Python Elif Not Working As Expected For String Find

I would like to pull out the locations for an inconsistently formatted data field in a Pandas dataframe. (I do not maintain the data so I cannot alter how this field is formatted.)

Solution 1:

Because find either yields the index or -1 while -1 is valid!!!, so try using:

string2 = 'Denver.John'if string2.find(' -') + 1:
    string2 = string2.split(' -')[0]
elif string2.find('.') + 1:
    string2 = string2.split('.')[0]
print(string2)

Or better like:

string2 = 'Denver.John'if' -' in string2:
    string2 = string2.split(' -')[0]
elif '.' in string2:
    string2 = string2.split('.')[0]
print(string2)

Solution 2:

Use

if' -'in string2

instead. The find method returns an int

Solution 3:

find() returns the lowest index of the substring if it is found in given string. If it’s not found then it returns -1.

So in your case:

string2 = 'Denver.John'print(string2.find(' -')) # prints -1print(string2.find('.')) # prints 6if string2.find(' -'):
    string2 = string2.split(' -')[0]
elif string2.find('.'):
    string2 = string2.split('.')[0]
print(string2)

So in your if statement you can compare the result of find with -1.

Solution 4:

string.find returns a position of the substring, and it is -1 if it doesn't find the substring.

Thus, do the following instead:

string2 = 'Denver.John'if string2.find(' -') >= 0:
    string2 = string2.split(' -')[0]
elif string2.find('.') >= 0:
    string2 = string2.split('.')[0]
print(string2)