How to get my function to acknowledge a spelling mistake?-CodePudding

I have this function:

def is_an_oak(name): 
    """
    Returns True is name starts with 'quercus'
    >>> is_an_oak('Fagus sylvatica')
    False
    >>> is_an_oak('Quercuss petraea')
    False
    >>> is_an_oak('Quercus petraea')
    True
    >>> is_an_oak('quercus petraea')
    True
    """

    return name.lower().startswith('quercus')

But I need it to return "Quercuss" and any other similar spelling mistakes as False, currently it is still registering as True. I know this is because of the .startswith() method but I don't know what to replace this with in order to accept "Quercus" as the only True answer.

CodePudding user response：

Actually, your code is very close, but miss one place in the extra character after the correct word. For example: if you compare 'abc' with 'abcd' - what'll you will expect? (using startswith method, will get True!) See the correction and other version to compare:

def is_an_oak(text):
    return text.lower().startswith( 'quercus ') # add space after the word so it can detect the extra "s"

def is_an_oak(text): 
    words = text.split()         # break text into words
    return words[0].lower() == 'quercus'  # first word

Running some tests:

words = ['Quercuss petrea', 'Quercus petrea']

for w in words:
    print(is_an_oak(w))

# Outputs:
# False
# True