Reducing the amount of return statements (Python)

Question

The function below returns the index within the list list_of_items of the first item that is equal to search_item. If no such items exist the function returns -1.

With a while loop rather than a for loop and not using any break statements nor index method of a list. How can I reduce my function below so that it only contains a single return statement?

Answer 1

With the restriction to a while loop, and not using any break statements (making this seem a lot like a homework question), your best bet is to create a second condition that controls the execution of the loop. For example:

def my_index(list_of_items, search_item):
    i = 0
    done = False
    return_value = '-1' # I suspect you meant this to be an int, not str

    while i < len(list_of_items) and not done:
        if list_of_items[i] == search_item:
            done = True
            return_value = i
        else:
            i += 1

    return return_value