Delete last character in string (Python)

Question

I have a list filled with string objects. If the string object ends in a W, I want to delete/remove the W from the string. Also, in the only case that the string equals UW I do not want to remove the W.

I have tried this:

masterAbrevs = []

for subject in masterAbrevs:
    if subject.endswith("W"):
        subject =  subject[:-1]

After printing masterAbrevs it appears that my code is doing absolutely nothing. kindly help.

Answer 1

The problem is that you're never making the change to the element in the list; you're making the change to the variable holding the element returned from the list.

Try this instead:

masterAbrevs = ['ASW', 'AS', 'UW']

for i, e in enumerate(masterAbrevs):
    if (e[-1] == 'W') and (e != 'UW'):
        masterAbrevs[i] = masterAbrevs[i][:-1]

# results in ['AS', 'AS', 'UW']