Expressing current time with natural language

Question

def current_time():
 '''Returns a tuple containing (hour, minute) for current local time.'''
 import time
 local_time = time.localtime(time.time())
 return (local_time.tm_hour, local_time.tm_min)
(hour,minute) = current_time()
def ishtime(hour, minute):
 import random
 Starting_str = ['it is','its',"it's","Current time is"]
 h_str = ['one','two','three','four','five','six','seven','eight','nine','ten','eleven','twelve']
 mid_str = ['almost','nearly','roughly','maybe']
 Ex = ['Exactly' , 'Perpectly' ,'']
 m_str = ['ten','twenty','thirty','fourty','fifty']
 End_str = ['in the morning','in the afternoon','in the evening','at night']
## - define random strings
 Head = Starting_str[int(random.random()*4)]
 Mid = mid_str[int(random.random()*4)]
 Hour = h_str[(int(hour)-1)%12]
 if round(int(minute),-1) == 0 or round(int(minute),-1) == 60:
 Rand_m_str = ''
 else:
 Rand_m_str = m_str[int((round(int(minute),-1)/10))-1]
## -define for final ex)its , it's , almost, one two three..
 if int(hour)>=6 and int(hour)<13:
 Ending = End_str[0]
 elif int(hour)>=13 and int(hour)<19:
 Ending = End_str[1]
 elif int(hour)>=19 and int(hour)<=23:
 Ending = End_str[2]
 elif int(hour)>=0 and int(hour)<6:
 Ending = End_str[3]
## - define 'ending str' ex) in the morning
 if minute == 0 or minute == 00:
 Result = "%s %s 'o clock %s" %(Head,Hour,Ending)
 elif minute%10 == 0:
 Result = "%s %s %s after %s %s" %(Head,Ex[int(random.random()*4)],Rand_m_str,Hour,Ending)
 elif round(int(minute),-1) == 0 or round(int(minute),-1) == 60:
 Result = "%s %s %s%s %s" %(Head,Mid,Rand_m_str,Hour,Ending)
 else:
 Result = "%s %s %s minute after %s %s" %(Head,Mid,Rand_m_str,Hour,Ending)
 return Result
print ishtime(hour,minute)

I did this job.. how could i make it simpler?

• Junuxx: You could start by removing "its" and fixing "Perpectly" and capitalization.
• Patrick Collins: Why not the builtin datetime.datetime.strftime?

Answer 1

Python supports double-ended inequalities:

End_str = ['at night', 'in the morning','in the afternoon','in the evening']
if 0 <= hour < 6:
 Ending = End_str[0]
elif 6 <= hour < 13:
 Ending = End_str[1]
elif 13 <= hour < 19:
 Ending = End_str[2]
elif 19 <= hour < 24:
 Ending = End_str[3]

I've changed 23 to 24 for consistency and rearranged the members of End_str. I don't see how hour should be anything other than an integer, so I've removed the casts.

if minute == 0 or minute == 00 is redundant, since 00 is exactly the same as 0.

I would expect noon and midnight to be handled as special cases.

Answer 2

Avoid constructs like Ex[int(random.random()*4)] which are brittle at several levels:

• What if Ex is changed to no longer contain 4 elements?
• Hey, it already only has 3 elements.
• Fixing that by using len(Ex) is still quite verbose.

Prefer random.choice, using it like this: random.choice(Ex)