Why does this while loop not work?

Question

This loop keeps looping even if I enter "no" and when I type "jdlfjap", for example, it continues to loop without a "?".

Does anyone know why this is?

def makeContact():
    contactName = input("Name: ")
    contactNumber = input("Number: ")
    dictionaryForContacts[contactName] = contactNumber
def continueMaking():
    while True:
        continueMaking = input("\nWould you like to continue making contacts? ")
        if continueMaking == "Yes" or "yes" or "YES":
            makeContact()
            continue
        elif continueMaking == "No" or "no" or "NO":
            break
        else:    
            print ("?")
            continue

continueMaking == "No" or "no" or "NO" doesn't do what you think it does. It doesn't compare continueMaking to each of those 3 words. — lurker
– lurker, Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 22:36
Rewrite as if continueMaking in ("Yes", "yes", "YES") or if continueMaking.strip().lower() == "yes" — dawg
– dawg, Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 22:42
Possible duplicate of Compare multiple variables to the same value in "if" in Python? — Open AI - Opting Out
– Open AI - Opting Out, Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 22:45
You can try things in the interactive prompt: >>> "no" == "Yes" or "yes" or "YES" gives 'yes' — Open AI - Opting Out
– Open AI - Opting Out, Commented Nov 7, 2015 at 22:47

Perry · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-07 22:40:21Z

2

The statement if continueMaking == "Yes" or "yes" or "YES": is equivalent to (continueMaking == "Yes") or "yes" or "YES": which, regardless of the value of continueMaking returns the string "YES", which is truthy and thus the makeContact call always executes. Case-insensitive string comparisons can be accomplished by continueMaking.lower() == "yes".

answered Nov 7, 2015 at 22:40

Perry

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3 Comments

dawg Over a year ago

Great answer, but probably should be continueMaking.strip().lower() == "yes" to catch trailing spaces.

BLaZuRE Over a year ago

Based on operator precedence, why wouldn't it be evaluated to continueMaking == true since or has a higher precedence and it would be coerced into a boolean?

Perry Over a year ago

Nope, that statement simplifies to True if continueMaking == "Yes" else "yes".

jwvh · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-02 05:58:10Z

1

Overwriting the function continueMaking with the variable continueMaking adds confusion. Choose a different variable name. Readability counts.

edited May 2, 2016 at 5:58

jwvh

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answered Nov 7, 2015 at 22:44

garyboland

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