Checking if a value is equal to any value in an array [duplicate]

Question

I'm new to python (and programming in general) and I can't seem to find a solution to this by myself. I want to check the first letter of a string is equal to any letter stored in an array, something like this:

letter = ["a", "b", "c"]
word = raw_input('Enter a word:')
first = word[0]

if first == letter:
    print "Yep"
else:
    print "Nope"

But this doesn't work, does anyone know how it will? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You need to use the in operator. Use if first in letter:.

>>> letter = ["a", "b", "c"]
>>> word = raw_input('Enter a word:')
Enter a word:ant
>>> first = word[0]
>>> first in letter
True

And one False test,

>>> word = raw_input('Enter a word:')
Enter a word:python
>>> first = word[0]
>>> first in letter
False