How to fix python not writing to file

Question

I'm making a script that reads a dictionary and picks out words that fit a search criteria. The code runs fine, but the problem is that it doesn't write any words to the file "wow" or print them out. The source for the dictionary is https://github.com/dwyl/english-words/blob/master/words.zip.

I've tried changing the opening of the file to "w+" instead of "a+" but it didn't make a difference. I checked if there just weren't any words that fitted the criteria but that isn't the issue.

listExample = [] #creates a list with open("words.txt") as f: #opens the "words" text file for line in f: listExample.append(line) x = 0 file = open("wow.txt","a+") #opens "wow" so I can save the right words to it while True: if x < 5000: # limits the search because I don't want to wait too long if len(listExample[x]) == 11: #this loop iterates through all words word = listExample[x] #if the words is 11 letters long lastLetter = word[10] print(x) if lastLetter == "t": #and the last letter is t file.write(word) #it writes the word to the file "wow" print("This word is cool!",word) #and prints it else: print(word) #or it just prints it x += 1 #iteration else: file.close() break #breaks after 5000 to keep it short

It created the "wow" file but it is empty. How can I fix this issue?

You sure the if condition is met to execute file.write(word) — Devesh Kumar Singh
– Devesh Kumar Singh, Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 11:02
Are you sure all the conditions that lead to writing to the file are met? — ForceBru
– ForceBru, Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 11:02
The conditions are that it is a 11 letter word with the letter t at the end. "adolescent" is in the dictionary and is not written to file. — ix84 gaming
– ix84 gaming, Commented Jul 11, 2019 at 11:04

Rob Kwasowski · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-11 11:20:23Z

This fixes your problem. You were splitting the text in such a way that each word had a line break at the end and maybe a space too. I've put in .strip() to get rid of any whitespace. Also I've defined lastLetter as word[-1] to get the final letter regardless of the word's length.

P.S. Thanks to Ocaso Protal for suggesting strip instead of replace.

listExample = [] #creates a list with open("words.txt") as f: #opens the "words" text file for line in f: listExample.append(line) x = 0 file = open("wow.txt","a+") #opens "wow" so I can save the right words to it while True: if x < 5000: # limits the search because I don't want to wait too long word = listExample[x].strip() if len(word) == 11: lastLetter = word[-1] print(x) if lastLetter == "t": #and the last letter is t file.write(word + '\n') #it writes the word to the file "wow" print("This word is cool!",word) #and prints it else: print(word) #or it just prints it x += 1 #iteration else: print('closing') file.close() break #breaks after 5000 to keep it short

And one more thing ;) The first loop over words.txt can be simplified by using either list or readlines: docs.python.org/3/tutorial/…

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