Conditional statement to insert middle name variable in the print statement, OR, strip white space between first name and middle name variables?

user_4594732 0
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It’s either remove middleName variable from the print statement and insert it between the firstName and lastName variables in the print statement on the condition (conditional statement) when a user enters a middle name, OR, leave middleName variable in the print statement and strip the white space between firstName and middleName variables when a user does not enter a middle name, because as the code is now, a huge space is left between the first and last name in the output when a user does not enter a middle name. How do I code these conditional processes; would like the option to use either? I’ve searched elsewhere for the code to no avail.

Here's my code:

import re

print('Political Elections Voter Eligibility\n\n')

pattern1 = "^[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+'[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+-[A-Z]"
pattern2 = "^[A-Z]|^[A-Z].|^[A-Z]+'[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+-[A-Z]"
pattern3 = "^[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+'[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+-[A-Z]|^[A-Z]+ [A-Z]|^[A-Z]+ [A-Z]."

while True:
    
    firstName = input("Enter your first name and tap or click 'Enter': ")
    
    print('\n')

    if re.search(pattern1, firstName):
        
        break

    else:
        
        print('\n')
        
        print('Invalid entry.')

while True:
    
    middleName = input("Enter your middle name or middle initial and tap or click 'Enter' (Optional): ")

    print('\n')

    if len(middleName)==0 or re.search(pattern2, middleName):

        break

    else:
        
        print('\n')

        print('Invalid entry.')

while True:
    
    lastName = input("Enter your last name and tap or click 'Enter': ")

    print('\n')

    if re.search(pattern3, lastName):
        
        break

    else:
        
        print('\n')

        print('Invalid entry.')

while True:
    
    try:
        age = int(input("Enter your age and tap or click 'Enter': "))

    except ValueError:
        
        print('\n')
        
        print('Invalid entry.')
        
        continue

    print('\n')

    if 1 <= age <= 125:
        
        if 1 <= age <= 17:
            print('%s %s %s, age %s, you are not eligible to vote in political elections.' % (firstName, middleName, lastName, age))
            
            break

        if 18 <= age <= 125:
            print('%s %s %s, age %s, you are eligible to vote in political elections.' % (firstName, middleName, lastName, age))
            
            break

    else:
        print('Invalid entry.')
strip insert python
3 Answers

The canonical way is to join all three names and then use split and join to remove multiple spaces:

fullName = ' '.join([firstName, middleName, lastName])
printName = ' '.join(fullName.split())
print(printName)

This will handle any leading or trailing whitespace, and works with or without a middle name.

user_47851850

I think the easiest way would be to concatenate each name string into a single string and print them all at once.

fullName = firstName + ' '  + middleName + (' ' if bool(middleName) else '')  + lastName
print('%s, age %s, you are not eligible to vote in political elections.' % (fullName, age))

The expression bool(middleName) will be evaluated as false if middleName is an empty string.

user_144871660

Also works:

#(' ' if len(middleName)>0 else '')

    fullName = firstName + ' ' + middleName + (' ' if len(middleName)>0 else '')  + lastName
    print(f"{fullName}, age {age}, you are not eligible to vote in political elections.")
user_45947320
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