Working on movement in a Python text game, but exit and error commands aren't working

Question:

I’m a total python newbie in a beginner programming class, and I’m stuck on one of our assignments. I’m supposed to be creating the bare bones start of a text game in which I move around rooms. I’ve managed to get the movement to work, but the "invalid command" and "exit game" commands aren’t working.

rooms = {
    'Foyer': {'name': 'Foyer', 'South': 'Dining Hall', 'North': 'Hallway', 'West': 'Courtyard', 'East': 'Grand Hall'},
    'Dining Hall': {'name': 'Dining Hall', 'South': 'Servants Quarters', 'East': 'Kitchen', 'North': 'Foyer',
                    'West': 'Drawing Room'},
    'Servants Quarters': {'name': 'Servants Quarters', 'North': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Drawing Room': {'name': 'Drawing Room', 'East': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Kitchen': {'name': 'Kitchen', 'West': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Courtyard': {'name': 'Courtyard', 'East': 'Foyer'},
    'Grand Hall': {'name': 'Grand Hall'},
    'Hallway': {'name': 'Hallway', 'South': 'Foyer', 'East': 'Private Library'},
    'Private Library': {'name': 'Private Library', 'West': 'Hallway', 'East': 'Master Bedroom'},
    'Master Bedroom': {'name': 'Master Bedroom', 'West': 'Private Library'}
}
directions = ['North', 'South', 'East', 'West']
player_room = rooms['Foyer']

# turn below into definition that can be called on later
while True:

    print()
    print('You have entered the {}.'.format(player_room['name']))
    command = input('nEnter a direction: North, South, East, or West')
    if command in directions:
        if command in player_room:
            player_room = rooms[player_room[command]]
        else:
            print("You face a wall. There is no doorway here.")
    elif command == "Exit" or "exit":
        print("Play again soon.")
        break
    else:
        print("Type a cardinal direction to move. Directions are case-sensitive.")

This is my code so far. Whenever I test inputting an invalid command, like a number or a random word, it just gives me the ‘exit’ text and ends the program. I thought the problem was the order of the commands, so I swapped them around and messed with the statements a little, but then it would just repeatedly give me the error text even if I typed "exit". How do I stop one from always taking priority over the other?

Asked By: Hom

||

Answers:

change your elif as below

rooms = {
    'Foyer': {'name': 'Foyer', 'South': 'Dining Hall', 'North': 'Hallway', 'West': 'Courtyard', 'East': 'Grand Hall'},
    'Dining Hall': {'name': 'Dining Hall', 'South': 'Servants Quarters', 'East': 'Kitchen', 'North': 'Foyer',
                    'West': 'Drawing Room'},
    'Servants Quarters': {'name': 'Servants Quarters', 'North': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Drawing Room': {'name': 'Drawing Room', 'East': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Kitchen': {'name': 'Kitchen', 'West': 'Dining Hall'},
    'Courtyard': {'name': 'Courtyard', 'East': 'Foyer'},
    'Grand Hall': {'name': 'Grand Hall'},
    'Hallway': {'name': 'Hallway', 'South': 'Foyer', 'East': 'Private Library'},
    'Private Library': {'name': 'Private Library', 'West': 'Hallway', 'East': 'Master Bedroom'},
    'Master Bedroom': {'name': 'Master Bedroom', 'West': 'Private Library'}
}
directions = ['North', 'South', 'East', 'West']
player_room = rooms['Foyer']

# turn below into definition that can be called on later
while True:

    print()
    print('You have entered the {}.'.format(player_room['name']))
    command = input('nEnter a direction: North, South, East, or West').title()
    if command in directions:
        if command in player_room:
            player_room = rooms[player_room[command]]
        else:
            print("You face a wall. There is no doorway here.")
    elif command == "Exit" or command == "exit":
        print("Play again soon.")
        break
    else:
        print("Type a cardinal direction to move. Directions are case-sensitive.")
Answered By: Ferhat Mousavi

The issue is with the condition in your elif statement: command == "Exit" or "exit". What this actually does is always evaluate to True because the string "exit" is always considered a true value.

You can fix this by changing the condition to command == "Exit" or command == "exit". This way, the condition will only be True if the input is either "Exit" or "exit".

You can also store the command inside a list and use the lower() method to convert the user’s input to lowercase so that it is not case-sensitive.

Answered By: Kylar
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