Python: Can't Assign To Literal

My task is to write a program that asks the user to enter 5 names which it stores in a list. Next, it picks one of these names at random and declares that person as the winner. The

Solution 1:

The left hand side of the = operator needs to be a variable. What you're doing here is telling python: "You know the number one? Set it to the inputted string.". 1 is a literal number, not a variable. 1 is always 1, you can't "set" it to something else.

A variable is like a box in which you can store a value. 1 is a value that can be stored in the variable. The input call returns a string, another value that can be stored in a variable.

Instead, use lists:

import random

namelist = []
namelist.append(input("Please enter name 1:"))  #Stored in namelist[0]
namelist.append(input('Please enter name 2:'))  #Stored in namelist[1]
namelist.append(input('Please enter name 3:'))  #Stored in namelist[2]
namelist.append(input('Please enter name 4:'))  #Stored in namelist[3]
namelist.append(input('Please enter name 5:'))  #Stored in namelist[4]

nameindex = random.randint(0, 5)
print('Well done {}. You are the winner!'.format(namelist[nameindex]))

Using a for loop, you can cut down even more:

import random

namecount = 5
namelist=[]
for i in range(0, namecount):
  namelist.append(input("Please enter name %s:" % (i+1))) #Stored in namelist[i]

nameindex = random.randint(0, namecount)
print('Well done {}. You are the winner!'.format(namelist[nameindex]))

Solution 2:

Just adding 1 more scenario which may give the same error:

If you try to assign values to multiple variables, then also you will receive same error. For e.g.

In C (and many other languages), this is possible:

int a=2, b=3;

In Python:

a=2, b=5

will give error:

can't assign to literal

EDIT:

As per Arne's comment below, you can do this in Python for single line assignments in a slightly different way: a, b = 2, 5

Solution 3:

You are trying to assign to literal integer values. 1, 2, etc. are not valid names; they are only valid integers:

>>> 1
1
>>> 1 = 'something'
  File "<stdin>", line 1
SyntaxError: can't assign to literal

You probably want to use a list or dictionary instead:

names = []
for i in range(1, 6):
    name = input("Please enter name {}:".format(i))
    names.append(name)

Using a list makes it much easier to pick a random value too:

winner = random.choice(names)
print('Well done {}. You are the winner!'.format(winner))

Solution 4:

1 is a literal. name = value is an assignment. 1 = value is an assignment to a literal, which makes no sense. Why would you want 1 to mean something other than 1?

Solution 5:

1, 2, 3 ,... are invalid identifiers in python because first of all they are integer objects and secondly in python a variable name can't start with a number.

>>> 1 = 12    #you can't assign to an integer
  File "<ipython-input-177-30a62b7248f1>", line 1
SyntaxError: can't assign to literal

>>> 1a = 12   #1a is an invalid variable name
  File "<ipython-input-176-f818ca46b7dc>", line 1
    1a = 12
     ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Valid identifier definition:

identifier ::=  (letter|"_") (letter | digit | "_")*
letter     ::=  lowercase | uppercase
lowercase  ::=  "a"..."z"
uppercase  ::=  "A"..."Z"
digit      ::=  "0"..."9"