Program keeps running - infinite loop

Question

I've been creating a combination calculator, something I'm having a hard time creating. A problem I'm constantly trying to fix is dealing with any infinite loops in my code.

oglist = ["a","b","c","d"]
combocounter = 3
lists = {}
comboloop = True
combolist = ["lol"]
pendinglist = ["lol"]
for x in range(0, combocounter):
    lists["list" + str(x)] = ["lol"]
def loop(counter1):
    global recursion1
    global recursion2
    if len(lists["list" + str(counter1)]) == 0:
        lists["list" + str(counter1 - 1)] = lists["list" + str(counter1 - 1)][1:]
        print(lists)
        recursion1 = True
        recursion2 = True
    else:
        lists["list" + str(counter1 + 1)] = lists["list" + str(counter1)][1:]
        print(lists)
        recursion2 = False
    return
def startingloop():
    global recursion1
    if len(lists["list0"]) == 0:
        comboloop = False
    else:
        lists["list1"] = lists["list0"][1:]
        print(lists)
        recursion1 = False
    return
def endingloop():
    global counter2
    global recursion2
    if len(lists["list2"]) == 0:
        lists["list1"] = lists["list1"][1:]
        print(lists)
        recursion2 = True
    else:
        combolist[counter2] = lists["list0"][0]
        for y in range(1, combocounter):
            combolist[counter2] = combolist[counter2] + lists["list" + str(y)][0]
        combolist.append("lol")
        lists["list2"] = lists["list2"][1:]
        counter2 += 1
        print(lists)
        print(combolist)
    return
lists["list0"] = oglist
counter2 = 0
while comboloop == True:
    startingloop()
    while recursion1 == False:
        loop(1)
        while recursion2 == False:
            endingloop()
combolist.remove("lol")
print(combolist)

I've placed a bunch of print functions: print(lists) and print(combolist) . When I run it, lists and combolist are constantly updated and printed. It then stops printing which is expected, but my program keeps running something. It also never reaches

combolist.remove("lol")
print(combolist)

I went through the effort of following the logic of my code to find any issues, but I didn't. What's constantly looping in my code?

Answer 1

comboloop = False is creating a local variable that shadows your global called comboloop. If you add

global comboloop

in your startingloop() function, the program exits