Question

Complete the body of the format_name function. This function receives the first_name and last_name parameters and then returns a properly formatted string. Specifically: If both the last_name and the first_name parameters are supplied, the function should return like so:

Answer 1

Answer:

Here is the Python program:

def format_name(first_name, last_name):  #function definition of format_name that takes first_name and last_name as parameters

   if first_name != '' and last_name != '':  #checks if first_name and last_name both are not equal to " "

       return ("Name: " + last_name + ", " + first_name)  #returns first name and last_name in format: "Name: last_name, first_name"

   elif first_name != '' or last_name != '':  #checks if either of the first_name or last_name is not equal to " "

       return ("Name: " + last_name + first_name)  #returns first name and last_name in format: "Name: last_name" or "Name: first_name"

   else:  #if both names are blank

       return ''  #return ""

 

Explanation:

The working of the above function can be checked by using the following statements:

print(format_name("Ernest", "Hemingway"))  

print(format_name("Voltaire", ""))  

print(format_name("", "Madonna"))  

print(format_name("", ""))

The program has a function format_name which takes two strings i.e. the first_name and last_name as parameters and returns the formatted string.

The first if condition checks if both the first_name and last_name are blank. For example if first_name = "Ernest" and last_name= "Hemingway" this means both the first_name and last_name are not blank or empty. So If this condition evaluates to true then the following statement is returned:

return ("Name: " + last_name + ", " + first_name)

This returns the last_name string first followed by a comma in between and then first_name string in the last. For the above example the string is printed in the following format:

Name: Hemingway, Ernest    

The elif condition checks if either of the first_name or last_name is blank. For example if first_name = "Voltaire" and last_name= "" this means last_name is blank or empty. So if this condition evaluates to true then the following statement is returned:

return ("Name: " + last_name + first_name)  

This returns the last_name string. For the above example the string is printed in the following format:

Name: Voltaire          

IF none of the above condition is true and both the first_name and last_name are blank then the following statement is returned

return ''  

This will just print and blank space in output.

The program and its output is attached.