ValueError: too many values to unpack

What this problem practises

Tuples are immutable containers that may themselves hold mutable objects, and it is the comma — not the parentheses — that builds one. Any unpacking where the counts disagree raises ValueError.

This is a fix-the-bug problem: a short program is given in its broken state, and the task is to repair the code so it produces the required output. The interactive editor runs your fixed version in the browser and checks it for you — no setup, no local interpreter.

Difficulty: easy — the fix or the trick is normally a single line, and a careful read should be enough.

The challenge

This program crashes with ValueError because 2 names cannot hold 3 values. Fix the unpacking so it prints 37.

The code runs in PyDebug’s in-browser compiler. Open the problem, run the snippet, watch the exact error or output, and keep iterating until it is right. Signed-in solves count toward XP and your daily streak.

The snippet

The interactive editor pre-fills exactly this code, broken and ready to repair:

a, b = (2, 15, 20)
print(a + b)

More tuples problems

• ValueError: too many values to unpack easy
• Tuple unpacking easy
• Tuple unpacking easy

Keep going

• Python debugging guide — a systematic method for finding bugs like this one fast.
• Browse every tuples problem in this topic.
• Common Python errors and what they actually mean, plus the Python glossary for any term used on this page.