Trying to print an uneven list to a even table

[Mike2607]

def main():
    mycities = ['Cape Girardeau, MO 63780','Columbia, MO  65201',
                'Kansas City, MO 64108','Rolla,MO   65402',
                'Springfield, MO65897','St Joseph, MO64504',
                'St Louis,MO63111', 'Ames,   IA 50010 ', 'Enid, OK 73773',
                'West Palm Beach, FL 33412',
                'International Falls, MN 56649',
                'Frostbite Falls,MN               56650     '
                ]
            
    # Print the table
    for c in mycities:      
        print(c)

main()

[SheeppOSU]

We need some kind of context as to what the problem with your code is. I have no idea what this code is supposed to do, and it looks as if it will work perfectly.

[Mike2607]

it should look like this I am confused on how to add and remove spaces as well as left and right adjust individual parts

Cape Girardeau  MO 63780
Columbia        MO 65201
Kansas City     MO 64108
Rolla           MO 65402
Springfield     MO 65897
St Joseph       MO 64504
St Louis        MO 63111
Ames            IA 50010
Enid            OK 73773
West Palm Beach FL 33412
International F MN 56649
Frostbite Falls MN 56650

[SheeppOSU]

Doing that will be a bit more complicated than the code that you currently have. I'll write and explain the code for you.

def main():
    mycities = ['Cape Girardeau,MO,63780','Columbia,MO,65201',
                'Kansas City,MO,64108','Rolla,MO,65402',
                'Springfield,MO,65897','St Joseph,MO,64504',
                'St Louis,MO,63111', 'Ames,IA,50010', 'Enid,OK,73773',
                'West Palm Beach,FL,33412',
                'International Falls,MN,56649',
                'Frostbite Falls,MN,56650'
                ]
    formattedCities = []
    comparisonCities = []
    for city in mycities:
        formattedCities.append(city.split(',')) #Each city is put in a list, and in that list, everything that was seperated by a comma, got split into different strings
        comparisonCities.append(city.split(',')[0]) #The same thing here, but instead of keeping the list, the code just grabs the first string of the list, or the name part.
    longestString = len(max(mycities)) #This is a number representing how many character long, the longest name is
    # Print the table
    for c in formattedCities:   
        print(c[0] + ' '*(longestString - len(c[0]) + 1) + '%s %s' %(c[1], c[2])) #The "c[0]" prints the first elements of the script, the name, then the spaces are calculated using the longest character length compared to the length of the name currently being printed. The plus one is for to make sure a space is printed when printing the longest name. Finally, the last two elements of the list, the state abbreviation and zip code, are printed separated by space
 
main()

I hope you understand everything.

[Mike2607]

I was wrapping my brain trying to figure out how to add and remove spaces. I didn't realize you can create list with in a single list and then combine the data later. that make way more sense that what I was trying to do. thanks for all the help.

---

if I wanted to do this with out adding commas or removing the spaces is this possible?

[Larz60+]

or use:

def display_list(listname):
    for element in listname:
        items = element.split(',')
        print(f"{items[0]:20} {items[1]:2} {items[2]:5}")

def main():
    mycities = ['Cape Girardeau,MO,63780','Columbia,MO,65201',
                'Kansas City,MO,64108','Rolla,MO,65402',
                'Springfield,MO,65897','St Joseph,MO,64504',
                'St Louis,MO,63111', 'Ames,IA,50010', 'Enid,OK,73773',
                'West Palm Beach,FL,33412',
                'International Falls,MN,56649',
                'Frostbite Falls,MN,56650'
                ]
    display_list(mycities)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

results:

Output:
Cape Girardeau       MO 63780
Columbia             MO 65201
Kansas City          MO 64108
Rolla                MO 65402
Springfield          MO 65897
St Joseph            MO 64504
St Louis             MO 63111
Ames                 IA 50010
Enid                 OK 73773
West Palm Beach      FL 33412
International Falls  MN 56649
Frostbite Falls      MN 56650

[perfringo]

if I wanted to do this with out adding commas or removing the spaces is this possible?

I think that this assignment more about cleaning string than printing table. As there are strings which don't have spaces between state abbreviation and zip-code one should normalise them (split to chars and construct new string without spaces) and use index (all states have two-letter abbreviation):

for row in mycities: 
    city, state_and_zip = row.split(',') 
    location = ''.join(char for char in state_and_zip.split()) 
    print(f'{city:20}{location[:2]:3}{location[2:]:10}') 

Output:
Cape Girardeau      MO 63780     
Columbia            MO 65201     
Kansas City         MO 64108     
Rolla               MO 65402     
Springfield         MO 65897     
St Joseph           MO 64504     
St Louis            MO 63111     
Ames                IA 50010     
Enid                OK 73773     
West Palm Beach     FL 33412     
International Falls MN 56649     
Frostbite Falls     MN 56650