Python: Count Words Starting with a Vowel (Solved)

Practice Question 18

In this question, we will learn how to write a function that scans a text file and counts every word that begins with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U).

The Logic (How it works)

Before writing the code, let us first understand the logic behind the solution.

Instead of checking if word[0] == 'a' or word[0] == 'e' ..., we use a much cleaner “Membership” approach:

• Define Vowels: Create a string or list containing all vowels in both lowercase and uppercase: "aeiouAEIOU".

• Read and Split: Open story.txt and break the content into a list of words.

• The First Character Check: For every word, look at word[0].

• The in Operator: Check if that first character exists in our vowel string. If it does, increment the counter.

Let’s Code as per the above logic :

def countVowelWords():
    f = open("story.txt", "r")
    data = f.read()
    wordlist = data.split()
    
    vowels = "aeiouAEIOU"
    count = 0
    
    for word in wordlist:
        # Check if the first character of the word is in the vowel string
        if word[0] in vowels:
            count += 1
            
    f.close()
    return count

# To call the function and see the result:
print("Number of words starting with a vowel:", countVowelWords())

Important Notes for Students

• Case Sensitivity: In files, “Apple” starts with a vowel, and so does “apple”. By defining your vowels as "aeiouAEIOU", you ensure you catch both cases.
• String Indexing: word[0] always targets the start of the word. Make sure the file isn’t empty, or add a check to ensure the word has a length greater than 0 to avoid errors.
• The in Operator: This is one of Python’s most powerful features. It’s faster and much more readable than using multiple or conditions.

Teacher’s Secret Tip for Exams:

If the question asks you to count words starting with a Consonant, simply use the not in operator: if word[0] not in vowels and word[0].isalpha():. (We add .isalpha() to make sure we don’t count numbers or symbols as consonants!)

Want to practice more? If you found this helpful, I have compiled a full list of 30 practice problems just like this one. Each question focuses on a different logic to help you become a pro at File Handling.

Click here to view the full 30-Question Practice Set

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