Save Stats on Exit

Define save_stats and call it when the player quits so stats survive the session

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Right now, STATS tracks your performance within a session — but the moment you quit, it resets. Next time you run the quiz, Games played starts at 0 again.

The fix is the reverse of what you did with load_questions: when the player quits, write STATS to a file.

def save_stats():
    with open(STATS_FILE, "w") as f:
        json.dump(STATS, f, indent=2)

json.dump converts STATS to JSON text and writes it to the file. The "w" mode creates the file if it does not exist, or overwrites it if it does — which is what you want, since you are replacing the old stats with the updated ones. indent=2 formats the output with two-space indentation so the file is readable if you open it.

The right time to call save_stats is right before the break that ends the game. At that point, STATS has already been updated with the last round's results.

Instructions

Add save_stats and call it when the player quits.

Below QUESTIONS_FILE = "questions.json", add STATS_FILE = "stats.json" — keeping all file path constants together.
Before run_quiz, define a function called save_stats with no parameters. Inside, open STATS_FILE in write mode ("w") using with open(...) as f:, then call json.dump(STATS, f, indent=2).
In the main loop, find the line if again != "y":. Add save_stats() on the line before break — so stats are written to disk every time the player quits.

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import json

QUESTIONS_FILE = "questions.json"
# Step 1: STATS_FILE = "stats.json"

STATS = {
    "games": 0,
    "best_score": 0,
    "best_total": 0,
    "total_correct": 0,
    "total_questions": 0,
}

def load_questions():
    with open(QUESTIONS_FILE, "r") as f:
        return json.load(f)

QUESTIONS = load_questions()

def ask_question(q):
    print(q["text"])
    print()
    print(f"  1) {q['options'][0]}")
    print(f"  2) {q['options'][1]}")
    print(f"  3) {q['options'][2]}")
    print(f"  4) {q['options'][3]}")
    print()
    while True:
        answer_text = input("Your answer (1-4): ")
        try:
            answer = int(answer_text)
        except ValueError:
            print("Please enter 1, 2, 3, or 4.")
            continue
        if answer < 1 or answer > 4:
            print("Please enter 1, 2, 3, or 4.")
            continue
        break
    is_correct = answer == q["correct"]
    print()
    print(f"You answered: {answer}")
    if is_correct:
        print("Correct!")
    else:
        print(f"Wrong! The correct answer was option {q['correct']}.")
    return is_correct

def show_results(score, total):
    print(f"Score: {score}/{total}")
    if score == total:
        print("Perfect score!")
    elif score >= 2:
        print("Great job!")
    elif score >= 1:
        print("Not bad!")
    else:
        print("Keep practicing!")

def show_stats():
    if STATS["games"] == 0:
        print("No games played yet.")
        return
    print(f"Games played: {STATS['games']}")
    print(f"Best round: {STATS['best_score']}/{STATS['best_total']}")
    print(f"Total correct: {STATS['total_correct']} out of {STATS['total_questions']}")

# Step 2: define save_stats()

def run_quiz(questions=QUESTIONS, num=None):
    if num is None:
        num = len(questions)
    score = 0
    streak = 0
    questions_for_round = questions[:num]
    total = len(questions_for_round)
    print(f"=== Python Quiz ({total} questions) ===")
    print()
    for q in questions_for_round:
        result = ask_question(q)
        if result:
            score = score + 1
            streak = streak + 1
            if streak >= 3:
                print(f"  Hot streak! ({streak} in a row)")
        else:
            streak = 0
    show_results(score, total)
    return score, total

while True:
    show_stats()
    print()
    categories = sorted(set(q["category"] for q in QUESTIONS))
    print("Categories: " + ", ".join(categories))
    category = input("Category (enter for all): ").strip()
    if category:
        pool = [q for q in QUESTIONS if q["category"] == category]
        if not pool:
            print("Category not found. Playing all.")
            pool = QUESTIONS
    else:
        pool = QUESTIONS
    try:
        num_input = input(f"How many questions? (1-{len(pool)}, enter for all): ").strip()
        if num_input:
            num = int(num_input)
        else:
            num = len(pool)
    except ValueError:
        num = len(pool)
    print()
    score, total = run_quiz(pool, num)
    STATS["games"] = STATS["games"] + 1
    STATS["total_correct"] = STATS["total_correct"] + score
    STATS["total_questions"] = STATS["total_questions"] + total
    if score > STATS["best_score"]:
        STATS["best_score"] = score
        STATS["best_total"] = total
    print()
    again = input("Play again? (y/n): ")
    if again != "y":
        # Step 3: call save_stats() here, then break
        break

print("Thanks for playing!")

Save Stats on Exit

Instructions

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