Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Basics (2015) Python Data Types Use .split() and .join()

Ryan Trebilcock
Ryan Trebilcock
1,581 Points

I'm told to join the sundaes list using the join function and separate the list items with a ", ".

The problem is the sundaes variable is a LIST since I used a .separate() function on a string to create it. I can't use the .join() function on a list, only a string. What am I missing here?

banana.py
available = "banana split;hot fudge;cherry;malted;black and white"
sundaes = available.split(';')
menu = "Our available flavors are: {}.:"
display_menu = sundaes.join(", ")

1 Answer

andren
andren
28,558 Points

The problem is that you slightly misunderstand how the join method is structured, which is understandable since its structured (at least in my opinion) in a somewhat counter intuitive fashion.

The way the join method works is that you use it on a string that you want to use to join a list, and then pass in the list you want to join as as the argument to the join method.

Like this:

", ".join(sundaes) # This will join the sundaes list using ", " to join the list items together.