Python loop not breaking out

Question

I expect the whole loop to exit when my isQuit variable is "yes" and customer becomes False . However, the current loop seems to be repeated until the order_item is in menu_items .

Can you please help me change my code so that the loops stop when the user wants to quit?

def order(menu):
    FISH_CHIPS_PRICES = menu
    menu_items = []

    for item in FISH_CHIPS_PRICES:
        menu_items.append(item.lower())

    orders = []
    customer = True
    while customer:
        orders.append({})

        for item in FISH_CHIPS_PRICES:
           orders[-1][item] = 0

        while True:
            while True:
                order_item = input("What do you want to buy?")
                if order_item.lower() not in menu_items:
                    print("Item:", order_item, "not available")
                    isQuit = input("Do you want to quit: yes / no:")
                    if isQuit == "yes":
                        customer = False
                else:
                    break

Answer 1

You're seeing this behavior because of the two infinite while loops enclosing to your isQuit variable. break ing out of a loop only stops the immediately enclosing loop.

One possible solution is to immediately return when isQuit is "yes" , which will exit the entire order() function.

# ...
isQuit = input("Do you want to quit: yes / no:")
if isQuit == "yes":
    return

Another possible solution is to remove the outer infinite while loop since it does not seem to serve any function.