hello i was making a scrambler from python and this is what i have


# Scramble word re-arrange characters
import random
scrambler= raw_input("put a word and i will unscramble:")
n=0
Z=[]
while n<len(scrambler):
st.append(scrambler[n])
n=n+1
return(Z)
X=0
L=[]
while X<len(scrambler):
Y=random.randint(0,len(scrambler)-1)
if L.count(Y)==0:
L.append(Y)
X=X+1
return L
X=0
B=''
while n<len(s):
B=B+ Z[L[X]]
n=n+1
return B




and when i try to run it says 'return' outside function

can anybody tell me what im doing wrong ??

Whilst I don't know python, my instinct from experience in other languages would be that you have a return statement which is unreachable.

eg:

^^ the return 3 can never be reached so would throw up a compiler error (in some languages).

Repost that python code used CODE tags so we can see how it was indented.

In most languages the indentation is important only for readability (so we can follow the intent of your code). But in Python, indentation carries meaning. So without indentation, even the compiler can't understand your code.

The 'return' statement in python is only allowed inside a function definition. If you just want to output a value to stdout use 'print' instead.

I'm finding it pretty hard to figure out what this code is supposed to do. What do you mean by 'scrambler'?

As well as what has already been pointed out, you're appending to lists that don't exist (st.append(scrambler[n])), and other nasty things. Perhaps you should tell us what the goal of your code is; but you're also going to have difficulty "unscrambling" anything if you're using random numbers

Your shuffle algorithm seems non-deterministic in the time that it takes and indeed may never complete a list of positions.

At first I thought you were randomly picking characters and not considering duplicates. Please use [code] tags asap.

You still seem to have the fundamental problem that Snark raises, a random sorting/shuffling isn't a deterministic way to unscramble any randomly shuffled original character sequence. But it should work on average 1/len(scrambler)! times (yep, factorial, as in permutations), more frequently if there's duplicate characters, so that's nice.

You can do a shuffle within a single array or list in this fashion:

Looping through the list from back to front, select a position at random from at-or-in-front-of that "current position" and swap that element with the one at the "current position."

(No, I'm not going to post a code example.)

This algorithm takes advantage of the fact that, as the list of "non-randomized elements" shrinks, the list of "randomized elements" grows by exactly the same amount. Therefore, there's no need to have two lists. The cursor marks the start of the randomized section and therefore the end of the non-randomized section.

True, but I don't see how a shuffle algorithm realistically unscrambles/unshuffles as per the OP. Plus Python strings are apparently like Java in that they're immutable, so you'd need to create a copy of the char array first to use an 'in-place' algorithm, so I just left it at dropping the word shuffle.

If you're just trying to shuffle the elements in a string:

should print a shuffled string.

Everyone thank you so much!! i think i have a new lead thank you again!!!