Question

From this thread:
How do I perform a random event in Python by picking a random variable?

I learned that it’s possible to put some functions into a list, and by using random.choice(), call one of them to generate a random event.

I’m interested in doing this because I’m writing a fairly small text based game as part of a beginner’s tutorial.

But when I write what I think will give me the desired result(that is, just one of the functions being called and printing its string:

import random

def func_test_1():
    print "This is func_test_1."

def func_test_2():
    print "This is func_test_2."

def func_test_3():
    print "This is func_test_3."

my_list = [func_test_1(), func_test_2(), func_test_3()]

random.choice(my_list)

I get this result:

C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /c python random_func.py

This is func_test_1.

This is func_test_2.

This is func_test_3.

Hit any key to close this window...

Which is all three functions being called and printing.

Could someone help me out with the correct syntax to do this? Thank you.

Answer 1

With the parentheses you call the function. What you want is assigning them to the list and call the choice later:

my_list = [func_test_1, func_test_2, func_test_3]
random.choice(my_list)()