[Tutor] beginsWith multiple prefixes

[Bill Campbell]

On Wed, Dec 24, 2008, bob gailer wrote:
> Emad Nawfal (???? ????) wrote:
>> Hi Tutors,
>> I want a function that acts like the startswith method, but can take  
>> multiple prefixes. As an amateur programmer, I came up with this one,  
>> and it works fine, but my experience tells me that my solutions are  
>> not always the best ones around. Can you please tell me what a better  
>> option might be:
...
> Above does a lot more work than necessary. Try:
>
> def beginsWith(word, listname):
>    for prefix in listname:
>       if word.startswith(prefix):
>          return True

It might be more useful to return the prefix that matched as the
caller already knows what ``word'' is.

Bill
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