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Python Introducing Lists Build an Application The Application

Abdullah Jassim
Abdullah Jassim
4,551 Points
Posted by Abdullah Jassim
Abdullah Jassim
4,551 Points

Why cant I use the done break as a function? Thanks.

def done():
    if new_item == "done".lower():
        break

while True:
    new_item = input("> ")
    done()

2 Answers

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points
Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

The done function doesn't know that its being called from within a loop, and breaks aren't allowed outside of loops, so Python throws an error.

Try simply not making a function instead:

while True:
    new_item = input("> ")
    if new_item == "done".lower():
        break
givens
givens
7,484 Points
givens
givens
7,484 Points

I believe Alexander has the right answer. I checked that breaks aren't allowed outside loops and found that they are indeed not allowed. This is my test code.

test.py code:

def done(new_item):
    if new_item.lower() == "done":
        break

while True:
    new_item = input("> ")
    done(new_item)

Console output:

treehouse:~/workspace$ python test.py                                                            
  File "test.py", line 3                                                                         
    break                                                                                        
    ^                                                                                            
SyntaxError: 'break' outside loop