Outputting on multiple lines and I need each line to be assigned to its own variable

The code below takes dna_string2 and matches it within dna_string1. It then outputs the index location of the match or matches and then increments then return value by 1 to simulate “counting itself”. The problem I am facing is that I need the output values of 2, 4, and 10 to be assigned to their own variables. I cannot figure out how to separate the output so that I can assign to individual variables. I have tried using split(). I have tried writing to a file first. I feel like I have tried just about everything to get the output separated. Any expert help would be greatly appreciated.

defined function

def get_most_likely_ancestor(dna_string1, dna_string2):
    i = 0
    g = len(dna_string2)
    for i in range (len(dna_string1)):
        i += 1
        g += 1
        if (dna_string1[i:g]) == (dna_string2):
            locations = dna_string1.index(dna_string2, i)
            locations += 1
            return locations

Function input

dna_string1 = “GATATATGCATATACTT”

dna_string2 = “ATAT”

function output (exactly as shown)

2

4

10

Answer

The function needs to be more flexible to allow for any number of matches.

The function should not be responsible for presentation of the result.

Therefore, let’s just return a list and handle the presentation in the caller. For example:-

def get_most_likely_ancestor(s1, s2):
    offset = 0
    olist = []
    while (i := s1[offset:].find(s2)) >= 0:
        olist.append(offset := offset + i + 1)
    return olist

for pos in get_most_likely_ancestor('GATATATGCATATACTT', 'ATAT'):
    print(pos)

Output:

2
4
10