Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Python Basics Functions and Looping While Loops

Posted by Miguel Richardson
Miguel Richardson
3,650 Points

4 attempts; sys module does not seems to be working

note: I'm running this program on my local IDE

import sys


MASTER_PASSWORD = 'opensesame'

password = input("Please enter the super secret password:    ")
attempt_count = 1
while password != MASTER_PASSWORD:
    if attempt_count > 3:
        sys.exit("Too many invalid password attempts")
    password = input("Invalid password, try again:    ")
    attempt_count += 1
print("Welcome to secret town")

After running this program, I input four wrong attempts. "Too many invalid password attempts" does not appears after the third attempt like in the video. I'm curious to see if anyone can figure out why this is happening.

Here is what appears in the shell:

Please enter the super secret password:    hello
Invalid password, try again:    open
Invalid password, try again:    pleaseopen
Invalid password, try again:    ihopethisopens

4 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,268 Points

The argument to "sys.exit" is a status value, which is not used unless the exception it raises is intercepted.

If you want a message to be seen, do a "print" before performing the exit.

Stephen Thomas
Stephen Thomas
1,362 Points
Stephen Thomas
Stephen Thomas
1,362 Points

The video actually allows 4 attempts -- look at 6:37. The code there is wrong.

This is because the loop only triggers the exit comment when attempt_count is GREATER (>) than 3, ie, 4 or over. So it's the instructor who is wrong, not you.

You can fix it by simply changing ">" to ">="

Miguel Richardson
Miguel Richardson
3,650 Points

I didn't notice that thank you!

Miguel Richardson
Miguel Richardson
3,650 Points
Miguel Richardson
Miguel Richardson
3,650 Points

Thank you for the information.

Damien Lavizzo
Damien Lavizzo
4,265 Points
Damien Lavizzo
Damien Lavizzo
4,265 Points

I actually solved this by reversing the count. Instead of counting up, my code counts down from three. Seemed to make more sense to me: I was looking at the attempts as "tokens" the user has to "spend" on tries to enter, and if the token isn't the right size, they don't get access. 

import sys

## Asks for user to input their password.
password = input("Please enter the super secret passsword:  ")

## Sets the base number of password attempts. 
attempt_count = 3

## Check to ensure password matches and display number of attempts remaining.
while password != 'opensesame':
  if attempt_count == 0:
    sys.exit("Too many invalid attempts. Initiating self-destruct sequence.")
  if attempt_count > 1:
    password = input("Invalid password. " + str(attempt_count) + " attempts remaining. Try again:  ")
  else:
    password = input("Invalid password. " + str(attempt_count) + " attempt remaining. Try again:  ")
  attempt_count -= 1

print("Welcome to Secret Town!")