Python - For loop isn't kicking in (blackjack game)

Question

I'm just starting to learn python and my first project is a text based Blackjack game.

pHand being the players hand and pTotal being the total of the players cards.

The for loop seems to be exiting after the first iteration. When I print pTotal and pHand out after the loop, it shows only the first card's value every time.

Code:

import random

f = open('Documents/Python/cards.txt', 'r')
deck = f.read().splitlines()
f.close

pTotal = 0
cTotal = 0

random.shuffle(deck)

pHand = [deck[0], deck[1]]
cHand = [deck[2]]

for x in pHand:

    if deck[x][0] == '1' or deck[x][0] == 'J' or deck[x][0] == 'Q' or deck[x][0] == 'K':
        pTotal += 10
    elif deck[x][0] == 'A':
        pTotal += 11
    else:
        pTotal += int(deck[x][0])

Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

I think what you would want is

#using x as a list item
for x in pHand:

    if x[0] == '1' or x[0] == 'J' or x[0] == 'Q' or x[0] == 'K':
        pTotal += 10
    elif x[0] == 'A':
        pTotal += 11
    else:
        pTotal += int(x[0])

The for-in loop iterates through the items in pHand using x as a temporary variable for each value. In your case, in the first iteration, you have x = deck[0]. In the second iteration you have x = deck[1].

In the code you posted, you were trying to use x as an index, which is fine, so long as you use the right values for your loop.

#using x as an index
for x in range(0, len(pHand)):

    if deck[x][0] == '1' or deck[x][0] == 'J' or deck[x][0] == 'Q' or deck[x][0] == 'K':
        pTotal += 10
    elif deck[x][0] == 'A':
        pTotal += 11
    else:
        pTotal += int(deck[x][0])