Python: finding lowest integer

Question

I have the following code:

l = [\'-1.2\', \'0.0\', \'1\']

x = 100.0
for i in l:
    if i < x:
        x = i
print x

The code should fin

Answer 1

l is a list of strings. When you put numbers between single quotes like that, you are creating strings, which are just a sequence of characters. To make your code work properly, you would have to do this:

l = [-1.2, 0.0, 1]  # no quotation marks

x = 100.0
for i in l:
    if i < x:
        x = i
print x

If you must use a list of strings, you can try to let Python try to make a number out of each string. This is similar to Justin's answer, except it understands floating-point (decimal) numbers correctly.

l = ['-1.2', '0.0', '1']

x = 100.0
for i in l:
    inum = float(i)
    if inum < x:
        x = inum
print x

---

I hope that this is code that you are writing to learn either Python or programming in general. If this is the case, great. However, if this is production code, consider using Python's built-in functions.

l = ['-1.2', '0.0', '1']
lnums = map(float, l)  # turn strings to numbers
x = min(lnums)  # find minimum value
print x

Answer 2

To find the minimum value of a list, you might just as well use min:

x = min(float(s) for s in l) # min of a generator

Or, if you want the result as a string, rather than a float, use a key function:

x = min(l, key=float)

Answer 3

l = [-1.2, 0.0, 1]

x = 100.0
for i in l:
    if i < x:
        x = i
print (x)

This is the answer, i needed this for my homework, took your code, and i deleted the " " around the numbers, it then worked, i hope this helped

Answer 4

Python has a built in min function to help you with finding the smallest.

However, you need to convert your list items to numbers before you can find the lowest integer( what, isn't that float? )

min(float(i) for i in l)

Answer 5

You aren't comparing integers, you're comparing strings. Strings compare lexicographically -- meaning character by character -- instead of (as you seem to want) by converting the value to a float. Make your list hold numbers (floats or integers, depending on what you want), or convert the strings to floats or integers in your loop, before you compare them.

You may also be interested in the min builtin function, which already does what your current loop does (without the converting, that is.)

Answer 6

'''Functions'''

import math

#functions
def min3(x1,x2,x3):
    if x1<= x2 and x1<= x3:
        return x1
    elif x2<= x1 and x2<= x3:
        return x2
    elif x3<= x2 and x3<= x1:
          return x3
print(min3(4, 7, 5))

print(min3(4, 5, 5))

print(min3(4, 4, 4))

print(min3(-2, -6, -100))

print(min3("Z", "B", "A"))