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dc16
3,439 PointsWhy new_item == 'SHOW' which isn't an assignment operator without "continue" end up in shopping list?
Can someone please help? I'd want to know why a comparison operator here ended up acting like an assignment operator without "continue" and the shopping_list got appended with SHOW
1 Answer
![Louise St. Germain](https://uploads.teamtreehouse.com/production/profile-photos/10699471/micro_Louise_social_8344.jpg)
Louise St. Germain
19,424 PointsHi!
Good question! In fact the comparison operator does not act as an assignment operator without the continue. It is still a comparison. What is happening is this. If you forget "continue", the code looks like this:
# etc... some code before this
while True:
new_item = input("> ")
if new_item == "DONE":
break
elif new_item == "HELP":
show_help()
continue
elif new_item == "SHOW":
show_list()
add_to_list(new_item)
# etc... more code after this
When running the program, if you type "SHOW", that is the value of new_item. Python is looping through the while loop. It gets a successful match on the line elif new item == "SHOW": so it starts running the code inside there, which is the show_list() command. So far, so good.
But without a continue command, which forces it back to the top of the while loop, it just keeps going! So it ends up running that add_to_list(new_item) command below it, which is not what you intended. new_item contains "SHOW", so it does add_to_list("SHOW"), and that's how "SHOW" would end up in the shopping list.
To avoid this, you would need to have a continue after the show_list() item, like this:
# etc... some code before this
while True:
new_item = input("> ")
if new_item == "DONE":
break
elif new_item == "HELP":
show_help()
continue
elif new_item == "SHOW":
show_list()
# Add continue here... so that it then goes up to the top of the while loop again.
continue
add_to_list(new_item)
# etc... more code after this
That way it won't run the add_to_list command if new_item is "SHOW".
I hope this helps! Let me know if you still have any questions.
dc16
3,439 Pointsdc16
3,439 PointsAh I see.. Thank you so much!! I get it now
Jamar Slade
2,480 PointsJamar Slade
2,480 PointsHello Louis,
It seems I'm still getting the "SHOW" in my list even when I add the continue, see below: