title: In Python, is there a way to add a letter to a variable, then add += 1 to that variable?
body: <p>I'm trying to make a coding program that uses frequency analysis (which is the process of looking at a string of letters, then adding one to the total times you've seen that letter).
  What I think I'm trying to do is something like</p>
  <pre><code>for letter in code_reader: 
        letter+(_value) += 1
  </code></pre>
  <p>In practice, it would look at letter &quot;x&quot;, insert it into the format (letter)_value, and then add 1 to it.
  I think my main problem is the fact that I can't add a string to a variable, but I was hoping some of you smart people out there could help!</p>