Error in Tree Structure

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 27 Feb 2016 08:17 pm, subhabangalore at gmail.com wrote:

> Is it any error in Python part or in NLTK part?

Neither.

Any time you think there is an error in Python, it is 99.9% sure that the
error is in your code, not Python.

If the error is a SyntaxError, that is 99.99999%.

> If any one may guide me what is the error I am doing and how may I solve
> it.

Look at the SyntaxError traceback and read what it says. Does it tell you
what the error is? Does it use a ^ as an arrow to point to the error, or
immediately after the error?

Chances are, the error is that you have added or deleted a bracket or
parenthesis somewhere. Dealing with nested lists like this is usually
awful, because they are unreadable. Can you avoid copying and pasting the
nested list?

If not, try re-formatting it so you can at least read it:

# Unreadable, bad:
thelist = [Tree('S', [Tree('LOCATION', [(u'NAIROBI', 'NNP')]), (u',', ','),
Tree('LOCATION', [(u'Kenya', 'NNP')]), (u'(', '('), Tree('ORGANIZATION',
[(u'AP', 'NNP')]), (u')', ')'), (u'_', 'NNP'), Tree('CARDINAL',
[(u'Thousands', 'NNP')]), (u'of', 'IN'), (u'laborers,', 'JJ'),
(u'students', 'NNS'), (u'and', 'CC'), (u'opposition', 'NN'),
(u'politicians', 'NNS'), (u'on', 'IN'), Tree('DATE',
[(u'Saturday', 'NNP')]), (u'protested', 'VBD'), (u'tax', 'NN'),
(u'hikes', 'NNS'), (u'imposed', 'VBN'), (u'by', 'IN'), (u'their', 'PRP$'),
(u'cash-strapped', 'JJ'), (u'government,', 'NN'), (u'which', 'WDT'),
(u'they', 'PRP'), (u'accused', 'VBD'), (u'of', 'IN'), (u'failing', 'VBG'),
(u'to', 'TO'), (u'provide', 'VB'), (u'basic', 'JJ'), (u'services.', 'NN'),
(u'(cm-kjd)', 'NN')])]


# Slightly more readable, good:
thelist = [
          Tree('S', [
                    Tree(
                        'LOCATION', [
                                    (u'NAIROBI', 'NNP')
                                    ]
                        ), 
                    (u',', ','), 
                    Tree(
                        'LOCATION', [
                                    (u'Kenya', 'NNP')
                                    ]
                        ), 
                    (u'(', '('), 
                    Tree(
                        'ORGANIZATION', [
                                        (u'AP', 'NNP')
                                        ]
                       ),
                    (u')', ')'), 
                    (u'_', 'NNP'), 
                    Tree(
                        'CARDINAL', [
                                    (u'Thousands', 'NNP')
                                    ]
                        ), 
                    (u'of', 'IN'), 
                    (u'laborers,', 'JJ'), 
                    (u'students', 'NNS'), 
                    (u'and', 'CC'), 
                    (u'opposition', 'NN'), 
                    (u'politicians', 'NNS'), 
                    (u'on', 'IN'), 
                    Tree(
                        'DATE', [
                                (u'Saturday', 'NNP')
                                ]
                        ), 
                    (u'protested', 'VBD'), 
                    (u'tax', 'NN'), 
                    (u'hikes', 'NNS'), 
                    (u'imposed', 'VBN'), 
                    (u'by', 'IN'), 
                    (u'their', 'PRP$'), 
                    (u'cash-strapped', 'JJ'), 
                    (u'government,', 'NN'), 
                    (u'which', 'WDT'), 
                    (u'they', 'PRP'), 
                    (u'accused', 'VBD'), 
                    (u'of', 'IN'), 
                    (u'failing', 'VBG'), 
                    (u'to', 'TO'), 
                    (u'provide', 'VB'), 
                    (u'basic', 'JJ'), 
                    (u'services.', 'NN'), 
                    (u'(cm-kjd)', 'NN')
                    ]
              )   
          ]



If you format your giant list so you can see the structure, then you will
likely find where there is a problem. Perhaps you have:

- missing or too many [ ( ) or ]

- a missing or extra comma

- a missing or extra quotation marks

- unexpected symbols like .... inside the list




-- 
Steven