Check Whether a Given Character is Vowel or Consonant in Python

Determining whether a character is a vowel, consonant, or not an alphabet at all is a common exercise for beginners in programming. In this post, we’ll walk through a simple Python program to accomplish this task.

Problem Description

Given a single character as input, the program should determine if it is a vowel, consonant, or not an alphabet. The program should handle both uppercase and lowercase letters.

Approach

1. Vowel Check: Create a set of vowels (both uppercase and lowercase) for quick membership testing.
2. Alphabet Check: Use the isalpha() method to check if the input is a valid alphabet character.
3. Conditional Checks:

• If the character is in the set of vowels, it’s a vowel.
• If it’s not in the set but still an alphabet character, it’s a consonant.
• If it’s not an alphabet character, return “Not an alphabet.”

Python Implementation

def check_character_type(char):
    vowels = {'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'A', 'E', 'I', 'O', 'U'}

    if char.isalpha():
        if char in vowels:
            return "Vowel"
        else:
            return "Consonant"
    else:
        return "Not an alphabet"

Explanation

• Set of Vowels: The program uses a set for vowels to allow quick lookup.
• Alphabet Check: The isalpha() method checks if the character is a letter.
• Case Sensitivity: The program handles both lowercase and uppercase letters by including both in the set of vowels.

Test Cases

Here are some test cases to validate the function:

# Test Case 1
print(check_character_type('a'))  # Output: Vowel

# Test Case 2
print(check_character_type('l'))  # Output: Consonant

# Test Case 3
print(check_character_type('E'))  # Output: Vowel

# Test Case 4
print(check_character_type('B'))  # Output: Consonant

# Test Case 5
print(check_character_type('1'))  # Output: Not an alphabet

# Test Case 6
print(check_character_type('@'))  # Output: Not an alphabet

Conclusion

This simple Python program allows you to check whether a given character is a vowel, consonant, or not an alphabet. By using a set for vowels and leveraging the isalpha() method, the program is both efficient and easy to understand. Try it out with different characters and see how it performs!