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Python Python Basics (2015) Letter Game App Letter Game Introduction

Syntax error

import random

#make a list of words
words = ['orange','coconut','mango','cherry','strawberry','durian','apple','blueberry']

while True: 
    start = input("Press enter/return to start, or enter Q to quit")
    if start.lower() == 'q':
        break 


#pick a random word
    secret_word = random.choice(words)
    bad_guesses = []
    good_guesses = [] 

    while len(bad_guesses) < 7 and len(good_guesses) != len(list(secret_word)):
    #draw spaces #draw guessed letters and strikes
        for letter in secret_word:
            if letter in good_guesses:
                print(letter, end='')
            else:
                print('_', end='')

        print('')
        print('Strikes: {}/7'.format(len(bad_guesses)))
        print('')     
    #take guess
        guess = input("Guess a letter: ".lower()

        if len(guess) != 1:
            print("You can only guess a single letter!")
            continue    
        elif guess in bad_guesses or guess in good_guesses:
            print("You've already guessed that letter!")
            continue 
        elif not guess.isalpha():
            print("You can only guess letters!")
            continue

        if guess in secret_word:
            good_guesses.append(guess)
        if len(good_guesses) == len(list(secret_word)):
            print("You win! The word was {}".format(secret_word))
            break
        else: 
            bad_guesses.append(guess)
    else: 
        print("You didn't guess it! My secret word was {}".format(secret_word))
#print win or lose

I keep on getting this

SyntaxError:  File "letter_game.py", line 31                                                                                            
    if len(guess) != 1:                                                                                                     
                      ^                                                                                                     
SyntaxError: invalid syntax     

the ^ is pointing at the colon : and i'm unsure of what the reason is, any help would be greatly appreciated :) soz about the mess of code and stuff up top i don't know how to format it prettily and it's hard to do that when i'm banging my head about my inability to copy code hahaha T_T

[MOD: added ```python formatting -cf]

2 Answers

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,460 Points

Many times the error is caused by an incomplete line just above the reported error. In this case...

        guess = input("Guess a letter: ".lower())  # <-- missing closing paren

hahahahaha oh my god thanks!

Can't forget to give props to those who help!

Thanks! I also had this exact issue.