Is it possible to stop this recursive function?

Question

I wanted to implement the code by using recursive function without for loop or while loop.

And I wanted to implement function called go_through() and take two parameters as a list(list1) and an integer(letters) so that if the element of each length of string has bigger or equal to integer , I replace it using the other function called replace_it()

def go_through(list1, letters):


  get_list = list1[:]
  num =len(list1)
  index = 0

  if index != num:
    if len(get_list[0]) >= letters:
        get_list += replace_it(get_list[0])
        index += 1
        print(get_list, 'True')
        return go_through(get_list[1:], letters)
    else:
        get_list += [get_list[0]]
        index += 1
        print(get_list, 'False')
        return go_through(get_list[1:], letters)

  else:
    print(get_list)

def replace_it(string):
  if string == 'pineapple':
    return ['peach', 'and', 'pear']
  if string== 'delicious':
    return ['really', 'gross']

go_through(['pineapple','is','delicious','I', 'want', 'it'],7)

should be looking like

peach and pear is really gross I want it

So I have a problem for this codes It doesn't allow me to stop print as what I want to print is one line

The result would be looking like the picture I attached But I want to stop where I highlighted and return it as it is the same output what I wrote above.

How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

The list is not reducing at any point. get_list += [get_list[0]] in the else block keeps the list the same size when followed by return go_through(get_list[1:], letters) , while get_list += replace_it(get_list[0]) in the if will always extend the list.

Maybe you meant something like

else:
    # this isn't needed
    # get_list += [get_list[0]]
    return go_through(get_list[1:], letters)

Also, it seems that you're getting the list order mixed up in the first bit maybe.

if len(get_list[0]) >= letters:
    # this is adding the new list at the end, not replacing the word
    # get_list += replace_it(get_list[0])

    # you can send the shortened list to the function again,
    # and stick the replacement words at the start
    return replace_it(get_list[0]) + go_through(get_list[1:], letters)