Adam Cripps wrote: > I'm trying to sort [1] a list of people randomly into groups. My guess > is that a list of lists will do the trick here. However, the randrange > fails with an empty range. How can I check for this? I thought that my > pupils list wouldn't reach zero with the while len(pupils)>0: would > keep it above 0.
You don't show the pupilslength() function so I will assume it is just returning len(pupils). One problem is if len(pupils) < size you will exhaust the pupils list before you fill tmplist. This will happen in the inner loop so the test for len(pupils) > 0 will not be reached. One option would be to test len(pupils) > 0 again in the condition for the inner loop. BTW you can just test 'if pupils:' rather than 'if len(pupils) > 0:' Kent > > Any help or advice would be appreciated. > > TIA > Adam > > [1] > def groups(pupils, size): > toplist = [] > tmplist = [] > print len(tmplist) > while len(pupils)>0: > print len(pupils) > while len(tmplist)<=size: > print "tmplist is ", len (tmplist) > #How many pupils are we talking about here? > listlength = pupilslength(pupils) > rand1 = random.randrange(listlength) > tmplist.append(pupils[rand1]) > pupils.pop(rand1) > toplist.append(tmplist) > tmplist = [] > for i in toplist: > print i > print i _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
