I can't find the logic error in this bubble sort code

Question

I'm attempting to do a simple bubble sort code to get familiar with list/string manip & method use, but for some reason, when I attempt to iterate through each value in the list to remove white space and values that are non ints, it skips some. I haven't even gotten to the bubble sorting part..

#test data:  45,5j, f,e,s , , , 45,q,

    if __name__ == "__main__":
getList = input("Enter numbers separated by commas:\n").strip()
listOfBubbles = getList.split(',')
print (listOfBubbles)
i = 0
for k in listOfBubbles:
    listOfBubbles[i] = k.strip()
    print ("i = {0} -- Checking '{1}'".format(i,listOfBubbles[i]))
    if listOfBubbles[i] == '' or listOfBubbles[i] == ' ':
        del listOfBubbles[i]
        i -= 1
    else:
        try:
            listOfBubbles[i] = int(listOfBubbles[i])
        except ValueError as ex:
            #print ("{0}\nCan only use real numbers, deleting '{1}'".format(ex, listOfBubbles[i]))
            print ("deleting '{0}', i -= 1".format(listOfBubbles[i]))
            del listOfBubbles[i]
            i -= 1
        else:
            print ("{0} is okay!".format(listOfBubbles[i]))
    i += 1

print(repr(listOfBubbles))

Output:

    Enter numbers separated by commas:
45,5j, f,e,s , , , 45,q,
['45', '5j', ' f', 'e', 's ', ' ', ' ', ' 45', 'q', '']
i = 0 -- Checking '45'
45 is okay!
i = 1 -- Checking '5j'
deleting '5j', i -= 1
i = 1 -- Checking 'e'
deleting 'e', i -= 1
i = 1 -- Checking ''
i = 1 -- Checking '45'
45 is okay!
i = 2 -- Checking 'q'
deleting 'q', i -= 1
[45, 45, ' ', ' 45', 'q', '']

Answer 1

Never alter the very list you're looping on -- inside the loop for k in listOfBubbles:, you're deleting some items of that very list, and that upsets the internal looping logic. There are many alternative approaches, but the simplest fix is to loop on a copy of the list you want to change: for k in list(listOfBubbles):. There may be more issues, but this is the first one.

Answer 2

Nevermind, fixed it. I change the loop from a for.. to a while..

if __name__ == "__main__":
    getList = input("Enter numbers separated by commas:\n").strip()
    listOfBubbles = getList.split(',')
    print (listOfBubbles)
    i = 0
    while i < len(listOfBubbles):
        listOfBubbles[i] = listOfBubbles[i].strip()
        print ("i = {0} -- Checking '{1}'".format(i,listOfBubbles[i]))
        if listOfBubbles[i] == '' or listOfBubbles[i] == ' ':
            del listOfBubbles[i]
            i -= 1
        else:
            try:
                listOfBubbles[i] = int(listOfBubbles[i])
            except ValueError as ex:
                #print ("{0}\nCan only use real numbers, deleting '{1}'".format(ex, listOfBubbles[i]))
                print ("deleting '{0}', i -= 1".format(listOfBubbles[i]))
                del listOfBubbles[i]
                i -= 1
            else:
                print ("{0} is okay!".format(listOfBubbles[i]))
        i += 1

    print(repr(listOfBubbles))

Answer 3

You cannot use an iterator to delete from a list because the length changes.

Instead you must use an index in the for loop (or a while loop).

Once you have removed an item you need to loop through the list again.

psuedo-code:

again:
for i = 0 to list.count - 1
{
  if condition then 
    delete list[i] 
    goto again;
}

Answer 4

How about a more pythonic way?

#input
listOfBubbles = ['45', '5j', ' f', 'e', 's ', ' ', ' ', ' 45', 'q', '']
#Copy input, strip leading / trailing spaces. Remove empty items
stripped = [x.strip() for x in listOfBubbles if x.strip()]    

# list(filtered) is ['45', '5j', 'f', 'e', 's', '45', 'q']
out = []
for val in filtered:
  try:
    out.append(int(val))
  except:
    # don't do anything here, but need pass because python expects at least one line
    pass 
# out is [45, 45]

Finally, to jump to your correct answer

out.sort()

Update To clarify pass

>>> for i in range(0,5):
        pass
        print i

0
1
2
3
4

Answer 5

If you're going to delete from a list while iterating through it, traverse the list in reverse order:

for( i = myList.length - 1; i >= 0; i-- ) {
   // do something
   if( some_condition ) {
      myList.deleteItem( i );
   }
}

This way you won't skip any list items as shortening the list doesn't affect any future iterations. Of course, the above snippet assumes that the deleteItem method is supported in the list/array class and does the appropriate things.