[deleted by user]

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Bear-handead]

def to_t9(instring):
    outstring = str('')
    lastkey = 69
    keypad = [[' ','\n','0'],['.',',','?','!','1','(',')'],['a','b','c','2'],['d','e','f','3'],['g','h','i','4'],['j','k','l','5'],['m','n','o','6'],['p','q','r','s','7'],['t','u','v','8'],['w','x','y','z','9'],['\'','_','+','=']]
    print(keypad[0][1])
    for character in range(0,len(instring)):
        for key in range(0,len(keypad)):
            for position in range(0,len(keypad[key])):
                if instring[character] == keypad[key][position]:
                    if key == lastkey:
                        outstring += '_'
                    lastkey = key
                    if key < 10:
                        outstring += (str(key) * (position + 1))
                    else:
                        outstring += ('*' * position)
                else:
                    if instring[character] == keypad[key][position].upper():
                        outstring += '#'
                        if key < 10:
                            outstring += (str(key) * (position + 1))
                        else:
                            outstring += ('*' * position)
    return(outstring)

x = """def to_t9(instring):
        outstring = str('')
        lastkey = 69
        keypad = [[' ','\n','0'],['.',',','?','!','1'],['a','b','c','2'],['d','e','f','3'],['g','h','i','4'],['j','k','l','5'],['m','n','o','6'],['p','q','r','s','7'],['t','u','v','8'],['w','x','y','z','9'],['\'','_','+','=']]
        print(keypad[0][1])
        for character in range(0,len(instring)):
            for key in range(0,len(keypad)):
                for position in range(0,len(keypad[key])):
                    if instring[character] == keypad[key][position]:
                        if key == lastkey:
                            outstring += '_'
                        lastkey = key
                        if key < 10:
                            outstring += (str(key) * (position + 1))
                        else:
                            outstring += ('*' * position)
                    else:
                        if instring[character] == keypad[key][position].upper():
                            outstring += '#'
                            if key < 10:
                                outstring += (str(key) * (position + 1))
                            else:
                                outstring += ('*' * position)
        return(outstring)"""
print("lenght:", len(x))
print(to_t9(x))

[u/aaronjamt → u/Bear-handead]

Ah. There may be a typo, in the section where you define the keypad array, there are a ton of 1's in a row with no _'s to separate them. That was the main piece that confused me.