What is the expected output of the following code? ``python print(ord('c')?ord('a')) ``

The correct answer is B. 2. ord('c') returns 99 and ord('a') returns 97. The - operator subtracts them: 99 - 97 = 2, making B the correct answer. Why the distractors are wrong: A (1): Off-by-one error - this would be the result of ord('b') - ord('a'), since 'b' is one step from 'a'. C (3): Confuses the…

Question

What is the expected output of the following code?

print(ord('c')?ord('a'))

Options

How the community answered

(25 responses)

A
4% (1)
B
84% (21)
C
4% (1)
D
8% (2)

Explanation

ord('c') returns 99 and ord('a') returns 97. The - operator subtracts them: 99 - 97 = 2, making B the correct answer.

Why the distractors are wrong:

A (1): Off-by-one error - this would be the result of ord('b') - ord('a'), since 'b' is one step from 'a'.
C (3): Confuses the alphabetical position of 'c' (the 3rd letter) with the difference in ASCII values between 'c' and 'a'.
D (0): Would only result if both arguments to ord() were the same character, yielding a difference of zero.

Memory tip: Lowercase ASCII values start at 97 for 'a' and increase by 1 per letter ('b'=98, 'c'=99, etc.). So ord(x) - ord('a') always gives you the 0-based alphabetical index of x - a handy pattern for letter-difference problems on exams.

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