python3 - list converted to int, how do I return it to it's original value before the int-CodePudding

I'm trying to write a program that will select a random name from a list of names. The person selected will have to pay for everybody's food bill. I don't know how to convert names back to original input from the user. If there is a cleaner way to do this, please advise. Thank you in advance everyone. Example below:

names_string = input("Give me everybody's names, separated by a comma. ")
names = names_string.split(", ")
names = len(names)
names = random.randint(0, 4)
if names == 0:
    print(f"{names} is going to buy the meal today!")
elif names == 1:
    print(f"{names} is going to buy the meal today!")
elif names == 2:
    print(f"{names} is going to buy the meal today!")
else:
    print(f"{names} is going to buy the meal today!")

CodePudding user response：

Be careful not to reassign the names identifier, as you will lose the result of the previous operation. You can use the list[index] syntax (called subscription) to get the element of the list at the given index:

names_string = input("Give me everybody's names, separated by a comma. ")
names = names_string.split(", ")
random_name = names[random.randint(0, len(names))]
print(f"{random_name} is going to buy the meal today!")

You can also use random.choice to make a random choice without worrying about the indices.

names_string = input("Give me everybody's names, separated by a comma. ")
names = names_string.split(", ")
random_name = random.choice(names)
print(f"{random_name} is going to buy the meal today!")

CodePudding user response：

You can try the code below to display the name of the person who is going to buy the meal after the random method returns a value.

# get the input names of friends separated by comma
names=input("Enter the names of every person separated by a comma")
# get the list of names by splitting the string above using the comma delimiter
name_collection=names.split(",")
# get the random index of the person who is going to pay for the bills
choice=random.randint(0,4)
#print the name of the person who is going to buy the meal
print(name_colection[choice])