What does print() mean in python ???

What does print() mean in python ???
what does it do?

It's a function in Python 3.0 (For printing things funnily enough - including blank spaces)


What are you trying to do?

basically, i've been given this code:

def fib(n):
a, b = 0, 1
while a < n:
print(a)
a, b = b, a+b

(it produces the fibonacci sequence until n)

and i have to add the missing line of code in to make it work

i think the missing line is print() (i just googled it )

so like this:
def fib(n):
a, b = 0, 1
while a < n:
print(a)
a, b = b, a+b
print()

but i have to explain why and how it's print() and i don't really know...

basically, i've been given this code:

def fib(n):
////a, b = 0, 1
////while a < n:
////////print(a)
////////a, b = b, a+b

(it produces the fibonacci sequence until n)

and i have to add the missing line of code in to make it work

i think the missing line is print() (i just googled it )

so like this:
def fib(n):
////a, b = 0, 1
////while a < n:
////////print(a)
////////a, b = b, a+b
/////print()

but i have to explain why and how it's print() and i don't really know...

like does print() close the loop or something??

I might be mistaken, but assuming you don't have to call the function, I'm pretty sure that would give you a new line. So think about it in terms of pseudocode

You define the function

Obtain the variables a and b, set them to 0 and 1 respectively

Now while a is less then n

a is printed

a is redefined to b and b becomes a+b

new line


This continues until a exceeds n

basically, i've been given this code:

def fib(n):
////a, b = 0, 1
////while a < n:
////////print(a)
////////a, b = b, a+b

(it produces the fibonacci sequence until n)

and i have to add the missing line of code in to make it work

As far as I can tell, it already works.

def fib(n):
a,b=0,1
while a<n:
print(a)
a,b=b,a+b

Then fib(10) (for example) produces

0
1
1
2
3
5
8

(If you've got Python 3.something then adding the end=' ' bit to the print make the numbers come out in a horizontal list rather than a vertical one.)

What is wrong with the current output? (Should it be horizontal rather than vertical? Should it start at 1 rather than 0?) Without knowing that, there's no way to tell what changes you need to make.

Yeah I do call the function, eg:
fib(10)
If I set n to 10 I'm supposed to get the numbers of the sequence below 10 so: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8

do you think the missing line could be to call the function??


I don't know if you can see this picture but the missing line is print() here

(https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions)

I literally have no clue what's wrong with the current one, i wasn't told
I know that the current one (eg fib(10)) gives:
0
1
1
2
3
5
8
the horizontal/vertical thing isn't the issue, neither is the 0/1 thing

It's supposed to be a really easy question with not much to it so it must be really simple

I think the missing line is either print() or calling the function

I'm not a expert in this (learned some C last year)


It would make more sense to me, when you mentioned the print(), I assumed that would simply print a blank line, so when you run the program you would get the terms of the Fibonacci sequece running vertically rather than across the page.

What is the exact wording of the question? If it's from somewhere online, would it be possible to link to it?

You can try different variations on print(), but it's only going to change how the output is displayed. Without any instructions on how the output should be displayed, it's not obvious that it's possible for it to be any more correct than it is already.

It's possible that they are just looking for you to say that you need to call the function (though in that case it's a bit of an odd question).print() by itself does print a blank line, but in this case it's actually outside the loop (Python does everything based on indentation), so it just puts a new line at the end of the list.

It's possible that they are just looking for you to say that you need to call the function (though in that case it's a bit of an odd question).print() by itself does print a blank line, but in this case it's actually outside the loop (Python does everything based on indentation), so it just puts a new line at the end of the list.

I think they might just want me to say that you need to call the function...

Didn't realise that the structure itself affects how the code is read in Python, that's actually quite nice

It just prints the new line in the output i guess if you are in a loop...

This is nearly a 3-year old thread, but 'print' has nothing to do with being in a loop. it's just a function, and it obeys all the normal rules of functions. Have a look here: https://www.learnpython.org/en/Functions