How to restart count midway through a string of input?

Question

I'm trying to write a function that recieves any length string of positive or negative whole numbers and adds each number to the total, as long as the value doesn't go below zero. (It returns 0 for any invalid or empty input.)

I'm having trouble writing a loop that re-sets the count to zero when it becomes negative and continutes adding from where it left off.

e.g.
input: 1, 2, -4, 1, 1
output: 2

Here's my code:

def sum_earnings():
values = input("Enter a string of pos &/or neg numbers separated by commas (e.g. 1,-3,0,-4): ").split(',')
earnings = 0

try:
    for i in values:
        earnings += int(i)
        while earnings >= 0:
            earnings += int(i)
        else:
            earnings = 0
            continue
    print(earnings)

except ValueError:
    print(0)

return

Thanks, I just noticed that and changed it a bit to correct for unneccesary code. — ljsauer
– ljsauer, Commented Oct 10, 2019 at 13:56
I'm unclear what you want to do - does it produce 0 if the running total ever drops below zero? In which case, why do you need to pick it up again? Also, yes, your indent is wrong there :) — michjnich
– michjnich, Commented Oct 10, 2019 at 13:56

user2390182 · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-10 13:57:04Z

1

Seems overly complicated. Try the following:

earnings = 0
for i in values:
    try:
        earnings = max(0, earnings + int(i))  # resets to 0 for negative intermediate sum
    except ValueError:
        earnings = 0
        break  # this will end the loop for invalid input
print(earnings)

answered Oct 10, 2019 at 13:57

user2390182

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