word in quotes separated by commas. That will give yo the results you're expecting.

as a side note, it's much better to take bird as input and pass it to function, not do everything in one step. Note the use of f-string.

bird = input("Type bird name here: ")
print(f"The bird is available T/F: {bird_available(bird)}")

Thanks!!!