pythonrecursionalphabet

Calling a recursive function using the alphabet


I'm supposed to write a statement that calls the recursive function backwards_alphabet() with input starting_letter. I've figured out how to do that. The problem is that at the end of my code it prints None. How do I get it to stop doing that?

(Anything above starting_letter = input() cannot be edited or added on to. I've tried and the site I'm using won't let me)

Here is my code

def backwards_alphabet(curr_letter):
    if curr_letter == 'a':
        print(curr_letter)
    else:
        print(curr_letter)
        prev_letter = chr(ord(curr_letter) - 1)
        backwards_alphabet(prev_letter)

starting_letter = input()

print(backwards_alphabet(starting_letter))

The expected output is supposed to be f e d c b a

My output is f e d c b a None

All I had to do was get rid of print


Solution

  • Your code is correct, your problem is:

    print(backwards_alphabet(starting_letter))
    

    You're trying to print the function, which returns None as there is no return statement in the function.


    Your code can also be simplified:

    def backwards_alphabet(curr_letter: str):
        if curr_letter != '`':
            print(curr_letter)
            backwards_alphabet(chr(ord(curr_letter) - 1))
    

    When you have to write a recursive function, always start by thinking what will the base condition be?